We Need a Media Makeover

“The lowest form of popular culture - lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people's lives - has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage.” – Carl Bernstein

The late Barbara Walters ended her career on the chat show The View and as a host of popular TV celebrity interviews. But let’s not forget that she was a dogged, influential journalist, and the first female news anchor. Yes, she did what was called “personality journalism” but she also didn’t let her subjects off the hook. She challenged Fidel Castro, Vladimir Putin, and other powerful people – including, back in the day, current presidential candidate Donald Trump (she brought receipts about his alarmingly shaky finances).

The days of Walters, and other storied journalists like Dan Rather, Edward R. Murrow, and Walter Cronkite, are in the rearview. We are living the 2024 version of Paddy Chayefsky’s prescient 1976 film Network.

On that note, reporter Olivia Nuzzi has made a name for herself with New York magazine, as a kind of wunderkind doing the edgiest of stories. She was among the first journalists to loudly call for President Joe Biden to step down during the summer.

But it’s come out that while pushing for Biden to leave, she was romancing another candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. If the fact that Kennedy is married isn’t sleazy enough, reporting on her paramour’s rival is journalistic malpractice.

Then there’s Maggie Haberman of the New York Times. During Trump’s term, Haberman seemed to have astonishing access to the president. But it was revealed during Trump’s New York hush money trial that Haberman was one of three reporters his administration routinely counted on for positive coverage. So much for unbiased reporting.

During the first 2024 debate between Biden and Trump, the CNN moderators did zero fact-checking against 50-plus lies by Trump. Reporters in the halls of Congress simply nod along as a politician outright lies. Kristen Welker, host of the storied Meet the Press, routinely allows outrageous claims by guests to go unchecked before “moving on.”

The captain of a junior high debate team has more gravitas.

Legendary ABC reporter Sam Donaldson was routinely yelled at by frustrated presidents from Reagan to Bush, Jr. for his dogged refusal to move on from pat answers. More recently, Colorado TV anchor Kyle Clark went viral for politely but firmly questioning Rep. Lauren Boebert during a debate. He pushed with follow-up questions; when she tried to do the DC Sidestep, he brought the facts of her voting record

That determination to get to the truth needs to make a comeback and be rewarded.

Sadly, we’re in the age of Access Journalism and the lightweight results are often shaped by bias at the top of their organizations. Look no further than Nuzzi and Company’s pile-on about Biden being “too old for” office while ignoring Trump’s very obvious decline.

It’s no wonder that candidate Kamala Harris has largely bypassed mainstream media. Instead, she’s opted for public events or savvy social media campaigns that put her message directly in front of voters. Members of the Beltway Press have their noses very much out of joint, but too bad -- they’ve shown themselves to be unserious, so why should they get to shape the narrative?

Election 2024 has been a truly wild ride, but we’ll need to turn our attention to needed reforms in the Fourth Estate. We need to platform those journalists who fearlessly call things for what they are and hold public figures to account. As Dan Rather once said, “Ratings don’t last. Good journalism does.”

Cindy Grogan is a writer, lover of history and "Star Trek" (TOS), and hardcore politics junkie. There was that one time she campaigned for Gerald Ford (yikes), but ever since, she's been devoted to Democratic and progressive policies.