A Commentary by a Former Newspaper Writer Julie Morse
 Are we living a fable? Many of our beloved childhood fables are actually time-tested parables of human nature, universal truths that transcend generations and cultures. In the well-known “Emperor’s New Clothes” fable, the emperor in question allows a fast-talking, unethical tailor to design for him what he says are the most expensive, beautiful clothes known to man. Flanked, and failed, by his advisors, he goes on to believe the tailor’s spin over common sense. He ends up addressing his constituents buck naked, clad only in the thin air of the now-rich tailor’s pretend garb. Indeed, so powerful is the tailor’s propaganda, that no one dares admit to their neighbor the naked truth before them - until an innocent child utters the obvious. The emperor is indeed naked, literally and figuratively exposed. We are left to decide for ourselves who is to blame – the emperor, his advisors, the people, or the tailor. Only the child, the Truth-speaker, is in the clear. Does this fable ring a current-day bell for you?
I have to admit my own head is reeling from the ringing. You see, once upon a time, I was a newspaper features writer. I garnered a dozen years of experience writing for the Chicago Tribune, and additional years' experience at the Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. I was not famous, just “a working hack” in journalistic jargon - a constantly-employed stringer for most of my career. But, like all my media colleagues, I learned journalistic fairness and accuracy from some of the best mentors, editors and publishers in the business. They held me completely responsible to the facts , and reminded me to always keep myself out of the story. We were cautioned to avoid even the hint of a conflict of interest, or expect serious consequences to our actions. Every time I wrote a word, I knew it would be scrutinized by colleagues, the people I was writing about and the many thousands of people who would read my words…and who would trust me to tell the truth to the best of my ability.
I valued and honored that responsibility, and I understood I wielded a power that required it. And I knew those in the hard news department had an even greater level of responsibility and accountability…no features fluff allowed, just the cold hard facts. I learned firsthand that the power of the pen, or the soundbite, is unquestionable…And today, for the first time in my life, that power being wielded in some unscrupulous hands frightens me to the core. As both a former writer and an independent business owner now, I have been simultaneously fascinated and incredibly disturbed about the fast media-fueled rise of Barack Obama to emperor-like status. Please note I am criticizing the media, not the man. For no reason I can understand, the mainstream media, like the fabled tailor, have seemed intent in wrapping this candidate in a cloak of at least partial invisibility. They continually leave out or gloss over key facts about him, and I don’t understand why. Obama, and everyone running, deserves better than such manipulation by omission, and so do we.
Conversely, there is a magnifying glass on his opponents – a fact which I actually welcome, if only i t were matched with equal zeal and balance as dictated by the news journalist’s creed of fairness and impartiality. Moreover, the major pundits have somehow forgotten to leave their personal opinions and agendas out of written and televised news reports – a journalistic Truth that is central to the word democracy. Note, I said news reports, not commentary or editorial. The line is so blurred it's all but disappeared at some networks and news outlets…and it desperately needs to be redrawn. I do not blame Barack Obama for choosing to ride this wave of irresponsible journalism. It would be a brave man or woman indeed who said “bring it on” to the media today, so brazen are the very powerful majority in their actions and agendas. Unfortunately, Obama’s opponents have not been given the same choice. Recently we learned through an-almost-too-late-leak that the moderator of the vice-presidential debate, veteran PBS newswoman Gwen Ifill, has authored an Obama-friendly book due out soon, and she has also written an upcoming major magazine feature on the lives of Barack and Michelle Obama. You don’t need to be a journalist to see that as a serious conflict of interest.
Ethics define our lives, not just our journalism. Could that be more clearly defined by such stories as Enron, Fannie/Freddie, and the Wall Street debacle before us? Ethics and judgment do matter, in everything. In the interest of fairness and in respect to both VP candidates and the voters, Ms. Ifill should have obviously been replaced or have resigned as moderator to preserve the actuality, or even the perception, of neutrality. That did not happen, of course, and that it is shame…not a shame, but shame. She, the debate committee and the network disrespected the American people by allowing her to take a pass on such an important ethical issue. She crossed the journalist line by creating a conflict of interests, both on political lines and personal financial gain grounds (her book, due out this winter, would likely sell more in an Obama presidency).
At the very least, I wished she had disclosed her affiliations up front, but she did not. And, if the leak had not brought forth this information, would Ifill have been as fair a moderator as she was under the high-profile scrutiny of her that ensued? Sadly for her, we’ll never know now if she did her job well because she is an excellent journalist, or because she had to – and that’s a shame for her because her career is noteworthy. At the very least, her actions created a perception of impropriety at a critical time and place.…It is exactly why these ethical codes matter, for everyone. Look, I know why certain mainstream media pundits attack McCain and Palin with such vigor and at times hatred. And I know why conservative zealots cover Obama and Biden in ways far beneath them, too - although I also know their mainstream reach is far more limited. They all disagree with the candidates they oppose.
