We're watching
Submitted by James Protzman on Fri, 09/15/2006 - 12:59pm
The lines between journalism and punditry have always been fuzzy, and in North Carolina that fuzziness is a mile thick. To my knowledge.
Today’s big dogs in political news and opinion are the major dailies, with guys like Rob Christensen (News and Observer) and Jim Morrill (Charlotte Observer) out front on state political reporting. The AP has its own news hunter, Gary Robertson. And there are even some freelance watchdogs. The Lois Lane’s of North Carolina, so to speak.
The papers also have editorial pages and op-ed columnists. Editorial writers largely remain anonymous, giving the impression that their personal opinions represent management - or mismanagement, depending on the paper. And then there are pure columnists, people like Rick Martinez (N&O), Scott Mooneyham (syndicated) and Paul O'Connor (Winston-Salem Journal).
In some cases, reporters actually fill multiple roles. The N&O's Rob Christensen, for example is also a columnist. So is Tim Funk. More on that later.
Once you step outside of the not-so-pristine world of journalism, the political air gets even thicker. Think tanks, activist groups, 527s, 501c3s, bloggers, parties, pundits, panderers, publicists, prognosticators and plenty of other opinion manufacturers - all set on their own special interests, each vying for the blessing of the so-called mainstream media.
People move back and forth across the blurry lines between opinionating and reporting all the time, and there's nothing to be done about that. The problem, though, is when people in high places sleep on both sides of the bed at the same time.
Of particular interest to me are the relationships between news reporters and the multi-million-dollar opinion-manufacturing organization called the Puppetshow John Locke Foundation, where years of careful cultivation have resulted in undue influence with North Carolina media. They and their sister organizations, such as the Pope Center to Destroy for Higher Education, send out their "reports" and their "papers" and North Carolina media pick them and publish them them dependably as though they're something important.
Equally worrisome, though, is the back-scratching and good-old-boying that goes on among the inner circle of opinion-generators and reporters. For example, a few years ago, John Hood used to promote having Rob Christensen and Paul O'Connor as guests on his show. And who could blame him? You can't buy that kind of legitimacy. Or maybe you can.
Then there's a little venture called State Government Radio, part of the Curtis Media Group. There you'll find N&O columnist Rick Martinez and his wife Donna Martinez, doing education commentary. Donna is on the staff at the John Locke Foundation, where she writes occasional columns and conducts interviews with people who pass the Carolina Journal's ideological purity test.
This is what I mean by the tentacles of the Pope-funded organizations in North Carolina. Those organizations cultivate relationships that color the news in ways both subtle and bright. And why wouldn't they? If you could produce a report reflecting your ideological agenda and then get Lois Lane to feature it in the Daily Planet, wouldn't you do it too?
I don't fault Pope and Company for pushing their agenda one bit. The Puppetmaster puts his money where his mouth is, literally, and it's paying off for him big-time. But I do fault the media for buying their happy horseshit. The media are supposed to know better than to be seduced by self-described multi-million-dollar opinion-manufacturing machines.
Here's what the Poynter Institute, a think-tank for journalists, has to say about it.
Act Independently
* Guard vigorously the essential stewardship role a free press plays in an open society.
* Seek out and disseminate competing perspectives without being unduly influenced by those who would use their power or position counter to the public interest.
* Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise your integrity or damage your credibility.
* Recognize that good ethical decisions require individual responsibility enriched by collaborative efforts.
Those second and third bullets are the ones I'm worried about.
* Seek out and disseminate competing perspectives without being unduly influenced by those who would use their power or position counter to the public interest.
* Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise your integrity or damage your credibility.
News professionals who give coverage to material from the Puppetshow hydra have an obligation to consider their source. They have an obligation to shine a bright light on the right wing agenda behind the reports and ask themselves whether those opinions really qualify as news. And if they do qualify, they must seek out and disseminate competing perspectives.
We're watching.
