Neuharth Panel Asks: "Is Media Fair?' (BARF-O-RAMA Alert! Judy Woodruff bashes Fox, & other laughs)

Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan ^ | September 26, 2003 | Randy Dockendorf

[Timesink]

Web posted Friday, September 26, 2003

Neuharth Panel Asks: 'Is Media Fair?'

BY RANDY DOCKENDORF

P&D Regional Editor

VERMILLION -- Are the media fair and accurate?

Well, fairness, like beauty, becomes pretty subjective, a panel of the nation's top journalists said Thursday night at the University of South Dakota.

The event, titled "Is the Free Press A Fair Press?," concluded a two-day celebration of the $5 million renovation of the Al Neuharth Media Center on the USD campus. Neuharth was on hand for the event, which was broadcast live on South Dakota Public Television.

Neuharth, a 1950 USD graduate, founded USA TODAY, the nation's largest daily newspaper. He also founded the Freedom Forum, dedicated to free speech, press and spirit.

USD President Jim Abbott, who welcomed the audience, jokingly referred to the frenzy of activities surrounding Neuharth's return to campus.

"I am president of the University of South Dakota, but after today's festivities, it could be called the University of Neuharth," Abbott said.

Thursday's panelists featured the following past Neuharth Award winners: Louis Boccardi, the former chief executive officer, and Tom Curley, the chief executive officer, of the Associated Press; Robert MacNeil, former host of "The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour"; John Siegenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center; and Judy Woodruff, anchor for the Cable News Network.

In keeping with the symposium's theme, the panelists were asked about the perception -- particularly among politicians -- that the media are unfair.

"Fairness is in the eye of the beholder and whose ox is gored," MacNeil said.

Politicians often feel the media are unfair because of the adversarial relationship between the two sides, Boccardi said. "The media casts a skeptical eye on government, and neither side is completely happy," he said.

Reporting also becomes a creature of the times, Woodruff said, noting the extraordinary events polarizing the nation.

"We had the presidential election of 2000, where we agonized for 38 days over the recount. There was disagreement over how it was reported," she said. "Then after 9/11, we pulled together in the aftermath. Now, we see the country pulling apart on Iraq."

News organizations also need to do a better job explaining what they do and make corrections when needed, Woodruff said. "I think you gain credibility when you tell people that you made a mistake," she said.

But even with a reporter's best efforts, both sides often won't be satisfied with controversial stories, Siegenthaler said. "The perception becomes so deep, so hostile, that there's no way to make it fair," he said.

The debate over media bias is reflected in the Fox News channel's motto of "fair and balanced," the panel said.

MacNeil criticized the motto as misleading. "The Fox claim is a con on the public ... The network is blatantly unbalanced," he said, adding that the network has used patriotism to promote the right wing and Bush administration.

Woodruff added that the motto should be unnecessary for any news organization. "Fox is concerned about its news reputation. At CNN, we don't need to use those terms," she said.

While journalists are often accused of having a liberal bias, "most media are owned by Republican conservatives, so there is a healthy balance and tension" within the news operation, Curley said.

Woodruff added that the public often perceives the media of unfairly "piling on" political figures.

"We are like a dog with a bone and won't let go," she said. "It's better for the country if we sit back, take a breath and see what we are doing in a more rational approach."

Curley pointed to the "massive competition" which has intensified the demand to get the story first. The media also struggles with giving depth to many issues, he said.

An audience member said the media has unfairly invaded the personal lives of politicians, driving many people away from public service.

"We're not going to turn the clock back. The tough questions have to be asked of political figures," Woodruff said. Public officials are scrutinized not only by media but by disclosure laws, confirmation hearings and other aspects of the political arena, she said.

But the media also creates a feeding frenzy, MacNeil said. He pointed to the mixture of horror and titillation found in coverage of President Clinton's lying and sexual activity.

"The media enjoyed it like it was the greatest plunge into depravity that ever happened," MacNeil said.

Sen. George McGovern, who was in the audience, asked the panelists about the definition of "patriotism" and the increasing unpopularity of those who spoke out against the Iraq war.

The current national fervor has fueled the national divide, Woodruff said, noting the "deep attacks" felt by Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., when he criticized President Bush heading into the Iraq war.

The panel talked about the emphasis on corporate profits and reaching niche markets, particularly a younger audience.

In his closing remarks, Neuharth said the symposium marked a historic evening.

"I doubt ever before that we have had this many nationally-distinguished journalists on one campus at one time to share their thoughts," he said.

Neuharth said he hoped the building which bears his name will likewise turn out such outstanding journalists in the future.

"I hope and expect, with the new facilities and programs, that more well-trained journalists in both print and broadcast will leave USD," he said.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Curley admits that the media is biased to the left:

"While journalists are often accused of having a liberal bias, "most media are owned by Republican conservatives, so there is a healthy balance and tension" within the news operation, Curley said."

The ownership is balanced by the liberal media. Isn't this what Curley is saying? But the argument over bias has to do with the content of what the media say, which only the liberal reporters create.

And they wonder, why tens of millions of Americans don't believe a word out of the mainstream media. This is so bad, it could be parody.

[gaspar]

This sort of meeting is like a high school 25th reunion. Those who attend spend the few hours in a desperate attempt to convince themselves how successful they are.

[BabsC]

The lowest of the low.

I guess this is why they got on so well with their minders in Iraq and didn't report what was really going on. This could have been construed by them as the natural progression of government as defined by the Klintoon admin.

[Brian Allen]

Yep.

