PJNet

At 9:15 p.m. I turned off the TV, I could no longer stand to watch the left and right wing partisan folks on CNN and MSNBC scream at each other as they tried to get their political operative talking points across. What a waste of social and political capital in an election where more people are engaged than ever. From what I could tell there was no serious political analysis just  a bunch of Sunday morning gas bags, now Tuesday night gas bags, talking in extremely loud voices.

What is most amazing to me was that there was not one reported moment. No one interviewing people. No voice of the people. Just the big mouths, yelling at each other. It was to me just a continued extension of the ABC News debate where political trivia, sleaze and manipulation reigned supreme. If TV news disappeared tonight, what difference would it make to our democracy. None.

In my moments of despair over journalism, the profession I love, I keep getting draw back to the Public Journalism Network charter declaration. Twenty-four of  us worked on that in early 2003, but I think we did a very good job of defining what we wanted from journalism. Here are a couple of my favorite declarations, the essense of which have been totally abandoned by commercial TV:

We believe journalism and democracy work best when news, information and ideas flow freely; when news fairly portrays the full range and variety of life and culture of all communities; when public deliberation is encouraged and amplified; and when news helps people function as political actors and not just as political consumers. 

We believe the best journalism helps people see the world as a whole and helps them take responsibility for what they see. 

Did that awful TV commentary tonight help me see the world better and to be a better actor in the democracy in which I live. No. Not at all. It was a waste of my time and instead of helping engage people in the political process, it has done nothing but drive them away.

As I said after the ABC News debate debacle and I will say here to CNN and MSNBC you owe the American people an apology. We deserve better.
 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 9:57 pm and is filed under ABC News, CNN, Journalism, MSNBC, TV news, presidential primary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.