- James Protzman's blog
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Does an association with Puppets
compromise integrity and damage credibility?
Hmmmmmmm.
And then there's Ed Cone
Ed Cone who manages to walk the line beautifully:
Thanks for the shout out
One of the big reasons, I left the Indy management was to get out of the office and report on government and policy in this state. I saw the light we're all supposed to be shining getting dimmer and dimmer. The easy decision would have been to take a few months off, write a bit and then get another job. But the more I see of the state, its politics and how policy really goes down, the more I want to keep pushing.
One of my big concerns right now is how the N&O/Char-O merger is going to affect coverage. The two papers used to at least keep each other honest. I'm afeared stuff will slide because there's less competition to worry about.
Going freelance, I felt, was important because now I own all my own stuff. The 3000 stories I wrote for the Chapel Hill News are behind a firewall and not doing much good to anybody without a subscription number. Trying to find a working revenue model sucks, frankly, because of that second bullet point you mention. I just took Google ads off the site because it didn't feel right. I'm lucky to have a print gig to keep me rolling, but this bloggy stuff probably is the future—at least at some point it will be.
KMR
to those who may not know, is Kirk Ross who writes Exile on Jone Street. He's as straight a shooter as you'll ever find.
That merger he mentions has me worried to. One little tick of a downturn, a little extra pressure on profits, and boom. McClatchy says, "Hey, why should we have two people in North Carolina both covering the same piddling state gummint?" Money always comes first for the mainstream media.
They are already sharing too much as it is
I visited both newspapers for a reason. Now I'll visit the politics link and get the same durned stories for the most part. Ish....
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enjoyed the "we're Watching"
enjoyed the "we're Watching" post Angelico.
We are also listening to what is offered up on the NC radio airwaves around here and find that progressive opinion
on talk radio is virtually non-existent in our
state's capital city. After all 49% of Wake County voters voted for the Massachusetts liberal John Kerry for
president in 2004, thats almost 170,000 residents that arent hearing their political views expressed by talk show hosts over the airwaves.
Even Columbia, South Carolina has a progressive talk station that airs Air America programs. Could it be that the right wing puppet masters have too much say so here?
I know what you mean
it's corporate media through and through. I know Don Curtis and he's a decent guy . . . and he's all about making money. He took WQDR country way back when when he saw the rise of conservatives on the horizon.
Unfortunately, Air America has never nailed a counterpoint. The Al Franken piece is probably the weakest (I <3 Stephanie Miller), but there are other options emerging (Ed Shultz, for example) that will eventually hit stride.
Fox News is in a free-fall nationally.
What I don't understand is why a god-fearing man like Don Curtis continues to tolerate the gasbag named Rush Limbaugh on the airwaves. The guy is a crook and a liar and an embarrassment.
Once upon a time WPTF stood for "we protect the family." Now it's "Wacko Propaganda Thwarts Freedom."
Don Curtis told me on the
Don Curtis told me on the phone right before the 2004 election that he was voting for John Kerry.
Well that's a piece of good news
Which goes to underscore the point that he's a business man first and a political operator second (or maybe never). There's money to be made in appealing to the neocon fringe, especially when your advertisers are pushing SUVs, pick-up trucks, aluminum siding, and Oreck vacuum cleaners.
Don has as much money as the Puppetmaster, and maybe more. But unless I've missed something, he's not spending it on progress. He could single-handedly shift the landscape of broadcast discourse in central North Carolina by reformatting WPTF from right-wing fringe to center left.
But he'd lose money in the short term, and that's not something media moguls like to do.
WPTF
I used to listen to Limbaugh in the interest of opposition research until I got tired of listening to ads for Hooked on Phonics and Gold Bond Medicated Powder. I developed the impression that the demographic profile was illiterate, with personal hygiene issues.
That impression
seems right on the money to me.
Rush
Doesn't Rush himself have a personal um "hygiene" issue?
Rush is......
...just an old softie....
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