Journolist Proves Objectivity in Media is Dead
If you've been following the sordid story of the list-serve Journolist, you know objectivity - even the illusion of objectivity - in the mainstream media is dead.
Today's revelation off the list is another discussion amongst reporters about how the government should shut down Fox News. You know, the nation's leading cable news outlet. The outlet, whether you like their right-leaning politics or not, blows away all the others. It's watched by more Americans than the other networks combined. In fact, more people watch its less-watched shows than Keith Olbermann on MSNBC.
There is no doubt reporters are like the rest of us; they have their own views and opinions. Whether they are liberal or conservative, capitalist or socialist, there are plenty of both persuasions. It just so happens the majority working in mainstream newsrooms happen to lean left. Not only do they appear to lean left, but they appear to also disregard the tenets of the First Amendment.
Today's flap from the Journolist includes several well-known liberal journalists calling for a government shut-down of Fox News. That's right. Reporters calling for the squelching of the very thing that allows them to have a job - freedom of speech.
Speaking on the list, Daniel Davies of the liberal UK newspaper The Guardian, talked about his "fear" of the cable news network. “I am genuinely scared” of Fox, he wrote. “...it shows you that a genuinely shameless and unethical media organization cannot be controlled by any form of peer pressure or self-regulation, and nor can it be successfully cold-shouldered or ostracized. In order to have even a semblance of control, you need a tough legal framework.”
Davies always argues the U.S. needs tougher libel laws and often rails against Fox News, yet never has any criticism for more left-leaning outlets like MSNBC.
In another unhinged muse about Fox News, UCLA Law professor Jonathan Zasloff simply suggested the federal government pull Fox off the air. Zasloff said: “I hate to open this can of worms, but is there any reason why the FCC couldn’t simply pull their broadcasting permit once it expires?”
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