KEEP US INFORMED

The economy continues to be the number one issue in the United States.This is a problem that should and will certainly be address (according to this analysis in the PBS network) in the next six months.  Surrounding this problem is a disagreement on how exactly Congress plans to do that. 

The two major factors are tax cuts and the debt ceiling.  Obama says he wants to keep the tax cuts for the middle class but not for the wealthy.  Republicans want the tax cuts to be extended to the wealthy as well.  With a split congress, compromise seems to be the only option in order to get anything done.  I think it is crucial for journalists to stay on top of this because Americans are desperate, they want solutions to their problems and they want to know who to hold accountable if things go worse, or who to celebrate if things improve.  

A thorough coverage on this subject should also let us know how the politicians we elected are responding to us.  What we need to hear less of is which Senator or Representative had affair, and those sorts of things irrelevant to our country.

Unemployment, a consequence of the economy, should also be covered.  This is really important because thousands of people are depending on it to survive and because making any changes to the benefits would impact the economy.  Whether it would be good or bad will probably be debated, but journalists should maintain the public informed.

I definitely think Healthcare should continue to be covered because apparently Republicans are trying to repeal it.  The Healthcare reform would affect everyone and the public should be kept informed of any changes.  It is also important because of what it symbolizes.  Healthcare represents Obama’s achievement as a president.  If it gets repealed, Obama’s success would be threatened.

Social security should also be covered with accuracy.   Whether or not retirement age should be raised, is one of the questions surrounding this issue.  Any changes and even no changes to the current social security system will impact everyone in the future.  Therefore it is something to take seriously and give importance to.

Another less conventional, but equally important issue is the securing of the border and immigration reform.  Immigration reform has been broadly covered, especially after the Arizona laws, and should continue to be covered because it has proven to be crucial for lining up state rights vs. federal rights. 

Border security has not been treated properly; most of the focus was on securing it to prevent illegal immigration.  It could have been because of the elections and journalists wanting to expose who was pro and who was con.  Now that they have passed I hope journalists can start focusing on the elements that really matter: drug and human trafficking.   This article from BBC News explores drug trafficking and the drug War in Mexico from Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderon’s point of view.

Journalists and campaign contributions

Keith Olbermann is MSNBC’s most prominent host and gets paid for expressing his opinions on his show “Countdown with Keith Olbermann”.  His suspension from the show for making political campaign contributions raises several questions within journalism. 

The first one I would like to explore it’s the most direct one: should journalist be allowed to make campaign contributions?

If today’s journalism was the ideal journalism which complies with the rules of objectivity, the answer would be a flat NO.   An article from Politico.com emphasizes NBC ‘s stand on the subject, stating that they consider it a breach of journalistic independence to contribute to the candidates they cover. It is reasonable to believe that engaging in political activities such as making campaign contributions can distract the reporter and cause him/her to be biased.  It would be an appropriate rule, although inhumane.  And I say inhumane because I think that journalists, more than anyone else, stimulate their ideology and feel drawn to whatever party they identify themselves with.   Journalists are privileged with access to information that every other citizen does not get, and I think that the more informed you are the more you like or dislike a political party.

However, today’s journalism is becoming more and more partisan.  You don’t have to be a journalist to notice that Fox News broadcasts its news from a conservative point of view and that MSNBC does the same for the liberal ideology.  Both are very popular and reach millions of people across the country.  What does this say about us?  That we are becoming narrow-minded and sticking to the ideas that we already have.  I think this has contributed to the divisiveness of the country.  The conservatives are only turning more conservative and the liberals more liberals.  Why? In part because we have a respected and prominent anchor reinforcing our ideas and encouraging the rejection of everything else. 

If news channels clearly represent an ideology, and thus are biased, why do they have a problem with their employees making campaign contributions?  At least the folks from Fox News are not pretending to be objective, for their employees are free to make political campaign contributions, and their employees include politicians themselves, for example Sarah Palin.   I find it absurd for MSNBC to prohibit their opinion journalists to make campaign contributions.  What’s worse is that permission to do so can be granted upon approval from superiors.   Really?  So based upon what?  This just makes the whole thing more suspicious.

 This matter was covered by PBS Newshour and some interesting points came out.  One was the idea that perhaps there are new ethics in journalism.  One of the guests in the show, Geneva Overholser, director of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, said: “Is only when he puts his money where his mouth is when he is misbehaved.”  It is certainly how it seems.