Republicaniztion of the media

After Tom Brokaw retired, I was not surprised to see Brian Williams take his chair on the NBC Nightly News. He had good ratings in MSNBC's 9 pm news and commentary slot. I was not real happy, though, because I found I could not watch him very long before seeing him ignore information and stories that put Republicans in a bad light. So I stayed away from NBC for news.

I thought that Peter Jennings was solid as a newscaster, and, like Tom Brokaw, had been even-handed, as far as I could tell. I usually watched Dan Rather but would switch to Jennings during special events because ABC was less repetitive in what they presented. Between the two, I felt I was getting a fair picture of the event.

But Jennings retired and Charlie Smith took over. It wasn't long before he sounded more like a Fox newsman than a true successor to Peter Jennings. I haven't watched ABC for any news since.

I stuck with Katie Couric after she took the Rather chair. I thought she was more fair about the news than any other network except PBS.

Then she had to take vacation (I do not know why she began to be away from the news desk so often . . . I presumed some was to be on assignment but I kept hearing "Katie is off tonight.")

She had been refused more time for her broadcasts (an hour was longer than CBS wanted to let her have) and so she had even less time to do the human stuff she is so good at as well as solid news which she also does well, I think. The ratings didn't agree with me.

She missed doing the news frequently this psta week or so. Harry Smith, the morning guy, took most of the nights and, like his "brother" Charlie, was more like Fox than anything. It was hard for me to listen to his ignoring things that I thought were common knowledge in order to spin the news in an unbalanced and unfair way. I couldn't wait for Russ Mitchel, who I have always trusted to be straight and solid.

But he is starting to slant things in ways I've never heard him do before. I got to wondering who writes for these people, the Republican Natiuonal Committee?

Obviously this is an opinion piece and not a documented statement. If I could have taped, transcribed, and then offered those moments when I felt betrayed by these otherwise admirable journalists, then you could see what I'm taking about.

Just watch for yourself. Watch to see if the texts they read ignore the real activities and voting record of John McCain and see how they keep finding fault with Barak Obama without providing the full context of Obama's words or actions.

It seems to me that something is happening beyond the media just trying to be sure there is a "horse race" in November to spur people's interest in watching their respective newscasts. Are the corporations that own the big three networks clamping down on their news departments? Do the former good guys have to now be good "soldiers" for their bosses?

How long will the news people with integrity last? Where will they work after they have been either discredited or "let go" in some kind of staff reorganization or programming reshuffle?

I wonder how long Jon Stewart and Stphen Colbert will last . . . .

The tragedy, of course, is that the networks are losing credibility just at a time when their honesty and truthfulness are most needed. They blew it when the Bush war machine rolled over Colin Powell and the rest of the country. Only Couric admitted she missed opportunities to follow up while Williams and Smith both claimed they did not fail in their duty as premier newscasters. Will they blow it as the Iraqi war winds down (hopefully!) and the elections draw near? Or will they rediscover integrity?