The Quest for Balance
The New York Times is supposed to be one of the cornerstones of journalism. They were a beacon of light throughout the TFG presidency bravely calling balls and strikes. That’s ultimately what the free press is supposed to do. Their recent staff editorial on free speech certainly caused a stir for all of the wrong reasons.
The staff editorial made two huge mistakes in logic with their screed. First, one of the beacons of the free press misunderstood what free speech is and therefore misunderstood what censorship is. Aa you might suspect, they got quite a bit of push back on their opinion. The editorial presents two distinct problems plaguing journalism and the marketplace of ideas.
Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from criticism. I don’t get to broadcast my truth free and clear of any push back from anyone else in the marketplace of ideas. There are ideas worth shunning. There are ideas that demand shunning. Shunning horrific and grotesque ideas is not censorship. If cancel culture is even a thing, it has been a thing for an eternity.
However, it is the second problem that is perhaps even more alarming. The NYT seems to think it is their job to be fair and balanced. Fair is a four letter word. To borrow from the baseball analogy, fair and balanced seems to indicate calling balls and strikes as they come. Yet, the NYT seems to think that if there isn’t an equal number of balls and strikes then they haven’t done their job.
Some pitchers have impeccable control while other pitchers occasionally hit the mascot. The free press cannot treat them equally. A ball in the dirt is still a ball in the dirt. It does not become a strike because you’ve already called a bunch of balls on that particular pitcher. Some ideas are just wrong. Some schools of thought are not to be taken seriously. Bad ideas don’t get equal consideration because we are supposed to give all ideas equal air time.
That also means that some people are wrong and are not to be taken seriously. We don’t give them equal air time because we have some new fangled idea of what it means to be fair. It also means that we don’t take them seriously because we are afraid that crazy people will consider us to be biased.
Calling balls and strikes means that you report facts. Calling balls and strikes means that you present ideas and report on all ideas. It doesn’t mean giving them an equal amount of support. It means that when an idea is not supported by the facts then you say so. It shouldn’t matter that you also said this yesterday and the day before. We don’t give credence to stupidity because we gave airtime to the other side.
Someone has to be the arbiter of what is true and what is not true. In a free society we want an independent source to do this. If the government is left to do this then we wake up one day with our neighbors being bombed and somehow believing that isn’t happening. We somehow believe they are bombing themselves and the guy doing the bombing is somehow the good guy. We somehow end up believing things that are clearly not true. In many ways, we are nearly half way there. That’s especially true when the NYT refuses to tell people they are wrong. They told them they were wrong yesterday. It wouldn’t be fair and balanced to do it again.
Not the NYT, but let’s not forget about Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post. When it was clear to everyone except the electorate that Reagan was lost in a fog of Alzheimer’s, Bradlee squashed the story. Reason? The Post had just brought down one president (Nixon), and he felt it was too soon to bring down another. So the US was stuck for several more years with a doddering old fool serving as a figurehead for the criminally corrupt. John Roberts was busily gutting the voting rights act in the Justice Dept, and Cheney-Rumsfeld plus a host of superannuated Cold Warriors were shoveling money into the military and associated industries.
Talk about a ball in the dirt.
The NYT also pumped up the Iraq War, when it was clear to the world that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. But hey, it sold lots of newspapers, which is the real goal of that “beacon of light”. I gave up on them when they insisted on calling it “enhanced interrogation” instead of torture. The NYT has been playing access journalism so long, they’ve lost sight of real journalism.
2I’d like to read this, but there’s a damn pay wall.
3After the arrival of Murdoch with Fox Not the News “fair and balanced” has been the bag of flaming dog droppings left on the doorstop of what was once journalism.
That and the “both sides” to a question brought to us by the vacuum of 24/7 cable news, when there is a clear right or wrong. Or consider @2 The Surly Professor’s most excellent example that after Nixon, Ben Bradlee felt ‘compelled’ to quash the truth about Reagan. Unpack that? Meh. Burying the truth should nevuh be a part of journalism.
Probably just me being the simple guy that I am. But. Just lay out the facts and the truth. To place a foot or finger on the news scales for ‘balance’ is as wrong as the butcher charging you for his ham fist when weighing your order of scallops.
lol POINTS to RepubAnon@1, too! Those pesky prepositions such as “of” and “from.” The founders sucked at them nearly as bad as I do. While I may ‘see’ freedom of, I’m thinking freedom from when it comes to far right forced birther fascists and the conservative wrong wingnuts.
