Did you ever consider the possibility that, in and of itself, being an "objective journalist" is being an ad man for the Democrats?We can dispose of the claim of objectivity by noting, first, that if you or I were to claim that we were objective, no one would hesitate for an instant in taking that claim as evidence, not that we were actually objective, but that we were grossly self-absorbed and therefore distinctly subjective. And secondly, we observe that "objective" journalists not only label each other "objective," they assign similarly positive labels to everyone who supports the conceit that the criticism and second guessing which is the mainstay of journalism. And negative labels - "reactionary," "right wing," or merely "conservative" - to those who agree with Theodore Roosevelt when he asserted that
"It is not the critic who counts . . . the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arenaFinally, we note that the rules of journalistic story selection (If it bleeds, it leads, and so forth) are not rules for gaging the societal significance of stories but for gaging how useful those stories will be in attracting the attention of the public, which is significant to the bottom line of the newspaper.IOW, no matter how "objectively" you apply story selection rules which are themselves self-interested, you cannot use that "objectivity" as a measure of societal virtue. Only of your benefit to the bottom line of your own newspaper. This is true no matter how accurately you may tell the stories that "objective" process has selected, since
Half the truth is often a great lie. - Benjamin FranklinThe difference between a conservative talk show host and an "objective journalist" is that the talk show host is responsible to his audience for his topic selection and for the thoroughness of his discussion of each story. Whereas the "objective journalist" hides story selection behind self-interested rules and, by format standards, regulates audience expectations to limit the discussion even of the stories which are selected. The conservative talk show host is a man exposed, and the "objective journalist" is a man behind a curtain.
The old advertising slogan, "Progress is our most important product," has never applied to the left. Whether it is successful black schools in the United States or Third World countries where millions of people have been rising out of poverty in recent years, the left has shown little interest.
Progress in general seems to hold little interest for people who call themselves "progressives." What arouses them are denunciations of social failures and accusations of wrong-doing.
One wonders what they would do in heaven.
. . . their interest in the poor [is] greatest when the poor can be used as a focus of the left's denunciations of society.
An Investment in Failure (Thomas Sowell)
Townhall.com ^ | August 21, 2007 | Thomas Sowell