Senator Jeff Flake (R – Arizona) made a speech a few days ago on the Senate floor.
Though a Republican, he excoriated President Trump over attacks on the media and his catchphrases “Fake News” and “enemy of the people.”
I was brought up to believe the media are “Merchants of Chaos” and should be “kicked down the stairs” because L. Ron Hubbard said so. He proclaimed the media to be enemies of scientology and therefore enemies of mankind. It was a mindset I held for 40 years. He made no bones about his disdain for the “running dog press” who only want to “take him down” and “destroy scientology and his good work.” One of his last public utterances was “if the papers say it, it isn’t true.”
I have a very different view today. I value the media for standing up to power and exposing the truth. Joe Childs and Tom Tobin and the Tampa Bay Times did heroic work exposing the abuses in scientology. So too Bryan Seymour and John Sweeney and Steve Cannane. Lawrence Wright broke a dam with his New Yorker story that resulted in a flood of invaluable information that became both his book and the celebrated Going Clear HBO documentary.
And let’s not forget Paulette Cooper, a journalist who almost paid the ultimate price for daring to challenge scientology.
There are many, many others.
With The Post currently in movie theaters recounting the story of the bravery of the Washington Post defending the Republic, it is very timely to consider the importance of the press no matter which side of the political aisle you are on. Trump is the subject now as he has made threatening and uninformed statements about the press (and other things) — in years gone by it was Bill Clinton who ultimately had to confront being impeached because of the exposure of his malfeasance and lies in the media. And of course, everyone knows about Richard Nixon, Deep Throat and Watergate.
Decrying a free press is the call of every dictator, crooked politician, dirty businessman or cult leader who fears exposure. L. Ron Hubbard passionately hated the press — except that which HE controlled (Freedom Magazine).
It troubles me greatly when I see anyone calling for restrictions on the press. Senator Flake was equally passionate in his defense of the fourth estate as Hubbard and others are in decrying it. Every decent person in this country should support freedom of the press.
The full text of his speech follows:
Mr. President, near the beginning of the document that made us free, our Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” So, from our very beginnings, our freedom has been predicated on truth. The founders were visionary in this regard, understanding well that good faith and shared facts between the governed and the government would be the very basis of this ongoing idea of America.
As the distinguished former member of this body, Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, famously said: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” During the past year, I am alarmed to say that Senator Moynihan’s proposition has likely been tested more severely than at any time in our history.
It is for that reason that I rise today, to talk about the truth, and its relationship to democracy. For without truth, and a principled fidelity to truth and to shared facts, Mr. President, our democracy will not last.
2017 was a year which saw the truth — objective, empirical, evidence-based truth — more battered and abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government. It was a year which saw the White House enshrine “alternative facts” into the American lexicon, as justification for what used to be known simply as good old-fashioned falsehoods. It was the year in which an unrelenting daily assault on the constitutionally-protected free press was launched by that same White House, an assault that is as unprecedented as it is unwarranted. “The enemy of the people,” was what the president of the United States called the free press in 2017.
Mr. President, it is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies. It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase “enemy of the people,” that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of “annihilating such individuals” who disagreed with the supreme leader.
This alone should be a source of great shame for us in this body, especially for those of us in the president’s party. For they are shameful, repulsive statements. And, of course, the president has it precisely backward – despotism is the enemy of the people. The free press is the despot’s enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy. When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn’t suit him “fake news,” it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.
I dare say that anyone who has the privilege and awesome responsibility to serve in this chamber knows that these reflexive slurs of “fake news” are dubious, at best. Those of us who travel overseas, especially to war zones and other troubled areas around the globe, encounter members of U.S. based media who risk their lives, and sometimes lose their lives, reporting on the truth. To dismiss their work as fake news is an affront to their commitment and their sacrifice.
According to the International Federation of Journalists, 80 journalists were killed in 2017, and a new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists documents that the number of journalists imprisoned around the world has reached 262, which is a new record. This total includes 21 reporters who are being held on “false news” charges.
