Journalist Christiane Amanpour sees an existential threat to American journalism. She warns that honest reporting is in danger in the United States and that reporters here could suffer the same repressive fate as those in authoritarian states.
Noting that the very first Tweet from president-elect Trump was a false accusation that the media had incited "professional protestors," she says, "First, the media is accused of inciting. Then sympathizing. Then associating. And then, suddenly, they find themselves accused of being full-fledged terrorists and subversives. And then, they end up in handcuffs, in cages, in kangaroo courts, in prisons, and then, who knows what?"
And she worries about the very nature of truth-telling. She notes that the Oxford Dictionary’s word for 2016 is post-truth.
Ms. Amanpour bemoaned the rampant falsehoods that spread widely and wildly during this past political campaign, saying, "The most incredible development ever, which is the tsunami of fake news, aka, lies. Somehow people could not, would not recognize, fact-check or disregard these lies."
Believing that journalism and democracy are in mortal peril, Ms. Amanpour told journalists not to create false moral or factual equivalencies and to bravely report without fear or favor. She went on to say "I believe in being truthful, not neutral."
It should go without saying that a free press is critical to the protection of American rights, freedoms and ideals. Citizens would be wise to stop insulting members of the Fourth Estate who are perhaps their greatest defenders.
And, no, the so-called mainstream media is not corrupt and conspiratorial, dishonest and disgusting, beholden to corporate cabals. Those are politically-motivated slurs, willful bald-faced lies, meant to demonize the truth-tellers and delegitimize the truth.
Reporting a falsehood as a legitimate point of view because it is believed by the gullible and those easily convinced must no longer be accepted under the guise of being fair and balanced. Lies are lies. They must be called out as lies.
Demagogues and strongmen exploit disinformation and myth. Journalists must label that misinformation for what it is - propaganda. And Americans must stop believing bullshit because it confirms their biases.
Ms. Amanpour put the responsibility for fixing what is wrong in our public discourse firmly on the shoulders of the press.
In closing she said, "Journalism itself is being weaponized. And we have to stop it. We have a huge amount of work to do, investigating wrong-doing, holding power accountable, enabling good government, defending basic rights and actually reporting on the rest of the world. … As a profession, let's fight for what's right, let's fight for our values. Bad things, we all know, do happen when good people do nothing.
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