I get that and truly respect everyone’s right to their opinion – as long as it's not being invisibly cloaked as factual news reporting, of course. What I don’t understand is why so many things about Obama and Biden go unreported or under-reported by the mainstream media. Do they not trust the American public to decipher the facts by themselves? Why can’t they trust them to take the heat imposed on the other candidates? It bothers me deeply. For example, I’m not 100% sure it’s such a bad thing that Senator Obama spent 20 years in Reverend Wright’s Black Liberation Theology-inspired church, voted “present” 137 times in lieu of taking a yes or no position, or that two of his chief economic advisors are recent former executives at Fannie Mae and Lehman Brothers who left with tens of millions in golden parachutes.. But I’m glad I now know those facts, which the mainstream news media were not forthright in giving me or exploring at the onset. I also know I have the ability and right to compare these facts to what I know about McCain, warts and all, in making my own personal decisions about all the candidates.
I’m honestly glad to know the good and the bad about every candidate, but it is not easy-access learning when it comes to Senator Obama. I thought it odd when the major news media taught me more details about Sarah Palin and every member of her family (some of this news corrected or retracted) in but a few short weeks, than they did about Senator Obama’s also-interesting past in 17 months. And now, as just one more worrisome example of imbalance and partiality in the news, Ifill’s ethical lapse adds further insult to injury. This is not an overnight phenomenon, of course. It’s been percolating over many years – just go watch the movie “Network News” reflecting related worries from a generation ago, if you think otherwise. Remember, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”? Yes, that movie… That said, or exclaimed, it seems we’ve reached a tipping point today… Is it a coincidence that other aspects of our American lives are also at a tipping point? I think not, and I do think it underscores the need for fair and balanced news even more. I believe 100% that the mainstream media in this country have never done a worse job in covering important, indisputable facts about a candidate up for President of the United States – and I’m not even saying they are bad facts.
The beauty of a democratic electoral process is that is our right and responsibility to decide about the things most important to us for ourselves – and no journalist should usurp us of that right with biased, manipulative or omissive reporting. We need the media; but, amidst all the commentary and entertainment, we also need straight, unadulterated news delivery with which to make our own decisions, not the media’s for us…
Finally, if any of the above-noted facts are news to you now, or were learned long after the facts were known, that furthers my point. You have to delve deep to find the news these days, when it should be as easy as switching on any network news show or reading the front section of any metropolitan newspaper in America. For example, no matter what your politics, ask yourself this about media coverage. Did you learn more about who Sarah Palin is from the one-to-one unedited VP debate, or through the isolated soundbite editing of the Katie Couric interview? The fact there is a such an amazing disconnect between the soundbite version of the person produced and hyped by CBS with such powerful impact on us all, and the hour-and-a-half unedited view of the confident, accomplished governor who successfully debated a 30-year senator…. should give us all serious pause in evaluating the media, their gatekeepers and their motivations. In summary, this is an issue that extends far beyond the election - for when fair journalism dies, so dies democracy. Propaganda machines take its place - and I really fear that the machinists are already forming a union – our Union. Much of the media, truly, have not done their job, which is to inform us of the news in fair and balanced fashion, so that We, The People, can make our own educated decisions. They, along with elected leaders on all sides, have, however, done a hell of a job inflaming us and turning us against each other as a divisive tactic.
The only option left for open, honest debate, discussion and decision at this late date is to do the research yourself. Do your own broad-based internet searches, read texts of candidates' whole speeches, turn to recent books and other sources, and seek out news from both liberal and conservative media alike so you can process the inconsistencies between them to form your own solid decisions. I’ve personally found websites like factcheck.org helpful in checking the accuracy of the news against carefully-referenced nonpartisan research. One simply cannot rely solely on an agendized media newsperson, on any side, to do the work for you. I’m 50 years old, yet today I’m casting myself in the role of the child in this modern-day fable. I’m raising my hand to say that the Emperor’s News Clothes can’t really hide a thing if we go into this election, and any national issue, with our eyes open. Please take a good, long look at your news media, America. You may truly be surprised by the view… And you may be inspired, like me, to hold them to a much, much higher journalistic standard - or simply turn elsewhere for the information we need.
Julie Morse is a now a businesswoman and principle in a real estate partnership on the North Shore of Chicago . A former newspaper writer, she continues to write about people and issues she cares about through personal essays.
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