[I]t is media's job to put the corrupt, the inept, the mendacious, the venal, the hypocritical and the plain stupid ''on blast,'' as the kids say, i.e., to publicize their sins and misdeeds broadly. To speak truth to power and truth about power. To call spades spades.
Written by a Miami Herald reporter in the aftermath of a rather ugly incident, in which he's trying to defend his fellow journalists' roles.
Am I the only one thinking that too many in the media "speak truth to power and truth about power" only when they've a soft target -- one without the teeth to bite back?
Eric says:
I think you're absolutely on the mark. I also think that, for many reporters, they have discovered that they have power and they like using it. They also have a tendency, without even realizing it, I think, to allow their personal prejudices to shape how they write their stories. And since there is a huge amount of "inbreeding" in the media (they all tend to hold quite similar social and political opinions) it's pretty much impossible for them to see that they are doing it. They have held a huge monopoly on public information for 6 decades and that has seriously warped their view of what "journalism" is, what balanced reporting is, the difference between informing and editorializing, etc.