4Fair is a four letter word not allowed in this house- my mom, 60 years ago. Thanks for the reminder.
5Papa @3, in a sound effort for true journalism, Nick included the link in fairness to the NYT. But. You’re not missing a thing from the original article as Nick has provided the salient points.
But. Where was my head earlier this morning? We can’t discuss freedom of speech without giving a dishonorable mention to John Roberts and the Citizens United decision granting free speech to corporations aka as the big dollar by a bigger voice fiasco.
6I agreed much more with the “push back” article than the NYT extremely lengthy editorial. One paragraph that stuck out to me in the editorial: “People should be able to put forward viewpoints, ask questions and make mistakes and take unpopular but good-faith positions on issues that society is still working through — all without fearing cancellation.” Well of course they should. That’s obvious. Nick, your comment also struck me as very true for our current times: “There are ideas worth shunning. There are ideas that demand shunning. Shunning horrific and grotesque ideas is not censorship.” In my opinion from my experience, the number of horrific and grotesque ideas have accelerated greatly since 2015 (since TFG took over the far right). Even my own family members have bought into these ideas (like all the Covid misinformation, but many more). Many of my former conservative Republican work associates, that I’ve known for years, have also become brainwashed in these obvious, verifiably false ideas. It’s just different now, and not in a good way.
7Papa @3, for 10 foot paywalls, get a 12 foot ladder:
https://12ft.io/
Just go to that site and enter Nick’s link
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/18/opinion/cancel-culture-free-speech-poll.html
If you use firefox as a browser, you can also install the “Bypass Paywalls” extension. Just go to Tools, select “Add-ons and Themes”, then enter Bypass Paywalls in the search field.
8You are correct Steve and ultimately the one thing we are all guilty of to a greater or lesser degree is a short memory. Many of the ideas put forth since 2015 were effectively shunned. It was like a virus that had been suppressed that all of the sudden came back. Our collective response was not shock that the viewpoint returned, but that those that inflicted this once subdued virus on the unwitting public were getting push back. Of course they were. They turned a perfectly natural and sane reaction into “cancel culture.”
9And now there’s Qanon and very public politicians that carry their messages.
10Steve from Beaverton @7, et al., Y’all get it right, but are always waaay too laid back about it.
There is a dead serious WAR taking place all around you.
Most of those people, the Rethugs of every stripe, though almost all are full-fledged MAGAots now, even if not to outward appearance, know of it deep in their slimy bones.
Gotta be 10x more forceful.
I watch countless Democratic politicians speaking on TV, and every one of them has yet to learn the rhetorical ropes of forcefully and convincingly getting across their points. While at the same time savaging the Rethug viewpoints at every turn and phrase. Words matter [and all the other means of communication, gestures, posture, demeanor, tone, etc].
Time to toughen up and just saturation bomb kick their sorry asses every which way all the time. Ain’t no room for niceties anymore.
You minimize, or be casually aware of this, at your greatest peril. When they come gunning for you it will be way too late to prevail.
“It’s just different now, and not in a good way.”
[heading for bunker now]
11Sandridge @11, that was a most excellent reminder. Bullshit Mountain has exploded. As bad as things are as of today, if we fail to defeat the QNP in 2022 and 2024 with sizeable numbers, the fight is on track to go from verbal to bloody.
12Sandridge, you underestimate my awareness of the “war” going on or my being laid back about it. Laid back about what’s going on is the opposite of my attitude. Probably saying things are “just different now” was misleading. With Qanon and the like, we’re in a different dimension the last few years.
13Re the NYT editorial: it seems the Onion has come out with its own version:
https://www.theonion.com/in-defense-of-mass-censorship-1848673776
[ In case anyone here doesn’t know, the Onion is strictly satirical. ]
14O/T but not totally off topic since the impact of global warming is just one of many fights we have with conservatives.
We feel for those of you affected by current the wildfires in Texas. The air quality makes for a long fire season. Our western fires last year dropped ash as far away as New York. Stay safe!
