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Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 05:47 PM
The first QCF Magazine editorial: green, passionate, however dysfunctionally negative
By Michael D. Altman
Jayson Blair, the discredited former reporter for The New York Times, falsified and plagiarized stories. The Times, one of the most holy of journalistic institutions, was humiliated and slightly humbled. Blair was fired. End of story.
Not so fast.
Public discussion of the Blair fiasco has, for the most part, been spun around the loaded and sneaky idea that Blair, being a black man, was given more prestige than his qualification would warrant. Even if these were hard facts, the real story lays nowhere near it. This is not because of some belief I have about Blair personally, or even his morbidly laughable job performance. It is a concept that presents Jayson Blair as a blip on the map; however "Jayson Blair" is a symptom of an overwhelming lack of a sense of credibility in American journalism.
The reasons are simple. The focus on the "race factor" generated headlines, garnered Neilson ratings and provided fodder for many television and radio programs, failing possibly by design to address the problem at large, an example of how American journalism has grown to resemble not-so-much the respected, trusted grandfather in a recliner, overseeing the system as part of the political and social process for the people, as in days past. Now, it is a rowdy brothel or barroom, hawking celebrity lifestyle and gossip, mirroring a tragically derelict society.
Blair was inevitable. Unless he has unparalleled "nerve," there have probably been writers perpetuating the same kind of offense on society for years. This raises the grim question as to whether he is no more than a mile-marker on the downward slope of integrity in American Journalism; or do we have to smash into a tree before we realize there is a major problem.
John Stuart Mills, 19th Century social and political writer predicted, "We lose our liberty under some delusion." In other words, by our society continuing to allow a media who has illustrated no sense of its responsibility to the people, we are passive-aggressively allowing for more manipulation of persons and of a people by diversion from the issues that matter, which ultimately undermines the freedom that has been established for us. The fact that the stakes progressively increase from there suggests that firing "Jayson Blair" is not the end of the story. It cannot be if there is to be any real change. It means an active, intensive re-examination of the role of the press in this nation and a careful cultivation and rebuilding from the mission statement down to the writers, reporters and cartoonists.
In Cincinnati, the "delusion" is a very different sort; so we are battling even more.
Cincinnati's journalists plowed through the proverbial tree miles ago.
This is not a vehicle of deception, though, at least as far as we know. It manifests itself in the news as an active denial consisting of overwhelming coverage of restaurants, coverage aimed at bringing new business into a downtown area that City Hall has taken half-measures to make safe and develop, a couple of pathetic professional teams, and even front page coverage of a show dogs' return to her owner.
All things that really don't matter when a city has an inherently dysfunctional city government, a huge racial issue that has been swept under the carpet for over two years, and an alarming murder rate.
The conclusion can be an inspiring one. This can only happen when our nations journalists write as an ally to the people and not the bureaucracy. It can happen in this country and will happen in this city... and it begins with this editorial.
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