Posted on 02/18/2023 10:58:04 AM PST by nickcarraway
Objective journalism was on trial Friday night on Bill Maher’s Real Time, with the New York Times as a focus for the discussion on whether opinion has buried news coverage.
The panel discussing this important issue included Ari Melber, host of MSNBC’s “The Beat With Ari Melber” and staff writer for The Dispatch, along with Sarah Isgur, host of “The Dispatch Podcast,” and contributor and political analyst for ABC News.
Maher started off by bringing up the revelation that broke in this week’s court filing in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against Fox. In the papers, it was revealed that top executives and news hosts didn’t buy into then-President Donald Trump’s allegations of 2020 election fraud, even though they give air time to those who pushed that theory.
Maher decried that as an abrogation of the rules of responsible journalism.
Isgur hit the nail on the head as to why objective journalism seems quaint: “We’ve seen a shift away from ad revenue,” she said. “Now it’s all about individual subscribers.” That’s why news organizations are catering to “ideological niches.”
Melber claimed “people at Fox know they’re lying,” adding the hosts “were in on it.”
Maher countered by asking Melber whether MSNBC isn’t guilty of doing the same thing at times. Isgur reminded Melber that MSNBC was notorious for always claiming that Trump was this close to being thrown in the gulag.
Melber danced, saying the MSNBC network “should be open to constructive criticism,” but conceded that “the media has a responsibility, and sometimes falls down.” He later slammed the practice of treating debate as “narrative hunting.”
Coastal bias also plays a role in coverage, the panel agreed, pointing to the recent Ohio train derailment as a subject that’s been under-covered.
Will MSNBC be critical of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s slow response to the disaster be criticized, Maher asked.
Predictably, Melber blamed Trump, a movement “completely trying to delegitimize fact.”
Maher also point to the New York Times fight this week over its coverage of Trans people and their issues. Maher said that coverage “can’t pretend” that another sde of the debate isn’t valid, as a petition that included Times staffers and celebrities insisted upon
“So to their credit, the Times pushed back and said, “No. We are going to be even-handed.”
Isgur circled back to her opening statement, about how the media business ” is now a subscriber business model, and so they have to cater to (Trans activists). This subscriber- based model is a problem if you want objective journalism. Maybe your subscribers don’t care about (objectivity), they just want to hear their side is right about everything.”
Melber said part of the reason for the pushback at the Times and other media outlets is that journalists are trying not to repeat the mistakes of the past. He cited the civil rights movement and the coverage of Selma as one example.
Isgur had one last point on that.” :”When you start censoring truth and not allowed to talk about truth because it hurts your feelings – that’s (wrong).”
Maher’s New Rules editorial indicated his belief that the Parliament fights we see happening in foreign countries will soon arrive on our shores, given how bitterly partisan things have gotten.
Before that happens, he urged politicians to take a lesson from show business: “You can get great things done and still hate each other’s guts.”
He then reeled off a montage of great films and television where the main creatives hated each other. In one example, he cited director Roman Polanski denying Faye Dunaway a bathroom break. Whereby, she pissed in a cup and threw it in his face. The dynamic powered “Chinatown,” which, as Maher pointed out “ironically is about hoarding water.”
“Government needs to learn to do the same thing,” Maher said of cooperation despite hate. “Here we are in terrible, horrible, immoral show biz, but we still do our jobs – turning your children communist and gay.”
A person who helped create the situation we are in is now looked at as the voice of common sense. This is an artificial plan, create conflict and then take leadership over both sides of the issue. Move the right into accepting a person of the left, shift the political center slightly more left.
Goes for Bill Maher too.
It’s weird when some of the most insightful political comments come from a HBO comedy show.. That said Maher needs to try out the chicken sandwich and hash browns a Waffle House...
Okrent - one of the first 'public editors' at the New York Times told then that almost 20 years ago - they should have listened.
Maher can point out the common sense in issues, as in saying the Right has legitimate gripes of the Leftist agenda, but it doesn’t make him correct.
Maher is often very insightful even if he is pretty far left. I don’t have any problem considering what he says or even cheering if he says something I agree with.
That my FRiend is what our public discourse should be. Put your ideas out there and I put mine out there and let people decide.
What we have now is societal engineering on a massive scale and there is nothing “democratic” or “liberal” about it. It is dangerous and history shows that it leads to horrific things.
An opinion or an idea is just that.... an opinion or an idea.
I don’t have to agree with Tulsi Gabbard about everything to believe she would make a MUCH better Sec of State or Defense Secretary than what we got. She has some good ideas and some bad ones.
At this point I trust many “liberals” far more than the Ryan/McConnell crowd.
Sarah Isgur, who was involved with Mittens 2012 presidential campaign and was Carly Fiorino’s 2016 campaign manager and was the keynote speaker for the Roanoke Conference in my hometown last month, makes a point I had not considered, subscription based revenue. Conservatives should own this market.
I wonder if this is paid subscription or just subscription volume? If it’s the latter and not the former it’s an easy fix.
I think the point she was making is that ad revenue is geared toward bias.
Foxnews=conservative point of view
CNN=liberal point of view
MSNBC=WAG Conspiracy kook point of view
CBS, ABC, NBC=too busy/lazy to research government drivel point of view
The ads cater to those markets.
Like watching the Western Channel on cable. The ads are about old people medicines because that is who is watching.
Demographics
I get all of that. However, there’s another ratings system used by podcasters and the like which I was referring to.
I don’t podcast so I’m not completely sure about how the system works. I do know if you listen to Dan Bongino on the radio, he’s always talking up his and other leading conservative podcasters and asking folks to “subscribe where you get your podcasts, it’s free” and then he’ll say the subscription volume matters for placement.
This is a bit different than the usual demographics used previously. It’s different than micro targeting too. It’s definitely a topic I need to learn more about, it seems others need to understand and take advantage of the new game too. Just like conservatives in mail in ballot states need to learn the game and be better playing the new rules than the cheaters.
This week?
It's not so much the press is lying but that both sides only give the 'facts' their side wants to hear. Niche targeting and changed incentive patters in news organizations. Subtle but huge change.
Then countries that 'duke it out' vs no dissent vs civilized. Complex ideas boiled down to an easy essence to understand. Brilliant.
Then a suggestion: we don't have to all 'get along' or agree. We need to be professionals. This is the one that's funny AND worth thinking about: we need to be more like Hollywood. What? More like Hollywood? Make the damn movie even when 'team members' hate each other. The job isn't to overcome human nature and 'all get along' it's to rise above the pettiness and 'make the damn movie' - or "to do what's best for the country".
And guests? All three were amazing - and probably all liberal.
Think of the show as 'food for thought' and fun. Not as 'correct or not correct.
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