Serious TV journalists are all atwitter that they can’t seem to get no respect. They are upset that Jon Stewart’s the Daily Show is deemed more credible than the nightly news. As this piece said, they were offended that John Kerry chose to go on the Daily Show rather than one of the regular news programs.

Yet, if one has been reading Bob Somerby for any length of time, it is clear that it isn’t just the TV news that is seriously defective. The mainstream media of this country does such a lousy job that it is in fact threatening our democracy. Nothing seems to shame them into doing their job as one of the critical legs of a functioning constitutional democracy. They would rather play gotcha and joke about what has been going on with our government and in our politics and they are afraid to take on the powerful. As Somerby said last week about the Swift Boat Veterans for Gross Lies:

The Washington press is afraid of accusers, and it’s especially scared of rough, crude men who come to us from the crackpot right! Indeed, the mainstream press has rolled over for attacks on Dem White House hopefuls ever since the Bush camp slimed Dukakis in 1988. On last Friday’s Hardball, poor Roger Simon was wringing his hands, concerned that ’88 was occurring again. But it’s happening again because weak men like Simon are too afraid to stand and deliver. Simon’s too frightened and weak for his job. And those accusers do know how to fight.

The result is a populace that believes lies even when they are proven lies. No wonder we are trapped in a war that never should have happened. A war made possible because our country can be lied to with impunity and the media willingly enables the liars.

Last weekend, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published the following highly relevant and astute criticism of today’s media. Maybe if it gets enough play, some of the serious journalists will be shamed into showing some courage and once more play the role they were given by our forefathers in the constitution.

Weekend Feedback, 9/10/04

Friday, September 10, 2004

Mr. Koppel, here’s why we watch ‘The Daily Show’

I hope this is it. I hope television journalism has hit rock bottom like an alcoholic who wakes up on a downtown sidewalk and understands he must find a 12-step program.

If you stayed up late enough last Wednesday night to see the very end of Ted Koppel’s “Nightline,” you would have been able to witness just how obtuse television news reporting has become. Ted Koppel tried to teach an elementary lesson in Journalism with a capital J to “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart, and was repeatedly verbally dope-slapped by the comedian to no apparent effect. Jon Stewart, as he frequently does, was stating the case that journalists were failing miserably at their job. So miserably, in fact, that many people feel they have to watch a basic cable fake news show to find “The Truth.”

Mr. Koppel then patronizingly tried to explain to Mr. Stewart the difference between facts and the truth. He suggested that if the president gave a speech calling Mr. Koppel a rapist and pedophile that this assertion would be a fact and newsworthy in that the president called a famous, well-respected journalist a rapist and pedophile, even if the accusation were untrue.

Not being a journalist, I was dumbstruck. Mr. Koppel believes that the correct headline for a journalist to report on this hypothetical event is “President accuses journalist of pedophilia” because it is factually correct. I think the rest of us non-journalists would agree that the headline should be “President falsely accuses journalist of pedophilia.” I have been trying to get my head around why journalism has gotten so bad in the past 20 years and Ted Koppel has finally shown me. When Gerald Ford mistakenly argued in a presidential debate with Jimmy Carter that Eastern Europe was not under the influence of the Soviet Union, yes, indeed, it was reported that he said this. But it was never reported without it being noted that he was completely wrong.

If President Bush makes a speech declaring that the moon is made of cheese, the headline is not “President declares moon made of cheese,” the headline is “President delusional!” or “White House assures nation that president misspoke.”

If you have been paying attention, you have seen this slide to the bottom coming for a long time. Newt Gingrich in the early ’90s put the pedal to the metal when he developed his dirty words to call your opponent that won’t be challenged. The press, pathetically, and the Democrats, even more pathetically, did nothing to call this slimy tactic by its proper name. This first inroad led us down the path to where we are now: the unchallenged assertion.

On MSNBC’s “Hardball” last week, Sen. Rick Santorum finished up his interview with Chris Matthews with some stunning assertions about John Kerry: “Well, I mean, I only have to allude to his testimony before Congress … And I think that kind of anti-American sentiment, that kind of America can’t do it, America isn’t good enough anymore, and sort of being critical, as he has been of the president, not supporting our troops, all that coming out in Pennsylvania is just not going to sell.”

Well, thank goodness for Chris Matthews and his hard-hitting journalism and integrity. His “hardball” response? “OK. It’s great talking to you tonight, Senator Rick Santorum, the junior senator from Pennsylvania.”

OK. So for Rick Santorum and the panoply of militarily challenged members of the Bush-Chen