Let's go on a journey way back - back, back back. To a time when reporters reported and news was news-worthy.
There's more ahead ...
Let's go back together to a time when real reporting wasn't a rare and beautiful thing to behold. When journalists on the three major networks were the best. When those that didn't do their jobs were the exception -- not the rule. When tabloid journalism was something you saw out of London's royal coverage or in the National Enquirer. When wrong was wrong and didn't get "equal time." When nut-jobs weren't given the light of day. When the airwaves weren't just a vessel used to spout lies and propaganda talking points. Remember?
Back to anchor people like Walter Cronkite. Who gave regular opinion pieces (ala Keith Olbermann) and wasn't branded as some kind of kooky liberal. (Those that called him kooky were the kooky ones in those days.)
Back to the old Sunday morning talk shows where the toughest of interviews took place.
When reporters took some time to study the facts before the interview. That may actually have done some digging to uncover something not commonly known or (dare I say it) previously unknown.
When reporters told the truth about the most important stories. When they dared to show the real toll of a war. When they weren't limited to only the news the government deigns worthy or sanitized. When reporters would write their own stories. When reporters weren't lazy and wouldn't show propaganda pieces produced by the government or commercial enterprises. When they wouldn't simply read the stories straight from the wire services or GOP talking points.
Back to a time when grownups watched the nightly news for serious information - not Hollywood gossip or sensationalized crime stories whose victims seem always to be white. When watching the news was educational.
Now return to the bizarro world of today. Where everything is upside down. Good is bad. Right is wrong. Lies are truth. Trivial is important.
Where Katie Couric considers Paris Hilton's jail sentence a top story. Where MSNBC breaks into an interview with a General speaking about the resignation of General Peter Pace, Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff to show Hilton's delivery to jail -- complete with the audible gasps of the producers in the background at this alarming and major Hollywood development. And MSNBC again screwing up priorities as their full time live coverage of Paris continues while they follow that other minor story of Pace's resignation in the background. Irony upon irony: It's Jay Leno who spends any time covering the relative importance of the stories:
Where Jon Stewart, anchorman of a comedy news show, turns out to be the best source of news as other sources never seem to notice when the emperor has no clothes.
Where Meet the Press gives an embarrassing pass to Dick Cheney during what could have been an eye opening interview.
Where wack job, Ann Coulter, gets prime exposure on Hardball and is treated like she is a credible political pundit by Chris Matthews or where she is given a monster venue to spread her hate on Good Morning America:
But don't despair. Maybe there is hope.
Let's watch David Shuster interview Ron Christie as he fills in for Tucker Carlson (hat tip to Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars.)
Here we see real journalism. Shuster anticipating the GOP talking points - the lies - and then actually challenging them (and he KNOWS they are lies!).
Right now this is something truly remarkable. To us now, he seems heroic, courageous. To us this is shocking and wonderful. And we forget that this is the way it was and is supposed to be.
Let us sing praises to the David Shusters and Keith Olbermanns of the world who still remember, and to the hope that their efforts are the first signs of a future with REAL Journalism.
Do you have any favorite moments of real journalism to share?