Full Court Press: Mary Mapes, Katrina And The Media's Obsession With Itself.

It's been rather difficult for me to become exercised about the news lately, hence my lack of posting. My problem has been in defining what it is that I have to add to the cacophony that generally serves to obfuscate, and in some areas obliterate, any real sense of understanding. So I have refrained from adding yet another hollow opinion to the various strains of invective flu that passes for rational discourse.

Yet, today we have in front of us some evidence that those who peddle the news do so with more fervor for their own sense of self worth than for any attention to reporting facts.

Mary Mapes, the disgraced ex-producer of 60 Minutes, has a book out that seems to want to address everything but the facts of how she became an ex. In the extract on Amazon, she writes that she and her team had "made news" in the story she produced wherein Dan Rather used false documents to further an unsubstantiated claim that came to be known as "Memogate." Fine. Rand Simberg and Greg Sheffield fairly take her apart in the manner that has become a hallmark of good blog criticism. What Ms Mapes fails to realize even now is that her job is not to make news, but to report it.

Meanwhile, as the truth of the various stories of carnage in the Superdome come out, the LA Times takes the media--and its own reporters--to task for what has turned out to be a media riot in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This comes as we hear how proud of himself and his comrades Chris Matthews is. For another take on this very same exchange between Matthews and Peter King, check out Crooks and Liars. The left and right have decided that this is the perfect time to pretend that the shoddy, unconscionably false reportage was based on some political calculus, when in fact it was based on a sort of institutionalized propensity to believe the worst about minorities and the poor. But did the media just make up the stories, or were they started as most urban legends are, from puffery and frustration and often sourced from the subjects themselves?

The protest in Washington got its fair share of media and blog attention, too, although it depends on who you read whether or not you think it was success. And by the way, it does matter that many of those involved in the protest have been the recipients of some undeserved gentle treatment by the media. That clear-thinking people, both for and against the war have noticed much the same features of the so-called anti-war protesters shows that the media have a festering problem with upholding the principles and practices upon which they claim legitimacy.

I have no patience with charges of either liberal or conservative bias when it comes to the media. If only the whole mess was that easy to clean up. You know the drill. Bush can't catch a break because the media are amassed against him. Or rather, Bush gets a pass every time because, you know, the media are owned by big corporations and who loves big corporations more than Dubya? Back during the Clinton years, the media were supposed to be out for Bubba's blood, remember? Or am I the only one who sat through hours of breathless tabloid titillation about semen stains, cigar dildos and orally-fixated interns? If we all had just listened to Christopher Hitchens, we would have found quite enough to be unhappy about.

The evidence so far is that the media are biased towards the media and everyone else can just go to hell. There are certainly reporters, editors and producers with agendas, but when was that not so? The agenda is not what matters. What matters is how we choose to accept our news. We are unfortunately in the position of having to take every news story and every news outlet as a lie until proven otherwise. I find it common practice to sit down with friends and defend my habit of watching either CNN and FOX (I really haven't warmed to MSNBC yet) or even worse, of watching both. I find that I have tired of the defense and have instead made it my business not to offer explanation why I think that neither channel merits unalterable fidelity.

The attitude displayed by the media whether in reference to their subjects or their consumers, is encapsulated by Dan Rather himself, through the conduit of Mary Mapes', if not exactly poison, then at least mildly toxic pen:

Dan told me he was confident in the story and that he was lucky to work with me. He signed off by saying something that had become a shorthand for us over the years: “F-E-A.” That was code for “F---’Em All,” a sentiment that needed to be expressed from time to time in any newsroom.

You see, those who hold the nation's news in charge have just such an over blown sense of mission and paranoia that the sentiment simply cried out to be spoken. Why? The answer may be that as keepers of the ultimate truth, or at least truth as they themselves define it, media habitues don't much like standing up to the same sort of scrutiny that they dish out to those whom they cover. Dan Rather means it when he says F--- 'Em All. Everyone is arrayed against him, and no one is worthy of demanding accountability from him.

But Rather is not alone, alas. Just spend a few minutes in the warm glow of Bill O'Reilly's ego and you will have your conservative Rather.

As for Mapes, and all those like her, I am reminded of Yum-Yum, Gilbert & Sullivan's little maid in The Mikado for whom the world has been made:

The sun, whose rays

Are all ablaze

With ever-living glory,

Does not deny

His majesty--

He scorns to tell a story!

He don't exclaim,

"I blush for shame,

So kindly be indulgent."

