There has been much angst recently about how bloggers have taken down media luminaries such as Dan Rather of CBS, Eason Jordan of CNN, and Jeff Gannon/Guckert of Talon News. Clearly the media is feeling a bit on the defensive. How dare those pesky bloggers assail us, The Media, Keepers of the Faith, Defenders of Freedom?
In an article on media "coverage" of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, Carla Marinucci, the San Francisco Chronicle's political reporter, makes an excellent case for why the media should be in the target-sights of bloggers and other watchdog organizations. She doesn't even mention bloggers...(more below the fold)
Marinucci focuses the article on the soft coverage of Schwarzenegger, a muscle-bound bully of a governor who dishes it out, but has yet to take any real pressure from the media:
Take the recent no-holds-barred exchange on Los Angeles radio station
KZLA:
Q: You've got the best suits I've ever seen. Are they custom-made or are they off the rack?
A: You know, with my body I cannot get things off the rack ... .
Q: May I say, from one man to another, beautiful? They drape unbelievably. ''
Schwarzenegger also took this grilling: "I've got to ask you, governor. A lot of the guys we talk to ... say their wives turned them on to country music. Does Maria like it as well?''
And at an "all news" Los Angeles station, there was this recent interrogation:
"You have done so much in your life. You won what, five Mr. Universe titles, I believe -- is that right?
And there was this probing question during a radio interview last week: "You sound terrific. The energy you have is unbelievable. How do you do that every day?''
The only explanation for this puff coverage is this:
"Part of the reason he is so successful at managing the media is that there are so few reporters who cover state government on a regular basis,'' said Barbara O'Connor, a political science professor at California State University Sacramento. "He has made himself available to the Capitol press corps on a limited basis. But it's clear that this governor wants to set the media agenda in the way we haven't seen in a long time. And because of his celebrity status, he is successful at doing that.''
Frankly, that just doesn't wash with me. Journalists have a job to do, and even if their normal beat is San Diego news, rather than the state house, they should know how to prepare for a story and ask tough questions, with follow-up questions to ensure a real answer.
Remember how the Governator promised during the recall campaign to look into allegations of groping and other forms of sexual harassment? Funny how that investigation never happened, and the media never held him to it (or investigated on their own). Or maybe not so funny:
What else explains this statement from radio host Larry Elder, a conservative talk show icon who is tough as nails on a lot of subjects: "Governor, as charismatic as you are, as energetic as you are, as popular as you are, your opponents are going to raise more money than even you can raise to defeat these ballot initiatives.''
Or the, uh, preparation factor on radio station KFI, where the hosts -- talking about illegal immigration -- noted that Schwarzenegger went to schools "where everybody was speaking Austrian too.''
And that Los Angeles "all news" radio station anchor, who asked: "Do you miss the movies?"
So if the media continues to revel in the pomp and circumstance of their access to political players, whether they be Scott McClellan, George Bush, Tom Delay, or Arnold Schwarzenegger, they should realize by now that we expect them to uphold the responsibility that goes with access. We expect them to prepare for their stories, to ask tough questions, and to demand tough answers. I'd like to know why nobody is investigating the mishandling of monies by the Coalition Provisional Authority, while the Republicans in Congress have initiated 5 investigations of the UN oil-for-money program in Iraq. I'd like to know why two White House journalists sat next to Jeff Gannon (or Guckert, or whatever his name was), and never found it curious that he worked for a bogus "news agency."
And if journalists continue to drop the ball, they are now on notice. Bloggers will be investigating the stories. Bloggers aren't afraid of making so-called mainstream journalists part of the story. And if Carly Fiorina can get fired for not doing her job very well, so can Tom Brokaw or Wolf Blitzer.
