HuffPost’s Fineman talks about media – the new and the old days
Monday, November 22, 2010
Howard Fineman Huffington Post political columnist Howard Fineman says the “old days” of journalism – before the internet, before Twitter, before the avalanche of all-news-all-the-time cable television – may not have been a virtuous as they seem. Conversely, the present environment of all news, all the time still cries out for responsible journalists or for consumers of news to ensure they are getting a balanced diet of all views from the political spectrum.
Mr. Fineman delivered those comments during the third of three lectures he delivered November 15 at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication.
“I come to speak to you at a time when new media, which I am fully a part of, is being buffeted about by all kinds of analysis and criticism,” he said. “And since I am somebody who was just recently in old media and now in new media, it has been an interesting time for me.”
Mr. Fineman referred to two recent media criticisms – one by veteran journalist Ted Koppel and the other from Jon Stewart, host of the cable program The Daily Show.
Writing an op ed in The Washington Post titled “Olbermann, O’Rilley and the death of real news” Mr. Koppel said journalism today “is what Bernie Madoff was to investors … simply telling people what they want to hear.” Mr. Koppel said television news once “… offered relatively unbiased accounts of information …”
Conversely, during the Oct. 30 “Rally to Restore Sanity” in Washington, D.C., Mr. Fineman referred to Mr. Stewart’s remarks about cable news and new media news that seemed to be a steady “panic conflictanator” rather than providing news. “He (Stewart) rhetorically asked why anyone would want to cooperate with someone who calls other bigots.” He quoted Mr. Stewart as saying the media provides an image of America that is a fun house mirror … “the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass like a pumpkin.”
In response, Mr. Fineman admitted that “to deny there is some validity would be wrong. Things do get harsh. Facts sometimes do go missing. But let me say how you need to be careful of the criticism.
“First of all, reports of the grandeur of the old system are deeply exaggerated,” he said, pointing to the overwhelmingly positive coverage of the Bush Administration leading up to the invasion of Iraq.” He readily admitted his complicity in this, since at the time he was a political correspondent for Newsweek magazine. Some others at Newsweek – the investigative team – were skeptical. Once Colin Powell gave his assent, Mr. Fineman said, he was among the political reporters who accepted assurances uncritically.
Second, he noted that arguing over political subjects is a core characteristic of the country. Conflict over any given subject, he said, has been a part of our history, from the establishment of the U.S. Constitution through Civil War, the Civil Rights era, and onward. “Democracy is a messy process,” he said. “We need to keep that in mind and not freak out.”
In today’s environment, Mr. Fineman concluded, everyone needs to be their own editor while listening to people “whose decency you trust” and occasionally hearing opinions that differ from your own.