A shortened online column this week, necessitated by other deadlines.
Over the weekend CNN’s Anderson Cooper was the subject of much Serious Discussion about whether he was “taking sides” when he referred to Hosni Mubarek’s “lies.”
Glen Greenwald at Salon may have had the most pointed rejoinder:
“Identifying lies told by powerful political leaders – and describing them as such – is what good journalists do, by definition. It’s the crux of adversarial journalism, of a ‘watchdog’ press. ‘Objectivity’ does not require refraining from pointing out the falsity of government claims. The opposite is true; objectivity requires that a journalist do exactly that: treat factually false statements as false.”
Shorter Greenwald: When pundits consider it “taking sides” to point out flat-out, objective falsehoods, journalism is in real trouble.
As is politics. On Sunday, House Speaker John Boehner was asked about a widely circulated video in which members of an Iowa GOP focus group expressed the erroneous belief that President Barack Obama is a Muslim, and about equally erroneous beliefs that Obama wasn’t born in the United States. From the Chicago Tribune:
“‘As speaker of the House, as a leader, do you not think it’s your responsibility to speak out against that kind of ignorance?’ asked the host, David Gregory.
‘David, it’ not my job to tell the American people what to think,’ Boehner replied. ‘The American people have the right to think what they want to think.'”
Let’s think about that for just a minute.
Is there any difference between the mindset reflected in the criticism of Cooper, on the one hand, and the mindset of a Boehner who says it’s “not my job” to point out to people their erroneous beliefs about President Obama’s birthplace or religion? When correcting such factual errors is seen as “telling people what to think” we truly have entered a post-modernist realm of no fixed reality.
*
Speaking of fact-checking… Here’s hoping someone will fact-check Sen. Alberta Darling‘s claim on “UpFront with Mike Gousha” Sunday that limiting labor negotiations to wages “is how it is for the most part in the private sector.”
*
Wall of separation: From time to time the claim is made that newspaper endorsements color coverage of a candidate in the news pages.
I have a sneaking feeling that Milwaukee County Exec candidate Chris Abele just wishes that were so….
*
Comment below, or write Pressroom at pressroom@milwaukeemagazine.com.
Follow Pressroom on Facebook or on Twitter.
