This is a posting explaining why you have to be engaged when watching TV and reading a newspaper – even when reading this column.  News is not a spectator sport.

 

Stratfor this past week offered a revisionist – and well-thought out – history of Watergate and the effects on journalism.

Keep this in mind, when you are watching and reading news.

The examination was done in conjunction with the death of Mark Felt – aka Deep Throat. Stratfor didn’t revise any wrongdoings by President Nixon and his White House. But they questioned how the story was presented to the public and how that might have affected journalism decades later and today.

In short, the unveiling of Watergate was directed by an intelligence and law enforcement agency – the FBI. And the sole source, known by the journalists and the Washington Post, had an axe to grind; Felt was not chosen as the head of the FBI by Nixon. Felt then engaged in J. Edgar Hoover-like moves by spilling insider information on the executive branch of government.

By keeping Felt’s secret for so long, the public was denied full access to the motivations and biases of what could have been considered a rogue shadow government behind the leaking of the story.

Stratfor concludes there has been no real examination by news organizations of undisclosed sources over the years. As a result, Stratfor concludes:

What appears to be enterprising journalism is in fact a symbiotic relationship between journalists and government factions. It may be the best path journalists have for acquiring secrets, but it creates a very partial record of events — especially since the origin of a leak frequently is much more important to the public than the leak itself. Stratfor December 24, 2008.

Watergate and the success of Woodward and Bernstein launched many journalism careers: yours truly included. For three years in newspapers and four years in TV as an investigative reporter, I used my share of confidential sources to get stories. Corroborating those sources with other sources that went on the record was my main objective. Trust me, if I was going to be attacked physically, verbally, and legally, then I wanted to know I had the story stone cold.

No doubt it was exciting and rewarding work. I truly think I helped correct some wrongs. But it was also a heavy responsibility. You could be destroying people’s careers or futures. Knowing the motivation of the people in the shadows is paramount. But anyone who watched my reports would have to trust me. In today’s checkbook journalism world credibility is hard to sell.

The easy journalistic frauds to figure out are folks like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Neil Bortz all of whom continued to dredge up half-truth stories about Obama only days before the election while failing to offer other, most times more qualified, sources. We all know that the entertainers at night on Fox News Channel, talk radio, and MSNBC deliver stories with an angle – their angle. If you quote them as a source, then don’t be surprised if someone questions your fairness or accuracy.

That being said, it’s the major news organizations – like the Wall Street Journal (now owned by Fox), The New York Times, and the Washington Post – that you need to really question. Do these companies exist to deceive us? No. They’re reputable organizations. But they’re working in a non-scientific field; things change and they get stories wrong either innocently or through lazy reporting and editing.

These organizations should be scrutinized as much as they allegedly scrutinize our elected officials and business leaders. We should examine the news organizations and their sources motivations – and not just because they’re “liberal” or “conservative” which is the fall-back attack of extremists against news they don’t like.

Take the Blagojevich story. Has anyone really shown what crime he’s committed? Not yet. Does that mean he’s guilty? We don’t know. Should we question the motives of Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald? You bet. But we need time to see this through – for the sake of justice.

Remember: news reporting is just a one day snap shot in time. There’s the story about Einstein’s student telling him that Einstein had mistakenly given the same questions on a final exam from the year before. Einstein said he knew it. Even though the questions were the same, he explained to the student, the answers this year are different.

In addition, let me add that all news organizations are facing tough financial times. News staffs are being cut back here and around the world. Meanwhile, more journalists are being killed or arrested around the world. Though not as ominous, our new Administration is depending more on social networking sites to reach you. They could also be controlling the message, too.

What does this mean? It means you are the most important journalist in your life. You need to work when you watch and read the news. Let me help you.

If you want a copy of my book – for free – write to me at info@johndaly.tv and put “free book” in the subject line and I will email you a copy of the book.

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