Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Objectivity in Journalism. It Does Not Mean Reporting He Said, She Said.


What it does mean might be debated.  But it probably doesn't look the way NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd assumes:

Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe today (9/18/13), Todd responded to Ed Rendell's claim that Obamacare opponents are full of misinformation about the program by explaining that this was because Republicans  "have successfully messaged against it." But wasn't journalism's job to expose misinformation? No, Todd insisted; if the public was misinformed about the Affordable Care Act, it was the president's fault for not pushing back:
What I always love is people say, "Well, it's you folks' fault in the media." No, it's the president of the United States' fault for not selling it.
Of course, if it's not the job of the media to provide facts, the job of the media just got a lot cushier.  No need to do research, no need to learn about a new field, no need to do much anything but be a recorder.