The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
Facts used to be the essence of good journalism. Who, what, when, why, and how were the questions to ask that journalists were taught in college or in on-the-job training. All print journalism was “vetted,” meaning that an editorial staff read everything the writers wrote, and they insisted their work must be factually correct.
Up until the age of television, most journalists worked for print publications, mainly newspapers and magazines. As technology expanded, other media also employed journalists, until now there are probably far more journalists working in radio, television, and social media than in the print media. Besides, the other media are more profitable.
In the December 16 issue of The New Yorker, there was a very enlightening article about a Russian journalist named Konstantin Ernst. It explained how Mr. Ernst has to walk a narrow path between investigative journalism about the Russian government and keeping that same governmental state relatively happy with his television programming.
For more than three decades, Ernst has been a major force in Channel One, which he has led since 1995. Channel One is one of the three state-sponsored television networks in Russia. He served briefly under the glasnost of Mikhail Gorbachev, next under the semi-democratic but chaotic leadership of Boris Yeltsin, and finally under the very hawk-like gaze of Vladimir Putin.
Konstantin Ernst has some liberal tendencies, especially for Russia. However, he knows he must keep in the good graces of the Russian President. He has managed to do so with an adroitness which every American politician and journalist would do well to study carefully.
The New Yorker article indicates that Ernst has concluded that beliefs have become far more important than facts in shaping public opinion. He knows how to steer the beliefs of the Russian populace in such a way as to maintain support for the Russian state while also making a slow but steady movement toward more transparency in the news.
Ernst told Joshua Yaffa, the journalist who wrote the story, “I grew up and travelled all over, and, especially in recent years, it became increasingly clear to me that justice, democracy, the complete truth --- they don’t exist anywhere in the world.” In response, Yaffa wrote, “It would be impossible to convince (Ernst) that today CNN and the BBC don’t have the same partiality as Channel One, or are not following an agenda.”
In a time of worldwide political polarization, facts seem not to matter much on either side of the center, whatever and wherever “the center” is. The impeachment hearings have illustrated that with a depressing and dispiriting clarity.
Now, most people seem to choose on which side of “the center” they stand, and they consume their news from the news purveyors of that “side.” Beliefs thus tend toward inflexible extremes, and facts languish unstudied by all but the most diligent of readers or perhaps watchers.
Until facts return to being the primary feature in creating public opinion, the world will continue to writhe in a turmoil of muddled beliefs. The print media, far more than the “hot” visual media, represent the last, best hope of journalism.
In the USA, that means that newspapers and news magazines are preferable for obtaining factual news. Nonetheless, the four major non-cable television networks (including Fox, but not Fox News), and NPR, are still vetted news sources. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News do some vetting of their programming, but they all have political axes to grind. Avoid social media like the plague; they are a plague on the media.
Long live the facts. Think hard about your beliefs.
- December 15, 2019
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.