Posted on 02/10/2015 10:08:37 AM PST by Kaslin
Brian Williams’ inability to recall and truthfully report the events concerning his helicopter coming under fire in Iraq single-handedly calls into question the lack of journalistic integrity among today’s American journalists and taints the entire field of journalism.
While numerous instances of reporting fallacies, including the unraveling of the Rolling Stones UVA rape story, have recently flooded social media timelines and dominated newscasts, none delivers a stronger punch to the gut than when the poster boy of American journalism is found to be no more than a highly paid liar.
In 2014, a Gallup poll showed Americans’ trust in mass media and their ability to report accurately and fairly had hit an all-time low of 40 percent. American viewers have clearly grown weary with the sensationalism and gotcha-style of reporting many media outlets have turned to in an attempt to boost ratings and grow their viewership; and with the growing trend of being misled, who can blame them?
Walter Cronkite, long-time anchor of the “CBS Evening News”, became known as ‘the most trusted man in America’ by carefully delivering precise information to his tens of millions of viewers. Whether it was his coverage of World War II or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Cronkite’s viewers relied on him to deliver an accurate account of significant events. If alive today, Mr. Cronkite would without a doubt be mortified to see how far American journalism has fallen.
Because of this fall from grace, it is vital to train up a new generation of journalists that will hold themselves to a higher standard. Since 1977, the National Journalism Center has trained responsible journalists and places an emphasis on the importance of balanced and ethical reporting. When polled, its students overwhelmingly said the events surrounding Brian Williams’ inaccurate reporting would make it increasingly difficult for them, and journalists across the board, to be viewed as a credible and reliable source of information.
As the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics states: “…public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough. An ethical journalist acts with integrity.”
NBC News now has the obligation to restore hope in the Fourth Estate and to demonstrate to their viewers they care more about the vital pillars of journalism than ratings. The 7.7 million viewers of “NBC Nightly News” deserve to know the network will not stand behind inaccuracies and unethical reporting.
Mr. Williams, great power was placed in your hands and aspiring journalists everywhere looked to you for guidance. You were counted on and trusted to deliver accurate information to the American public. You now have the responsibility to gracefully bow out and protect what small glimmer of journalistic integrity remains.
With great power comes great responsibility.
“...without doubt, Mr. Cronkite would be mortified to see how far journalism has fallen...”
In 1968, after the Tet Offensive, Mr. Cronkite reported that the war was lost. He said so in light of the offensive being a failure and the American attempt to repel it being so successful.
There was no apology to all the young men who lost their lives in the victory that was cast as a loss.
The press then was just as biased, maybe more so, back then. The only difference between then and now was that the cosmeticians did such a good job in making it look good.
The “American People” were fed a line of pap that was glaringly specious yet the cosmeticians dressed it up as the truth.
IMHO
It has been much longer than that. Duranty lied about the Stalin caused famine in the USSR and Murrow lied about McCarthy long before Kronkite lied about Vietnam.
Serial Intentional Blunderer
It has been much longer than that.
I am only going from personal memory. There was a lot of lying press during the colonial times also.
right
exactly, the Tet Offensive broke the back of the North Vietnamese military but Cronkite and the US media bolstered them
They now have half of what CBS News used to have before the internet exposed the Emperors' ding-a-lings.
George Patton would have slapped Williams, Rather and Cronkite as fouling the honor of valid warriors.
"You're going back to the front my friend. And I am personally going to put you in the lead chopper."
“Blunder”? Is that what we call manufacturing a false account, a blunder? Is that the legal term for premeditated lying? They could at least call it marketing, then we would know to identify the falsifying for financial gain.
...If he were alive today, he could try to explain his dishonest coverage of the Vietnam war...
You're right, but my recollection is that the ads on the nightly news were aimed at senior citizens even back in the '70s and '80s.
Remember the old (and awful) "I think I'll keep her!" ads for Polident? I'm certain those were mainly seen on the TV nightly news programs.
Probably, but during the revolution it was not the same organizations that are still lying to us now. The NY Times, CBS, NBC, etc. are still around and still lying as they have for a long time now.
The Tet Offensive broke the back of the Vietcong. In-country operations were decimated. Following Tet, the war was almost exclusively run by the North Vietmese Army (NVA).
Meanwhile, the 5th Column broke our morale, and instead of the great victory leading to mopping up the theatre, we opted for increasingly having the South Vietnamese fight the battles, which set up the eventual cut-n-run.
Mendacity is the fundamental evil responsible for Western decadence. It's ubiquitous.
Evil is indeed banal.
“...but Cronkite and the uS media bolstered them.”
Traitorous to say the least.
IMHO
Cronkite was no different than the current crop.....
I first learned long ago of the general incompetence and unreliability of news reporters. One of the first things that struck me was that in reports containing numbers there are almost always mathematical impossibilities, for instance, “The number of gizmowhatchits dropped from 99873 to 93789 in one year, a decline of more than twenty percent.” The math is almost always wrong. It has become even worse in recent years with expressions like “2500 percent less”, such expressions are used routinely now by people who are supposedly educated but can’t figure out that they are babbling nonsense. I figure that if they don’t understand simple arithmetic I can’t be expected to put much faith in anything else.
If he had the equivalent of a fifth grade education circa 1955 he would have put an apostrophe in the correct place and all would have been well. Of course in this era a person apparently needs to have a doctorate in language to know how to place an apostrophe.
The “Main Stream Media” is not interested in simply reporting the “who, what, when and why” of a story.
They are instead interested in molding public opinion to support their socialist goals. They are no different then Pravda in the old Soviet Union.
Anything (or anyone) that disagrees with them are destroyed and if can not be destroyed demonized.
What is true does not even enter the equation with them.
I disagree completely
Cronkite was a lib no question but he supported the war early on Big time.....he grew disenchanted
I think he viewed it as unwinnable and they knew likely the GOP....a very moderate GOP was likely to assume the war headed by a politician they all detested
They were vested in LBJ and JFK war not a Republican war....a party likely led by Nixon who they hated even more than Barry
There was no comparable MSNBC then a no women pretty much....till Babs came along
Some reds here and there and a lot of old school Democrats hawkish on Cold War.....that’s a dead breed
There was no nationwide abortion on demand or homosexual marriage or racial quotas and barely gun control
A different world and a number of somewhat moderate men in the jockey seats even in print
Today everyone but Fox is hard left
Tech industry is overrun by younger progressives
Sports networks all left leaning
Print all left or one or two moderates......back then southern papers were socially conservative
It goes on and on
We have more choices now and stuff leaks out but the left owns 90% of the real estate
And academia and advertising and film
I lived it as a boy
This is a different country.....Eric Severied or Howard K Smith or even Huntley and Brinkley would be considered righties compared to Cooper Maddow Soledad or that buxom Robin Meade
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