[martin_fierro]

Cheese'n'crackers, you've got my blood boiling already, and I haven't even had my first cuppa French FREEDOM roast.

[martin_fierro]

Who else found it hypocritical that in a forum organized to discuss Media Bias, and with all the resulting FNC-bashing ...

... no one bothered to invite a FNC representative for a little balance?

[raybbr]

...Now, we see the country pulling apart on Iraq."

Should read: "We are now pulling the country apart on Iraq."

[Cicero]

One more all-liberal "panel" of leftie reporters and limousine liberals whining about how the conservatives have all the money and all the influence. Oh, sure. That's why you see so many of them at these conferences.

[StriperSniper]

The ownership is balanced by the liberal media. Isn't this what Curley is saying?

Yup, they don't even feel the 'squish' when they step in it.

[Timesink]

The AP's Tom Curley is either totally mendacious or a fool, or likely both. His argument that most media is owned by conservatives is a smokescreen behind which liberals have hidden for years, and Curley knows it.

It can be easily proven that Curley is wrong, and one can certainly make an extremely persuasive argument that Curley KNOWS that he is lying. Why? Because the AP is itself a nonprofit organization - a COLLECTIVE, when you get right down to it (and gee, where do we usually see collectives?) - in which every "member" pays a certain amount of money per year to belong. Almost EVERY single daily newspaper and major news organization is a member, and almost all of them print or air AP material VERBATIM every single day.

If these so-called "conservative owners" were in any way meddling with the outflow of information from this newsrooms, that AP material would be ripped apart, altered, suppressed ... but nothing of the sort ever happens. Anything that goes out on the AP wire is treated as gospel, and aired/published almost instantaneously. Nobody, liberal or conservative, would even have the time to mess with the AP's information if they wanted to.

(Not that the vast majority of the owners are even conservative. Look at how many ultraliberal projects Viacom undertakes all the time, for example. And does anyone really think Michael Eisner is a Republican?)

[bert]

This piece clearly shows that  leftist bias permeates the American Media completely.

We chose to name our website fairpress.org because we perceive the media to be totally unfair.

The coming year is going to be hell for us that follow the subject closely. The leftist have only the lying media to prop up their pacifist claims of defeatism.

Cogito, ergo FReepum

CCRM is a Free Republic Network affiliate working to reduce media bias.

For a comprehensive overview of Freeper thoughts on Liberal Media bias, check out our website by clicking on graphic, or HERE: We call it Fairpress.org.

This thread is evidence that liberal bias is still with us. Come join our team and engage in the battle against the Liberal Media.

[Timesink]

Using that paradigm, anything besides communism appears to be "extreme" right wing. The way they so smugly sit there and state it like gospel makes my blood boil. It evaporates when I hear people who watch that crap agree with them out of ignorance.

Just remember that they were putting on their smug show in Middle of Freakin' Nowhere, South Dakota, and this article is from the tiny Yankton, SD local paper. (The only thing that's ever come out of Yankton, ironically, is Tom Brokaw.)

The only reason anyone knows about what these people did, outside of Yankton, is because someone emailed the article to Drudge and he linked to it. So the net result is 7,800 people or so in Yankton read the article (yup, I looked up the paper's circulation), and maybe half of them bought into it. But FIVE MILLION people, mostly conservatives, saw the article on Drudge (where the headline was "AP CEO: 'Most media are owned by Republican conservatives'...", and laughed out loud at these preening fools.

They lose, we win. They distort, we deride!

[Timesink]

bump for bump lists

[nightowl]

These blowhards are so critical of Fox News because FOX is wiping the floor with them all in the ratings. CNN is absolutely tanking. It makes me sick to hear these elitist talk about not trusting the government, when these media thugs are more corrupt than the government. I loved John F. Burns (NYT Foreign Correspondant) recent quote "There is corruption in our Business" & slammed reporters & news organizations for paying off the Iraqi regime & pandering to them and not telling the world the truth for the past decade. He said Saddam Hussein & his thugs were the worst in the world except maybe North Korea. I think he compared Hussein to Hitler somewhere in his remarks. I don't need these liberal media elites and their lies. The internet and our access to so many media outlets around the world has castrated these b**tards.

[stands2reason]

"The media enjoyed .... the greatest ["presidential"] plunge into depravity that ever happened," MacNeil said.

They enjoyed it so much.... Tell me again, which "mainsteam" Media Giant dug up this scandal and broke it with their brilliant investigative reporting-- NYT? NBC? Time? Mybe CNN---considering Judy's comment, "The tough questions have to be asked of political figures." I'm sure there was a representative of that Giant at this meeting. Wasn't there?

[nutmeg]

Wow, you were up early this morning!

I get SO many pings now, it seems to take forever to get through them all... I'm just finding this one now. Thank you... I'll ping the FoxFan list (finally)! :-)

[nutmeg]

FoxFan ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my FoxFan list. *Warning: This can be a high-volume ping list at times.

[Dutchgirl]

Neuharth was on hand for the event, which was broadcast live on South Dakota Public Television. Neuharth, a 1950 USD graduate, founded USA TODAY, the nation's largest daily newspaper. He also founded the Freedom Forum, dedicated to free speech, press and spirit. USD President Jim Abbott, who welcomed the audience, jokingly referred to the frenzy of activities surrounding Neuharth's return to campus. "I am president of the University of South Dakota, but after today's festivities, it could be called the University of Neuharth," Abbott said.

Are you sure this isn't the University of Southern North Dakota- at Hoople? Surely any minute now, we will hear from the prestigious "Edward PDQ Morrow" chair of Impartial Journalism...

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!