QUOTE OF THE MONTH:
“Lies are the simplest example of perversion, and we condemn liars because they distort the fabric of good intent…for their own gain. Lies don’t only bend the social fabric. They also twist the fabric of reality, because the liar creates a false world. We are physical bodies, but we are also mental beings, and the mental world is made up of words. Language is the medium of our awareness, and, like material substances, it is vital to our survival.”
Ali Hossaini, Ph.D.
“The nasty truth about the noble lie”
SENSE AND NONSENSE – JOURNALISM AND PROPAGANDA
From the editor: The following statements are taken from the 1987 revision of the code of ethics document adopted by the Society of Professional Journalists.
“The Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, believes the duty of journalists is to serve the truth.”
“We believe in public enlightenment as the forerunner of justice, and in our Constitutional role to seek the truth as a part of the public’s right to know the truth.”
“Journalists must be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know the truth.”
“Truth is our ultimate goal.”
“Partisanship in editorial comment that knowingly departs from the truth violates the spirit of American journalism.”
It is a shock to the intellect and to society if one compares these statements with what is being marketed as “news” and/or journalism 24 years after these words were published.
So-called “news” sources, such as Fox News, trample upon the premise of journalism as a source of objective and accurate reporting of facts. News Corporation, the corporate parent of Fox News, owned by Rupert Murdoch, can profit through its appeal to fear and greed, ala Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, and Sean Hannity, using broadcast wavelengths.
In an irony of ironies, Fox News’ trademarked slogan is “Fair & Balanced.” Fox News sued Al Franken, now Senator from Minnesota, for using the phrase in his 2003 book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. The suit was dropped after a judge found it “wholly without merit, both factually and legally.” In his decision, Judge Denny Chin went on to question the validity of the trademark.
Judge Chin is the same judge who sentenced Bernard Madoff to 150 years in prison. In April, 2010, Judge Chin was elevated by Congress to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York.
There have been three events in the journalism industry that have seriously diluted the professionalism and commitment to truthfulness in reporting.
First, broadcast journalism – as opposed to print journalism – was destined to become an entertainment industry instead of a factual reporting industry in the moment that A.C. Nielsen began assigning ratings to broadcast news programming. It is rumored that A.C. Nielsen, himself, was against this development, but was pressured into applying “sweeps” ratings to newscasts by broadcast industry executives. The broadcast industry could see the dollar signs associated with advertising that could be sold during the evening “news.”
Second, the Fairness Doctrine – formerly adopted as a rule by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1949 – was repealed in 1987. Prior to this, the U.S. Supreme Court had upheld the constitutionality of the Fairness Doctrine in Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC in 1969. The Supreme Court underscored the validity and usefulness of the doctrine in a case involving cigarette advertising in 1969. The court declined to review a lower court decision that required stations to apply the Fairness Doctrine in favor of anti-smoking advocates. The U.S. Senate passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1969 effectively banning cigarette commercials after Jan. 1, 1971. In 1972, the Supreme Court upheld an appellate court finding of the constitutionality of prohibiting cigarette ads. The impetus for such support was that radio and TV broadcasters had a duty to uphold the “public interest” in combating the dangers of cigarettes.
This support for the Fairness Doctrine evaporated completely when President Reagan vetoed legislation passed by Congress codifying the Fairness Doctrine in “The Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1987.” And in August of 1987, Reagan issued an Executive Order that abolished the FCC rules that applied the Fairness Doctrine to radio and television broadcasting.
Since 1987, conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation have launched targeted campaigns against any attempt in Congress to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine.
Third, the movement toward ownership monopolies in both print and broadcast industries has resulted in a torrent of misinformation. The highest profile media conglomerate is News Corporation owned by Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, The New York Post, HarperCollins Publishers, 20th Century Fox, and 27 television stations in the U.S. to mention just a few pieces of the conglomerate. News Corporation donated $1 million to the Republican Governor’s Association and $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2010.