Mr. President, so powerful is the presidency that the damage done by the sustained attack on the truth will not be confined to the president’s time in office. Here in America, we do not pay obeisance to the powerful – in fact, we question the powerful most ardently – to do so is our birthright and a requirement of our citizenship — and so, we know well that no matter how powerful, no president will ever have dominion over objective reality.
No politician will ever get to tell us what the truth is and is not. And anyone who presumes to try to attack or manipulate the truth to his own purposes should be made to realize the mistake and be held to account. That is our job here. And that is just as Madison, Hamilton, and Jay would have it.
Of course, a major difference between politicians and the free press is that the press usually corrects itself when it gets something wrong. Politicians don’t.
No longer can we compound attacks on truth with our silent acquiescence. No longer can we turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to these assaults on our institutions. And Mr. President, an American president who cannot take criticism – who must constantly deflect and distort and distract – who must find someone else to blame — is charting a very dangerous path. And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the president adds to the danger.
Now, we are told via Twitter that today the president intends to announce his choice for the “most corrupt and dishonest” media awards. It beggars belief that an American president would engage in such a spectacle. But here we are.
And so, 2018 must be the year in which the truth takes a stand against power that would weaken it. In this effort, the choice is quite simple. And in this effort, the truth needs as many allies as possible. Together, my colleagues, we are powerful. Together, we have it within us to turn back these attacks, right these wrongs, repair this damage, restore reverence for our institutions, and prevent further moral vandalism.
Together, united in the purpose to do our jobs under the Constitution, without regard to party or party loyalty, let us resolve to be allies of the truth — and not partners in its destruction.
It is not my purpose here to inventory all of the official untruths of the past year. But a brief survey is in order. Some untruths are trivial – such as the bizarre contention regarding the crowd size at last year’s inaugural.
But many untruths are not at all trivial – such as the seminal untruth of the president’s political career – the oft-repeated conspiracy about the birthplace of President Obama. Also not trivial are the equally pernicious fantasies about rigged elections and massive voter fraud, which are as destructive as they are inaccurate – to the effort to undermine confidence in the federal courts, federal law enforcement, the intelligence community and the free press, to perhaps the most vexing untruth of all – the supposed “hoax” at the heart of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
To be very clear, to call the Russia matter a “hoax” – as the president has many times – is a falsehood. We know that the attacks orchestrated by the Russian government during the election were real and constitute a grave threat to both American sovereignty and to our national security. It is in the interest of every American to get to the bottom of this matter, wherever the investigation leads.
Ignoring or denying the truth about hostile Russian intentions toward the United States leaves us vulnerable to further attacks. We are told by our intelligence agencies that those attacks are ongoing, yet it has recently been reported that there has not been a single cabinet-level meeting regarding Russian interference and how to defend America against these attacks. Not one. What might seem like a casual and routine untruth – so casual and routine that it has by now become the white noise of Washington – is in fact a serious lapse in the defense of our country.
Mr. President, let us be clear. The impulses underlying the dissemination of such untruths are not benign. They have the effect of eroding trust in our vital institutions and conditioning the public to no longer trust them. The destructive effect of this kind of behavior on our democracy cannot be overstated.
Mr. President, every word that a president utters projects American values around the world. The values of free expression and a reverence for the free press have been our global hallmark, for it is our ability to freely air the truth that keeps our government honest and keeps a people free. Between the mighty and the modest, truth is the great leveler. And so, respect for freedom of the press has always been one of our most important exports.
But a recent report published in our free press should raise an alarm. Reading from the story:
“In February…Syrian President Bashar Assad brushed off an Amnesty International report that some 13,000 people had been killed at one of his military prisons by saying, “You can forge anything these days, we are living in a fake news era.”
In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte has complained of being “demonized” by “fake news.” Last month, the report continues, with our President, quote “laughing by his side” Duterte called reporters “spies.”
In July, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro complained to the Russian propaganda outlet, that the world media had “spread lots of false versions, lots of lies” about his country, adding, “This is what we call ‘fake news’ today, isn’t it?”
There are more:
A state official in Myanmar recently said, “There is no such thing as Rohingya. It is fake news,” referring to the persecuted ethnic group.
Leaders in Singapore, a country known for restricting free speech, have promised “fake news” legislation in the new year.”
