Michael Goodwin is the chief political columnist for
The New York Post.
He has a B.A. in English literature from Columbia College and has
taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Before
joining the Post in 2009, he was the political columnist for
The New York Daily News,
where he served as executive editor and editorial page editor and led
its editorial board to a Pulitzer Prize. Prior to that, he worked for 16
years at
The New York Times, beginning as a clerk and rising to City Hall Bureau Chief. He is the co-author of
I, Koch and editor of
New York Comes Back.
The following is adapted from a
speech delivered on April 20, 2017, in Atlanta, Georgia, at a Hillsdale
College National Leadership Seminar.
The behavior of much of the media, but especially The New York Times, was a disgrace. I don’t believe it ever will recover the public trust it squandered.
I’ve been a journalist for a long time. Long enough to know that it
wasn’t always like this. There was a time not so long ago when
journalists were trusted and admired. We were generally seen as trying
to report the news in a fair and straightforward manner. Today, all that
has changed. For that, we can blame the 2016 election or, more
accurately, how some news organizations chose to cover it. Among the
many firsts, last year’s election gave us the gobsmacking revelation
that most of the mainstream media puts both thumbs on the scale—that
most of what you read, watch, and listen to is distorted by intentional
bias and hostility. I have never seen anything like it. Not even close.
Bias in the media, is not a event. What is worth the noting is the open in your face manner which it is being done. I do remember a time when I innocently believed what ever the TV anchor told me on the evening news. Then came the 1980 election. The news chick was solemnly reporting on the "first failure of the Reagan Administration". Minor detail. He was still president elect having yet to talk the oath of office, therefore Jimmy Carter at the time of the news report was still the President. Later I noticed that it did not matter which station you were watching the evening news,they ran the same stories in the same order with a fluff/human interest item at the end of their broadcast. I suspect that the only people who become "journalist" are the political activist hacks and those who are not smart enough to become teachers.
ReplyDeletethose who are not smart enough to become teachers.
Delete@ that's saying a lot.
Savage - The 4th Estate has become the 5th Column
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yYkbOqt4jg
Thanks and listening now.
Delete