A Media Guy Asks: Why Do They Hate Us?
by Matt Pressman
Vanity Fair
June 23, 2009
There’s no question media people think highly of themselves. We tend to be well-educated and worldly, and we consider ourselves worthy to help shape what the entire country reads, watches, and listens to. But what’s equally clear is that the general public does not hold us in such esteem. On the Internet, articles about the demise of traditional news media are commonly greeted with glee and schadenfreude. And it’s not just the online cranks. The Pew Research Center recently found that most Americans feel that the press is biased and inaccurate, and large percentages even said it was “immoral” and “hurts democracy.” So to borrow a phrase that became a media refrain in 2001: why do they hate us?
“The news media” is a multifarious beast encompassing everything from Access Hollywood to the Kansas City Star to The New Republic, each of which breeds its own brand of contempt. That’s a long way of saying that different people have different reasons for hating us. But as a small cog in the media machine, I’ve tried to outline the major complaints and assess their validity on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = lay off, we’re doing the best we can; 10 = you’re right, we’re the scum of the earth and we all deserve to lose our jobs).
They hate us because:
1. We’re too liberal
That the media—excuse me, the liberal, elite, America-hating media—is reprehensible has become an argument as integral to Republican dogma as “tax cuts solve everything.” Indeed, in a 2007 Zogby poll 97 percent of Republicans said the media has a liberal bias.
Validity: 7. It’s true that the overwhelming majority of people who work in media vote Democratic. But most of the people reporting the news (as opposed to editorializing) make an honest attempt to hold both parties to account and not to allow their personal views to impact their work. Liberal bias is a legitimate complaint, but it’s vastly overblown, especially given the proliferation and power of unabashedly right-wing media outlets. Plus, reporters may sometimes overcompensate for their liberal leanings by giving excessive credence to certain right-wing arguments (see global warming, Iraq war). Which brings us to…
2. We’re too conservative
The complaint from many on the left isn’t necessarily that the media is carrying water for the G.O.P. (although some make that argument), but that they are either beholden to corporate interests, overly timid, or in bed with their sources, and thus won’t report “the real truth.”
Validity: 5. Often times the “real truth” is investigated and turns out to be nothing more than unverifiable rumors, and reporting it would get you sued. And while much of what the Republicans say and do seems insane to 50 percent of the country, the other 50 percent actually votes for people like Michele Bachmann, and their views can't be dismissed out of hand.
(More here.)
Vanity Fair
June 23, 2009
There’s no question media people think highly of themselves. We tend to be well-educated and worldly, and we consider ourselves worthy to help shape what the entire country reads, watches, and listens to. But what’s equally clear is that the general public does not hold us in such esteem. On the Internet, articles about the demise of traditional news media are commonly greeted with glee and schadenfreude. And it’s not just the online cranks. The Pew Research Center recently found that most Americans feel that the press is biased and inaccurate, and large percentages even said it was “immoral” and “hurts democracy.” So to borrow a phrase that became a media refrain in 2001: why do they hate us?
“The news media” is a multifarious beast encompassing everything from Access Hollywood to the Kansas City Star to The New Republic, each of which breeds its own brand of contempt. That’s a long way of saying that different people have different reasons for hating us. But as a small cog in the media machine, I’ve tried to outline the major complaints and assess their validity on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = lay off, we’re doing the best we can; 10 = you’re right, we’re the scum of the earth and we all deserve to lose our jobs).
They hate us because:
1. We’re too liberal
That the media—excuse me, the liberal, elite, America-hating media—is reprehensible has become an argument as integral to Republican dogma as “tax cuts solve everything.” Indeed, in a 2007 Zogby poll 97 percent of Republicans said the media has a liberal bias.
Validity: 7. It’s true that the overwhelming majority of people who work in media vote Democratic. But most of the people reporting the news (as opposed to editorializing) make an honest attempt to hold both parties to account and not to allow their personal views to impact their work. Liberal bias is a legitimate complaint, but it’s vastly overblown, especially given the proliferation and power of unabashedly right-wing media outlets. Plus, reporters may sometimes overcompensate for their liberal leanings by giving excessive credence to certain right-wing arguments (see global warming, Iraq war). Which brings us to…
2. We’re too conservative
The complaint from many on the left isn’t necessarily that the media is carrying water for the G.O.P. (although some make that argument), but that they are either beholden to corporate interests, overly timid, or in bed with their sources, and thus won’t report “the real truth.”
Validity: 5. Often times the “real truth” is investigated and turns out to be nothing more than unverifiable rumors, and reporting it would get you sued. And while much of what the Republicans say and do seems insane to 50 percent of the country, the other 50 percent actually votes for people like Michele Bachmann, and their views can't be dismissed out of hand.
(More here.)
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