Trending
Remember Walter Cronkite? The CBS anchor was known as the most trusted voice in America for his balanced interviewing and delivery. His product gave no hint of the very liberal thinker residing within.
Cronkite knew his beliefs were secondary to his professional doctrine.
What would he think of Lester Holt? The NBC news anchor said last week there is no obligation to be fair and balanced, "when we know the other side is not credible."
Who decides credibility, him, cancel culture, friends at last night's dinner?
Holt's comments explain the national media's behavior and performance and how it depends on who they are questioning and whether their thoughts align with the media's platform?
Don't take my word on that. Sharyl Attkisson's award-winning, 35-year-plus journalism career has been mostly with CNN and CBS, hardly conservative-edged entities. She illustrates what Holt is espousing in her book "Slanted." It is a well-documented telling of the practices of too many Washington and New York journalists, who predetermine the narrative that fits their desires then use only the information that fits that story.
The most recent exhibit was two weeks ago, when President Biden held his first news conference. It was a test of the media as much as Biden. They failed, coddling rather than questioning a president whose policy moves scream for examination.
We don't need them to harangue the president from a conservative viewpoint.
We need them to ask rational questions requiring answers beyond reading an index card, with followups when required.
Such as …
President Biden, when Texas dropped its mask mandate regarding the pandemic, you called it neanderthal. What, then, is your reasoning for open borders and unlimited admission of illegal immigrants, many testing positive for the coronavirus?
Mr. President, numbers say illegal southern border crossings were down during 2020 while a wall was constructed and the country was allowing about one million legal immigrants. Why did you change those policies and expose the border all Americans share?
Mr. President, all data shows schools can operate in-person instruction with proper health protocols. Parochial and private schools have done that since August with no significant outbreaks. Why have you not ordered teachers in public school districts such as Los Angeles back to full-time instruction?
Mr. President, you called Georgia's voting reform law "sick" and "Jim Crow on steroids," yet the law expands voting opportunities in Georgia beyond what exists in your home state of Delaware, does not reduce voting hours and does not prohibit serving of water to waiting voters, provided it's done by election authorities. Explain your comments.
Mr. President, based on your assessment, termed inaccurate by The Washington Post, you encouraged removal of the All-Star Game from Atlanta and Major League Baseball did so. What would you say to business owners, workers and others in Atlanta who will lose millions of dollars in business and pay by this action?
President Biden, you promised to unite. On your first day in office you aborted the Keystone Pipeline, eliminating thousands of jobs and cutting off a development that passed every environmental test and led to this country's energy independence. You have enacted a $2 trillion COVID Relief Bill that is only 10 percent about that, without any Republican support, disregarding 75 million people who did not vote for you. How is that unifying?
Mr. President: Are you happy MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred extended baseball's television rights contract with China, which does not hold free elections, while punishing Georgia for reforming election laws in a way that does not restrict voting?
Are you happy Delta Airlines, despite approving the voting measure and being consulted during its formulation, is now publicly against requiring Voter ID, while requiring ID for airline customers?
Are you happy Coca Cola, with its extensive relationship to China, a renowned human rights violator, is critical of Voter ID, which 80 percent of those polled by Gallup approve of?
Do you acknowledge it is difficult to do any important transaction without some form of identification and very few people don't have at least a utility bill to identify themselves? How then is an ID requirement voter suppression?
That's a news conference, unlike the cue card carnival in which the president literally read the policy toward North Korea, an issue that should not require prompts.
The media showed the previous four years it is capable of verbal warfare when offended by the style and substance of a Washington outsider who does not fit their ideological profile.
Who will be the first newsperson or corporate network to leave the cocktail party and ask real questions?
Or has everyone adopted the Lester Holt practice of journalism?
Reason is what separates we humans from all other species. If we want to resume honest conversations, we need journalists to honor their calling rather than using it as a political activism shield.
David F. Troisi is retired as editor of the Sun-Gazette. None of the opinions expressed necessarily represent the views of the Sun-Gazette.