It’s true–many members of the media are too white, too wealthy, too smug and too proud of themselves for having attended expensive Northeastern universities. They have health insurance and day care and the women have the annoying habit of retaining their maiden names after marriage.
But so what? They are still among the few people in this country who spend a lot of time talking to other people-and actually trying to understand people–who are different from themselves. At a time when so many on the right and what remains of the left actually brag about refusing to socialize with, publish alongside or even speak to those who do not already agree with them, the responsible news media provide the few vehicles by which we encounter and try to communicate with each other.
senior correspondent, CBS’s “60 Minutes”
As everyone knows, our job is to report, to explain, to illuminate, to pierce the facade. But that, it seems to me, belabors the obvious. If we do our job right, we help. If we don’t, the public will let us know about it.
former vice president
One of the strengths of democracy is diversity, but there is an amazing lack of it at the top levels of the national media. The best-known journalists are rich, travel in elite circles and share a common ideology. They are far removed from the great working-class traditions of American political journalism.
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
We could not have had a democracy and sustained it so long without a free press. The press is an excellent reality check for the political system. Journalists hold our feet to the fire-and appropriately so. The American news media’s shortcomings are a small price to pay for their crucial watchdog role.
syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune and frequent commentator on “The McLaughlin Group”
We help when we provide more choices to more people, but we do no favors to democracy when we transform ourselves from beacons of light into heat-seeking missiles. For example, President Clinton’s 1995 State of the Union address took more than an hour, which apparently was about a half hour more than the patience of most network commentators could tolerate. In their instant analysis after the speech they uniformly condemned its length and “lack of focus.” As one put it, “It didn’t have a bumper sticker.” Yet, judging by polls and talk shows the next day, most Americans appeared to appreciate the president’s thoroughness and lack of condescension. In the civil-rights era news media appealed to the nobler instincts in their audiences. Today we focus on conflicts more than healers. We investigate less and pontificate more. We pounce on politicians’ every little misstep, yet reverently give private corporations a pass. Even an obvious target like the tobacco industry need only raise the specter of a lawsuit to make mighty news organizations quake. Why do Americans complain more, yet vote less? The answer for the media is in the mirror.
former Democratic representative from New York and 1984 vice presidential nominee
Look at any country in the world and it’s easy to see that no true democracy can exist without a free press. But sometimes the media go too far. When that happens, when the media place ratings, sales figures and their bottom line above their responsibility to both the people they serve and the subjects of their reporting, sinking at times into irrelevancy, they hurt the country. How? By weakening the faith of citizens in their government and discouraging good people from participating. Of course, I have yet to meet anyone in the media who will admit that they ever cross that line of responsible reporting!
Dean, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
The country would be poorer were it not for CNN and C-Span’s live coverage, the extended discussions on “Night-line,” “Frontline” and"The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," and the probing of the Sunday interview shows. Those seeking substance in such faraway places as Austin, Texas, can now subscribe to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the National Weekly Edition of The Washington Post. But in news of all forms, hyperbole is too often preferred to nuance, strategy to substance, attack to advocacy and conflict to consensus.
professor of political science at Syracuse University and author of “Out of Order”
Journalists are obsessed with the underbelly of American politics. Negative news more than doubled since the 1970s and now exceeds positive coverage. Ignoring the values at stake in political conflict, the press portrays politics as a struggle for power between scheming, self-serving politicians. The fact that the American constitutional system is based on the principle of checks and balances is ignored; whenever politicians move toward compromise, they are accused of flip-flopping and lack of character.
Journalists have also hijacked the news. Network correspondents covering the ‘96 Republican race have talked six minutes on the evening news for every minute the candidates have been allowed to speak. It’s absurd that the news focuses more on the journalists than the people they cover.
author of “Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women”
A democracy requires a wide exploration of different viewpoints. But our media typically reduce issues to two extremes-the “conventional” view that enforces the status quo and the most “radical” opinion, which the media dub a lunatic fringe; then the media sic the two against each other in a fixed fight in which the conventional always wins. Our press is hooked on gotcha journalism, where new ideas are met with cynicism-and knocked down.
former Washington Post reporter, currently an advocate for political and media reform
I went into journalism in 1970 to do good. But after 25 years I decided journalists and politicians are bringing out the worst in each other. I didn’t want to write anymore about which photo op some clever strategist would stage in the third week of October. Ninety percent of America doesn’t give a damn, and they’re right. We’ve got to figure out a way to show how the sausage is made and still have faith.
