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The Slippery slope of local journalism
Believe it or not, but there was a time in this nation when newspapers and other public-oriented media were synonymous with the Voice of the People. This belief was especially resonant for the growing population of residents in Northwest Indiana, and given its ever expanding melting pot it was the citizen ideology implicit in the text of all-too-familiar news stories about the Region's labor struggles and corporate subversion of its unions; their strikes and layoffs, to say nothing of the coverage given to the political factions vying for influence, control and management of the public's assets - to but cite a few staple narratives. News reports, feature-articles and local columnists unabashedly sought to duplicate the perspectives and critiques of famous Chicago columnists like Mike Royko.
Vestiges of these once vibrant 20th century values, now mythical aspirations, can still be found in masthead principles and ideals of, say, the NY Times, "All the News That's Fit to Print" or "Give Light and the People Will Find Their Way" --(Albuquerque) New Mexico State Tribune to name but two 20th century news organizations.
Anymore, though, at least locally, Lee Publications' NWI Indiana Times seems to have adopted the ethos and approach to news of Harrison Gray Otis & Harry Chandler of the Los Angeles Times. Or worse...worse, its editorial writers deem themselves as experts. As reported by journalist/historian David Halberstam, anti-democratic news media like the then Los Angeles Times was renown under Otis for its acerbic conservative political views, which were reflected in the paper. So much so, his home was one of three buildings that were targeted in the 1910 Los Angeles Times bombing. During his time as publisher of the Times Otis was known for coining the phrase "You are either with me, or against me."
Moving to LA from Santa Barbara, his support for his adopted city was instrumental in the growth of the city. So much so he was a member of a group of investors who bought land in the San Fernando Valley based on inside knowledge that the Los Angeles Aqueduct would soon irrigate it. Recall the allusions to this in the movie Chinatown featuring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunnaway.
Indeed, the essence of journalism in the United States, and generally for all democratically-ordered societies, is the idea of news media as the champion of transparency. For absent transparency the orientation of our democratic institutions degenerate into a dark, murky fog of class conflicts settled by special-interest legislation. Ultimately this yields nothing but the corporate factions of lobbyist-represented plutocracy. Football gives way to Rollerball. The common good, the common interest, the public interest, mere conceptual relics of the founding fathers.
Transparency, as one seasoned journalist put it, "doesn’t just mean keeping an eye on the government. It also means writing about what’s being discussed behind closed doors in local homes, examining the cultural mentality of the community. Our job is also to open those doors and say, 'Here’s what people are talking about. Let’s bring it out, discuss it thoughtfully and openly.'â€
Regardless, this value so crucial to maintaining our individual political franchise, this raison d'être of citizenry, which is so dependent on the very ideology of transparency, has been cast aside as economically obsolete to make room for a new form of socio-political governance, one not modeled on the People, or by the People, and most certainly not for the People, but for the corporations; for the special interests in subsidizing corporate profits, corporate interests -- and the biggest prize: the inculcation of values privileging corporate culture. Today, the very basis of our history and that of the common discourse once nourishing our local democracy, is being systematically undermined and poisoned; semiotically and semantically portrayed, day-in and day-out, to now represent a cultural luxury. This new myth, the new ideological orientation, this novel state of affairs, increasingly accepted in the Region despite its privileging of an anti-democratic ethos, has emerged as an unapologetic Democracy for the Few. Democracy of the privileged Few. And the chief agent promoting and seeking to perfect this development is none other than the local newspapers and other media.
Like others occupying influential platforms in our local media, the Times champions the Y2007 Kernan-Shepard report, a study commissioned by Mitch Daniels to utilize data science to mine and re-evaluate the efficiencies of state and local government. But in truth it is more an instrument. If not specially fashioned-for it is nevertheless continuously exploited to neutralize any political psychology opposing the scope of special-interest property tax legislation enacted to benefit, and further subsidize, corporate revenue and profit margins. Kernan Shepard is great idea if you're a corporation analyzing where to improve a "margin" on profit, but as a recent story by the Times indicated, despite bounty of new local income taxes, Lake County debt still looms large: "It will take at least until 2028 to repay existing debt." The Kernan-Shepard is a band-aid approach. It is applicable for marginal reductions, not a revolution in the administrative infrastructure of the State's political subdivisions.
Additionally, both the Times & Rich James recently demonstrated no qualm about their public contempt for our democratic process of electing government officials. Observe the fatcat inversion of democratic values espoused by James and Doug Ross re merit selection of judges and Judge Schiralli:
James: All judges should be selected on merit, not a law that says they are privileged because they have a robe in the closet. (Privileged? Schiralli was elected and has been re-elected numerous times. How is being elected, presumably something that evinces your performance was satisfactory, privileged? If anything is PRIVILEGED it is the total exclusion of public input on so-called merit selection, ostensibly to preclude politicization.)
Ross: The aim of the merit selection process is to make sure the person named to the court is chosen because of his or her qualifications, not because of popularity or political connections. It also deflects allegations that judges are influenced by campaign donations. (The proposition or implied claim here that merit selection neutralizes political influence is insulting, let alone subversive of democratic values. Then again, as amply demonstrated by the acumen/insight yield by Ross' past work-product, he simply isn't one of the brighter bulbs in the Lee Enterprise tree.)
Indiana law should make clear that the merit selection process is to be followed whenever there is a vacancy, rather than letting any sitting judge transfer. That should be true regardless of whether the judge has already gone through the merit selection process for a different court. (there you have it, folks. Douggie must think the selection by merit, too, is shakey)
Never confuse, then, the NWInd Times with its namesake the NYTimes, a publication that can still brag about its lack of yellow or overtly biased journalism. As stated by its most famous owner Adolph Ochs, the essence of journalism was ''to give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved.'' This motto has since held a place of honor at The Times and its the mantra of honest practitioners of news reporting or editorial writing. In August 1898, Ochs, then a 38-year-old publisher, who had already rescued a dying paper in Chattanooga, Tenn., found himself pitted in New York against powerful, sensationalistic competitors in the heyday of yellow journalism, Joseph Pulitzer of the World and William Randolph Hearst of the Journal.
These men, seeing nothing but the potential for great headlines and stories that would sell copies deliberately made their newspapers an integral part of selling the Spanish-American War in 1898. Ochs achieved his market share by publishing a newspaper that offered first and foremost news in an objective fashion, and then lowering the price of his paper from three cents to one cent per copy (81 cents to 27 cents in 2010$). Ochs statement envisioned a dignified and responsible alternative that would provide trustworthy news and opinion. By contrast, despite assurances to the contrary, the NWInd Times seeks to monopolize public discourse and continues to deny access to public commentary in the platform of its online publication.
By any true journalistic standard, this is not a voice of the People.
Last edited by Neometric on Sat May 25, 2013 11:36 am, edited 2 times in total.
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