And on and on. This feedback loop is disgraceful, Mr. President. Not only has the past year seen an American president borrow despotic language to refer to the free press, but it seems he has in turn inspired dictators and authoritarians with his own language. This is reprehensible.
We are not in a “fake news” era, as Bashar Assad says. We are, rather, in an era in which the authoritarian impulse is reasserting itself, to challenge free people and free societies, everywhere.
In our own country, from the trivial to the truly dangerous, it is the range and regularity of the untruths we see that should be cause for profound alarm, and spur to action. Add to that the by-now predictable habit of calling true things false, and false things true, and we have a recipe for disaster. As George Orwell warned, “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.”
Any of us who have spent time in public life have endured news coverage we felt was jaded or unfair. But in our positions, to employ even idle threats to use laws or regulations to stifle criticism is corrosive to our democratic institutions. Simply put: it is the press’s obligation to uncover the truth about power. It is the people’s right to criticize their government. And it is our job to take it.
What is the goal of laying siege to the truth? President John F. Kennedy, in a stirring speech on the 20th anniversary of the Voice of America, was eloquent in answer to that question: “We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
Mr. President, the question of why the truth is now under such assault may well be for historians to determine. But for those who cherish American constitutional democracy, what matters is the effect on America and her people and her standing in an increasingly unstable world — made all the more unstable by these very fabrications. What matters is the daily disassembling of our democratic institutions.
We are a mature democracy – it is well past time that we stop excusing or ignoring – or worse, endorsing — these attacks on the truth. For if we compromise the truth for the sake of our politics, we are lost.
I sincerely thank my colleagues for their indulgence today. I will close by borrowing the words of an early adherent to my faith that I find has special resonance at this moment. His name was John Jacques, and as a young missionary in England he contemplated the question: “What is truth?” His search was expressed in poetry and ultimately in a hymn that I grew up with, titled “Oh Say, What is Truth.” It ends as follows:
Then say, what is truth? ‘Tis the last and the first,
For the limits of time it steps o’er.
Tho the heavens depart and the earth’s fountains burst.
Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst,
Eternal… unchanged… evermore.
Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
“I deplore the putrid state into which our newspapers have passed and the malignity, the vulgarity, and mendacious spirit of those who write for them.. These ordures are rapidly depraving the public taste and lessening its relish for sound food.”
‘From forty years’ experience of the wretched guess-work of the newspapers of what is not done in open daylight, and of their falsehood even as to that, I rarely think them worth reading, and almost never worth notice.”
“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.”
Just a small sample of what Jefferson had to say about the press.
Mike – your entire argument rests on the invalid premise that journalists are fair and impartial purveyors of facts. That ship sailed long ago. Today’s journalists slide editorial opinion and content into most “news” stories in an attempt to push their narrative. Finding the whole story is a necessary challenge that many folks are not up to accepting. Stripping away the mandatory editorial obfuscation is challenging. The tone and tenor of most reporting on Trump or his initiatives starts with an intense dislike of him personally. How else to explain studies showing the huge disparity in negative reporting done on Trump versus our recent presidents. https://www.npr.org/2017/10/02/555092743/study-news-coverage-of-trump-more-negative-than-for-other-presidents
It’s disappointing to see a man such as yourself doing much good in the world fall victim to a political ideology so simple and shallow that it boils down to accepting CNN’s view of the world or being declared an SP. Based on your background, perhaps it is not surprising you require conformity to your worldview. Sorry Mike, it doesn’t work like that.
It’s disappointing to see a man such as yourself doing much good in the world fall victim to a political ideology so simple and shallow that it boils down to accepting CNN’s view of the world or being declared an SP. Based on your background, perhaps it is not surprising you require conformity to your worldview. Sorry Mike, it doesn’t work like that.
I require conformity to my worldview? And I have fallen “victim to a political ideology”?
Instead of jumping to conclusions based on your worldview that seems to be that anything that is not praiseworthy of Donald Trump is based on watching CNN, perhaps you should read my original post again.
