Waiter, Where’s Our (Political) Spinach?

by Margaret Sullivan

THE PUBLIC EDITOR MARCH 5, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/public-editor/new-york-times-public-editor-presidential-campaign.html?comments#permid=17804540:17804569

The "print media", of which the NYT claims to be the preeminent member, was the last bastion of both substantive reporting and in-depth investigative reporting. That is now history. In their battles to survive, the print media are cutting budgets for actual reporting and trying to emulate the mindless drivel of the internet.

Here again we have a prime example of how competitive, profit motivated forces is some areas can lead to disastrous effects. In trying to stay economically competitive, the media are engages in "a race to the bottom". The TV news has long since reached the level of bottom-feeders, and now the print-media is fast sinking to the same level.

There are many areas in the social/political/economic sphere where the "free market" does not work, but indeed can lead to terrible conditions. The Flint water disaster is an extreme example, where "bean counters" were put in place to take control from elected officials, with catastrophic results. Heath Insurance, and health care in general is another example where free-market, profit driven structures do not work.

Journalism, in my view, is another area where, (like in health care, where a basic level is guaranteed by all other modern societies), a minimum guaranteed access to, in this case, reliable, factual information is necessary for democracy to function.

Americans tend to discount state supported media as un-free and un-democratic - they are stuck in the model of Soviet-style media. However, in most European countries state media is an integral part of ensuring a well informed electorate.

In Germany, for example, the success of the state media (ARD and ZDF) in terms of their news and information programming, has resulted in the commercial media emulating the state media in news and information broadcasting, resulting in a much higher quality overall.

US media, in their weird interpretation of the "fair and balanced" guidelines, and their fear of being seen as biased or non-PC, will allow public figures to spout non-sense, slogans and blatantly non-factual garbage, by and large without challenge. Having witnessed first-hand a number of political campaigns and political interviews in Germany, such "passivity" on the part of journalism would be unthinkable.