Actually the profit motive is not the sum total of the motivation for journalism. They are yielding to the temptation not only to make money instead of serving the public, they are yielding to the temptation of power. The power to elevate your own importance by denigrating everyone else. No, the only way to mitigate the pernicious influence of journalism is for the public to recognize the limitations of the genre. And to understand that if someone claims objectivity that is proof of their subjectivity.
This is just a symptom. The underlying reality is that Democrats protect their miscreants because they can, and Republicans do not because they cannot get away with it.And what determines who can get away with what in politics? "Objective" journalism, of course. And why do "objective" journalists who go pedal-to-the-metal on any allegation of Republican soft-pedal allegations of Democratic malfeasance? Because the business of journalism is
That is why journalists call themselves and their colleagues "objective" with no basis in fact.
- self-promotion,
- promotion of those who support your own self-promotion, and
- demotion of the reputations of anyone else.
That is why journalists call others who promote criticism of the productive (but who don't have jobs in journalism) "liberal" or "progressive" (or whatever positive label they prefer).
And that is why journalists bushwhack and second guess businessmen, the military, and the police. And why journalists call anyone who thinks that
"It is not the critic who counts . . . the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena - Theodore Roosevelt"partisan" or "conservative" or "right wing." With no basis in fact.Humphrey: Two parties differ on handling scandals
Knoxville News Sentinel ^ | 9/16/7 | Tom Humphrey