When Journalists Grandstand
A reality-denying, self-congratulatory event for the Washington press corps
Picture this: A hospital refuses to treat half its patients. It lets them flounder and die. Then, at a ceremony, doctors from that hospital win awards, and use their speeches to praise the hospital for how wonderfully it’s doing.
That’s what happened at what turned out to be a self-congratulatory event for the Washington press corps.
In the new episode of They Stand Corrected, hear what journalists said, and how their claims conflict with reality. In particular, the AP and the BBC — uber-powerful news agencies with massive records of failure — were presented as paragons of journalism.
Any profession can celebrate good that it has done. But when your profession provides a crucial public service and your employers are failing to provide that service, then this kind of a celebration means denying reality.
One speaker did say something critical, noting that news agencies missed Biden’s decline. People in the room applauded. But that applause was another act of grandstanding. Because they’re clearly not taking the message to heart. Instead, they’re missing big stories, and big parts of stories, right now.
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Also in this episode, who really loves the role of journalism in a free society? When you love something, you can’t stand to see it fail. You want it to be its best. So there’s a very good chance that you love it more than news staffers who are turning a blind eye to the industry’s current profound failures.
Catch up on recent episodes:
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Thanks,
JL