15Steve from Beaverton & Jane & PKM, Tks, I know that I lay it on too heavy usually. Nothing personal, just have trouble keeping my hair from combusting all the time.. :]
Meant to write this too, but omitted the last words following the “phrase” a ,comma:
16‘While at the same time savaging the Rethug viewpoints at every turn and phrase, as they unvaryingly do to everything Dem [or reasonable sane logical decent truthful etcetc.’
Sandridge, we can relate. The QNP has all but killed parody and satire. Hyperbole is next. Some days there are no words adequate to express what we observe them doing to our country. We cannot begin to imagine what life in Texas is like with A-butt, Paxton and the other QNP criminals. We got a taste of it with TFG, and of course with all the Qcumbers in Congress.
17Sandridge. We’re good and like minded. We’re based on reality not on conspiracy and fantasy. Always like your feedback.
18Surly Professor @ 8,
Thank you for the link. However when I clicked and ttehn pasted in Nick’s link I got this:
“12ft has been disabled for this site.”
19From the great Salon story from the push back link:
20“But this is not a free speech problem. This is a people-acting-like-jerks problem. Conflating the two not only contributes to this moral panic, it makes it harder to talk about solving the people-acting-like-jerks problem.”
Empathy is weakness.
Therefore empathy is morally wrong.
Because it endangers our tribe.
IMHO that’s been at the core of everything every right wing think tank has pushed for decades.
It enables everything else.
It enables everything else.
The mother***ker’s talking all the shit whining about shit being talked about them shouldn’t be surprising.
It should be expected.
Jane & PKM @17, Yep, and y’all see the TFFGs, nat’l Qcumbers, MAGAots, Abbutt; but you don’t see much of the locals, which are the scariest because their ‘minds’ have been totally controlled by the former criminal cabal, and there are lots more of them.
Steve from Beaverton @18, they’re on a whole different planet.
P. P. @20, They well know it, the “people-acting-like-jerks problem”. But it’s just another tactic in their arsenal of obnoxiousness, which they are very skilled at from watching their ‘leaders’ and RWNJ media. It’s a feature, not a bug.
21Our best defense is a stronger offense. Which is why I advocate the Dems to get a lot better at the ‘talking shit’ game, absolutely no point in being nice to them anymore.
Flag of today’s GQP, traitors all:
22https://images.dailykos.com/images/1040828/large/russia.jpg
For myself, I will never get over the pic of those two seditious and traitorous morons at the Trump rally sporting their “cute” little matching t-shirts claiming they’d rather be Russians than Democrats.
So? GO! Get effing out and don’t let the door hit you on your fat effing GQP a$$ on the way out!!
Furthermore, I understand BA.2 is beginning its assault here among us, so please check your vaccines and boosters and be safe out there. Perhaps BA.2 will usher more of those folks out permanently, which, in my current mood, I do not at all consider to be a bad thing.
23I’ve talked to and emailed my local news stations and politely asked why they distort the news in favor of Republicans and demonize the Democrat’s. Their polite reply justifying lying and distorting the truth has
been ‘Balance’.
I said ‘balance’ do not mean one side gets to lie while the other side tells the truth … but it fell of deaf ears.
“The Fourth Estate Is Dying Before Our Very Eyes”
24https://crooksandliars.com/2022/03/free-press
It’s certainly possible to be both “fair and balanced” while also adhering to the truth.
Side “A” correctly says the sun rises in the east.
Side “B” incorrectly says the sun rises in the west.
Both sides get represented, the truth is told, and each gets equal billing (even to the number of words).
25Aggieland Liz @ 23: you’ll be happy to hear that some of the kids on campus are wearing shirts that say “I’d rather be American than Republican”.
[Things like that are one of the advantages of being in a college town. That, and it was a stop on Carol Burnett’s tour a few years ago. While she can still do the Tarzan yell, nobody asked her to do it.]
26Nick,
27I agree that, “There are ideas worth shunning. There are ideas that demand shunning. Shunning horrific and grotesque ideas is not censorship.” But occasionally, societal retribution goes overboard on an average joe who says something dumb or clueless. Don’t know who said this originally, but it’s always good to consider whether you are “punching up or kicking down.” Public figures spouting hateful lies deserve full social retribution. OTOH, ordinary people who may be equal parts ignorant and evil, deserve rebuke, but then an opportunity to slink away into invisibility.