Why No One Trusts the Mainstream Media | 5 Minute Video — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02Trust in the media is at an all-time low—and for good reason.
2. 0:07We in the business of journalism have exempted ourselves from the normal rules that used
3. 0:11to govern us, and so the most egregious kinds of reporting errors are becoming more common.
4. 0:17Formerly well-respected news organizations and experienced national reporters are making
5. 0:21the sorts of mistakes that wouldn’t be tolerated in journalism school.
6. 0:25When these mistakes are corrected at all, it’s with seemingly little regret.
7. 0:29And the corrections never get anywhere near as much attention as the original salacious
8. 0:34—but incorrect—narrative.
9. 0:36How did we get here?
10. 0:38I discuss that in detail in my book, The Smear.
11. 0:41Here are three factors:
12. 0:42First, firewalls that once strictly separated news from opinion have been replaced by hopelessly
13. 0:48blurred lines.
14. 0:50Once-forbidden practices, such as editorializing within straight news reports and the inclusion
15. 0:55of opinions as if fact, are not only tolerated—they’re encouraged.
16. 1:01The result: It’s never been harder for Americans to separate news that’s real from news that’s not.
17. 1:07Example: May 14, 2016, ten days after Donald Trump became the Republican presidential nominee,
18. 1:14the New York Times published a blockbuster article titled, “Crossing the Line: How
19. 1:19Donald Trump Behaved with Women in Private.”
20. 1:22The story’s authors, Michael Barbaro and Megan Twohey, interviewed Rowanne Lane,
21. 1:27an ex-girlfriend of Trump’s.
22. 1:29Her quotes made Trump sound, at best, like a jerk, and at worst, like a predator.
23. 1:35The reporters went so far as to provide their own quotes for the story, presenting their
24. 1:39personal commentary as if it were established fact, writing, “This is the public treatment
25. 1:45of some women by Mr. Trump...degrading, impersonal, performed.”
26. 1:50The problem is, the reporting wasn’t true—according to Trump’s supposed victim.
27. 1:55Once the story was published, she publicly accused the Times of misleading her, writing
28. 2:00a “hit piece” against Trump and putting a “negative connotation” on what
29. 2:04—she said—was “not...a negative experience.”
30. 2:08No matter where you stand, this was a huge development in terms of journalism:
31. 2:12the main source behind front-page national news discredited the entire premise of the story.
32. 2:19You’d expect something like that to rock the whole news organization and prompt investigations,
33. 2:23a retraction, and re-examination of policies.
34. 2:26Yet, I can find no record of any of that.
35. 2:29The Times and their reporters never even apologized or printed a correction.
36. 2:34Second, though we may personally like or dislike a politician, as journalists we’re obligated
37. 2:40to treat them the same.
38. 2:41Too often, that’s not the case.
39. 2:44For example: In May 2008, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said he had visited 57 states.
40. 2:52Since there are only 50 states, everyone knew what he meant.
41. 2:55He meant to say was that he had visited 47 states.
42. 2:58The remark, nothing more than a verbal gaffe, drew little attention.
43. 3:01And it didn’t deserve more.
44. 3:03But when Sarah Palin made a comparable gaffe, saying, “We’ve got to stand with our North
45. 3:08Korean allies,” she was relentlessly ridiculed and mocked in the media even though everyone
46. 3:14knew she meant to say “South Korean allies.”
47. 3:17Third, too many of us have allowed ourselves to become tools of politicians and spin-meisters—
48. 3:23often in order to get something in return.
49. 3:26I call this “transactional journalism.”
50. 3:29Example: Emails show in July 2009, The Atlantic reporter Marc Ambinder was promised a scoop.
51. 3:36He’d get an advanced copy of a speech by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—
52. 3:41but only if he followed certain conditions, as privately dictated by Clinton aide Philippe Reines.
53. 3:47Reines emailed Ambinder precise instructions, including: “Describe Clinton’s voice as
54. 3:53‘muscular’” and “Don’t say you were blackmailed,” by which Clinton aide Reines
55. 3:57obviously meant, “Don’t reveal our arrangement.”
56. 4:01“Got it,” replied Ambinder.
57. 4:03His resulting article reads in part: “When you think of President Obama’s foreign policy,
58. 4:08think of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
59. 4:11That’s the message behind a muscular speech that Clinton is set to deliver today.”
60. 4:16That Ambinder, then considered a serious journalist, would allegedly violate basic ethics for such
61. 4:22a minor story speaks volumes about the state of today’s news media.
62. 4:27For the record, Ambinder defended himself by saying that he found Clinton’s speech
63. 4:31to be muscular, so the adjective was appropriate.
64. 4:35I think most Americans would like to believe their news is factual, well researched, and
65. 4:39untainted by a reporter’s opinion.
66. 4:42To put it another way, they want their news straight up.
67. 4:45But too often now, that’s not what they’re getting, and they know it.
68. 4:49I’m frequently asked, “Can the news be fixed?”
69. 4:52The answer is yes…but the first step to fixing a problem is admitting that we have one.
70. 4:58Until we do that, nothing can change.
71. 5:02I’m Sharyl Attkisson for Prager University.