Clear Channel Communications, with headquarters in San Antonio, owns a mind-boggling 1,054 AM and FM radio stations in the U.S., according to Columbia Journalism Review. Conservative talk radio has thrived and expanded exponentially under the reality of Clear Channel domination of radio bandwidths.
And Gannett Corporation based in McLean, Virginia, owns USA Today newspaper plus 100 regional and metropolitan newspapers as well as the Army Times Publishing Co., which publishes newspapers for each branch of the military.
Just as the Federal Communications Commission has played a central role in the demise of the Fairness Doctrine, it has also enabled the consolidation of media ownership into the hands of a few conglomerates. The FCC expects to complete a report on its 2010 quadrennial review of media ownership rules sometime in 2011. The FCC received criticism after holding six regional public meetings with very little opportunity for input from the general public.
The convergence of these three events – Nielsen ratings applied to TV news, repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, and consolidation of media ownership – continues to seriously threaten the central responsibility of journalism to act in the public’s interest by being fair, balanced, and objective.
Maynard Chapman, Editor
The Compass Newsletter
THE HISTORY OF LYING
From openDemocracy: The “Quote of the Month” at the beginning of this issue is from an article written by Ali Hossaini for openDemocracy (www.opendemocracy.net) in 2003. Following are more excerpts from this article entitled “The nasty truth about the noble lie.”
“For twenty years essayists have ventured to ask if George Orwell’s vision for Nineteen Eight-four is coming true. The answers have been as varied as the writers and the features of Oceania, Orwell’s fictional nation, they’ve chosen to consider….”
“There was a time when war meant an armed conflict between two nations. War was an existential threat, and called for extraordinary actions that range from killing enemies to killing the truth. Even politicians remind us that ‘truth is the first casualty of war,’ harking back to Plato’s doctrine of the ‘noble lie.’
“Noble lies run headlong into journalistic ethics, which are based on the opposite principle: that society works best when based on truth….There are no givens in life, but by unpacking some of these issues, we can define the proper role of journalists, particularly in times of war. Orwell’s famous novel is helpful here because war was a permanent condition of Oceania.
“People suspend their habitual ethics during war. Mild-mannered liberals may kill, lie and follow absolute leaders when threatened. The question is: how far this should go? Plato despised democracy, and he expected leaders to weave noble lies for the greater good….”
“Winning hearts and minds -- Democratic polities have been willing to suspend individual rights during war, and war has been defined as a situation where the nation is under arms. For the past 200 years, wars have had distinct beginnings, and democratic nations had little question that things would return to ‘normal’ when hostilities ceased. Wartime powers are temporary. What happens when a nation is in perpetual war?
“Orwell gave a telling answer to this question. Big Brother, the Everyman of dictators, learned that security trumps rights. By creating a state of permanent insecurity and blaming it on shadowy enemies, Big Brother’s government changed the terms of public discourse. In a chilling inversion of American values, the people of Oceania decided it was better to live ‘unfree’ than die….”
“Truthfulness plays a central role within our environment. Its function has little to do with the absolute certainty sought by philosophers and scientists. Instead it serves to coordinate members of society. Honest reporting is not just facts. It is good intent, and it conveys a reasonable nature that considers the needs, thoughts, and agendas of other people….An objective report is something that can be defined by a quorum of reasonable people.
“What happens, then, when objectivity is replaced by a partisan attitude? The language is perverted, because, as David Loyn points out (in “Witnessing the Truth”), journalism operates in the framework of objectivity. Loyn uses his own experience to describe the dangers of abandoning that framework. When journalists become participants instead of reporters, they cast standards to the wind. Judging right and wrong should be reserved to the citizenry, not the institutions that convey information….”
“Orwell saw the practical consequence of giving power to liars. Unassailable by debate, and possessing vast channels of public media, their assaults on the truthfulness would lead to assaults on language. They would privatize goodness and define it as they please.”
Copyright © 2011, The Compass Society
www.compasssocietynews.com
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