Saturday, February 25, 2017

The Media Will Not Participate In The Revolution

“In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”.

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George Clooney was honored with the prestigious César d’Honneur Award for his services to film (?) last night in France.

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“Let me take this opportunity to bash you with this blunt instrument I’ve just been awarded.”

Like all good little actors these days he used the opportunity to bash the new American President, telling the adoring fans that “love trumps hate; courage trumps fear.” Clever, and spoken like the true college dropout intellectual and Hollywood elitist he is; a man untouched by the crippling costs of Obamacare and oblivious to the economic impact that 8 years of Obamalism* has had on the majority of his fellow Americans.

All he is certain of is that Donald Trump (MBA ‘68 Wharton School of Business) is a moron and a hater and he feels it’s his responsibility to share his views with the world.

For his part, President Trump used his appearance at CPAC to beat the press again with a really big stick:

“They shouldn’t be allowed to make up stories and make up sources. They shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name.”

WHAT!?! Eliminate journalism’s sacred privilege? Remove their perceived shield against having to reveal their “unnamed sources.” Heresy!

Of course all that privilege is based on the theory that journalists are there to report the truth and that protecting them from revealing their sources serves a public interest by encouraging the disclosure of newsworthy information. It’s also premised on the theory that the press will maintain it’s independence:

If journalists are, or are seen as, investigative arms of the government or private interests, then the public might lose faith in their reporting and be loath to trust them with information.CJR

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Now that “journalism” has become advocacy reporting – which encourages the use of made up facts, exaggerations and sources so anonymous they don’t actually exist – I’m with President Trump: no more undisclosed sources. It simply provides cover for lies, liars and fake news. Remove ethics from journalism and you remove your right to “journalistic privilege,” period.

What a shame really to get rid of anonymous sources; to never have another Deep Throat. Just think of all the tropes we’d have missed out on if this had been the case back in the Watergate days…. read more here