But, fierce and bold,

In fiery gold,

He glories all effulgent!

 

I mean to rule the earth,

As he the sky--

We really know our worth,

The sun and I!

 

I mean to rule the earth,

As he the sky--

We really know our worth,

The sun and I!

Observe his flame,

That placid dame,

The moon's Celestial Highness;

There's not a trace

Upon her face

Of diffidence or shyness:

She borrows light

That, through the night,

Mankind may all acclaim her!

And, truth to tell,

She lights up well,

So I, for one, don't blame her!

 

Ah, pray make no mistake,

We are not shy;

We're very wide awake,

The moon and I!

 

Ah, pray make no mistake,

We are not shy;

We're very wide awake,

The moon and I!

Comments

[Michael]

Just wanted to post here, good job. The media has fallen to below tabloid journalism standards, I would bet that even The National Enquier does better fact checking and the Media's "coverage" of Katrina is a perfect example. Say what ever you heard from anyone who speaks into the mic so that the other channels don't get to it first never mind if it's true; "Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead" Of course I must say that the people have no one to blame but themselves, by continuing to watch the networks they reinforce this behavior and I too am not immune from scorn. I also will turn on the networks and flip thru to see what they say even it is to see how wrong they are which in our age of information they know I am watching and it adds to their ratings. It is not an easy tightrope to walk and although I see the light at the end of the tunnel in the age of the internet and blogs the tunnel is still a long one. Courage.
P.S. Sorry I couldn't resist the swipe.

[Daniel]

Welcome, Michael. And please return often.

You're right that we have only ourselves to blame, and much the same can be said in reference to government. I'm not certain how long the tunnel is, and I'm not certain we're moving fast enough to get to the end before it's bricked over.

Last week I wrote a post about Simon Wiesenthal that got exactly no notice. The other day I was fiddling around and saw that Don Adams had died. So I did a Google blogsearch. Wiesenthal: 4,046 references. Adams: 55,579.

On Mother Google it was Wiesenthal: 4,450,000. Adams: 31,500,000.

I liked Get Smart as much as anybody, but am I the only one who sees something wrong with this?

[Michael]

It is unfortunate, but we live in a TV world, I would not doubt that the huge difference in numbers is based on the fact that more people know who Don Adams was than knew who Wiesenthal was. Also I would not doubt that if you asked most people my age or younger, I am 32, what they thought about what Wiesenthal did they would respond, "Dude, aren't the nazi's already gone? That is so last century" It is a side effect of the culture. A great book about what TV has done to the country is, "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Showbuisness Age" by Neil Postman. I watch very little Commerical TV other than Cartoons(I may be 32 but I refuse to grow up)mostly because nothing else on regular TV interests me. But for most of the Country why bother with real people who do real Nazi Hunting when you can watch fake people hunt down fake criminals and have everything nicely solved in 60 minutes? I do not know who said it but a great phrase was, "We no longer worry about Big Brother watching us, we are watching Big Brother" and as long as we are watching TV we aren't paying attention to the outside real world. Sad but true. Sadder still is the people who watch the most TV and know the least about anything else are usually the ones who are most vocal about "all the wrong things America does" because they do not know of all the real things that America does for the good. Besides Mr. Wiesenthal was Jewish and we all know the Jews really created the Nazis to force the creation of Isreal. Not kidding I have seen that dumbass theory put forward. Sickening huh? Another reason for the difference in numbers.

[John]

You are saying you didn't want to give your hollow opinion on some issues and yet you do. I am sorry to be say this but you are a big fucking dumbass. Mary Mapes has served this country for a quarter of a century and has broken some of the biggest news stories. What I don't understant is your stubborn attachment to your own biased opinion on this issues and not to the facts. The memos were never proved false. They never never proved authentic. Why can't you just look at the other side of the argument? Why can't you take anything that's against the president? Maybe it's time for you to have an unbiased look at the issue and look at the issues as a sane person and leave your bias aside. Mary Mapes is the greatest producer CBS has ever had. She was someone CBS had to get rid of to appease the White House because she was bring to public attention truths that the White House didn't want people to know...

[Daniel]

Uh, yeah. Whatever.

You have a hard time with comprehension, don't you? Having opinions is why I write here and came to opinion like everybody else.

Are you convinced that everything CBS says is above reproach? Is that your opinion? Have you bothered to look around here? Have you not seen criticism of te president? Hmmm? You simpletons seem to think that it's either one way or another. Bush can be a failure and still the memoes can be forgeries. You inability to make that very small step shows that you are the idiot.