Yes, the media is flawed. No I don’t think that they are fair and impartial purveyors of facts. They don’t do a good job on a lot of things. But they ARE a bulwark against totalitarians and abuse of power. My point was to note my appreciation of them for the work that has been done to expose the abuses of scientology, for without the media it would go on behind closed doors and never be exposed. I dislike the very concept of anyone trying to undermine the value of the press — from Hubbard to Trump.
Your partisan tinted glasses are leaving you apparently unable to read what I actually said.
The left vs. right paradigm is a “divide and conquer” construct orchestrated by the deep state–the military industrial complex in concert with the international bankers–who finances both sides of every conflict. While people are arguing about Trump’s stupid tweets, the Pentagon, by their own admittance can not account for $28 trillion dollars of our tax dollars. Can you spell CORRUPTION? I knew that you could So, let’s keep on arguing about CNN vs. Fox while corrupt politicians, Democrat and Republicans, read their scripts carefully composed to set us against each other; yeah,let them continue to bomb innocent men, women and children back to the Stone Age all over the world and bankrupt our country while they’re at it.
Freedom of the press also assumes that a citizen will have some ability to discriminate between legitimate journalists and those who have a blatant political agenda.
Remember, that in the early days of this country, most newspapers supported some kind of political party or cause, not just on an editorial page but within their front page reporting as well. Our founders believed that it is more important to a democracy to protect them rather than censor them.
If you can’t se the differences between CNN and Fox, between the Washington Post and the National Enquirer, between John Oliver and Face the Nation, then this might be the time to take a couple of courses in Journalism and Civics.
Yes, correct. More important is to be able to differentiate between truth and lies, between good and evil.
I’ll say again, and hope that perhaps someone gets this, this time around, that “the “Axioms of Scientology” are “Axioms of Scientology”. The caption is not “Axioms of Life”. If Hubbard had meant to say “Axioms of Life” I feel almost absolutely certain that he would have written “Axioms of Life”. He did not. He wrote “Axioms of Scientology”. Incredibly, with all the word-clearing and demos and clay demos and warnings about misunderstandings and the importance of getting the meaning of things before running with them, would-be Scientologists read the “Axioms of Scientology” and because those deal with the specific and discreet field of Scientology, which addresses discreet aspects of life, begin to think something like this: “Well, yes … I mean, it does s-a-y ‘Axioms of Scientology’, but everyone knows that what he really means is ‘Axioms of Life’, and that’s obvious to anyone.” And I have asked Class VIII’s about good and evil, and I have gotten, almost uniformly, a quotation of axiom of Scientology #31: “Goodness and badness, beautifulness and ugliness, are alike considerations and have no other basis than opinion.” If I were an “Axioms Thumper” I guess I should reply: “Axiom #38: Stupidity is the unknownness of consideration”.
Hatred and evil are difficult subjects, but it seems to me that while an individual may experience a wide range of emotional tones, including hatred, there is a line of sorts at which one which crosses over from just an emotion of hatred, to an action of intentional harm, and that may be where one gets the phenomenon of what we call “evil”. Just as there is hatred, there is indeed evil, and only a fool would try to deny that.
Axiom #31 reads as it does, in my guesswork, because without that as an axiom of Scientology, auditing could not occur. You cannot ask some a question as regards his own personal experience, and then supply him with the answer.
And since this topic gets into politics in an explicit manner, and since Mike Rinder is in fact a journalist, I’ll get into it. To assume that media is telling the truth, only reporting relevant facts, and NOT running on its own agenda to cover up outright lies, is naive. It is nauseating to read “news” that attacks President Trump ad hominem as its principal focus, just as it is nauseating to read “news” that attacks Scientology in admitted complete ignorance of what Scientology is, REFUSING to differentiate between the idiots that make up the “congregation” and the facts and data and procedures of Scientology. Just as it is nauseating to read of things like the infamous Salem witch trials, the Spanish inquisition, and the slaughter of Christians in Ancient Rome. Ignorance, superstition, hatred, and evil.
Perhaps one of the most relevant questions of all time is this: “Why would someone actively oppose, lie about, and seek to destroy and bury good work?” Scientology has answers to that. Maybe that’s why some seek to lie about it, oppose it, and seek to destroy and bury it – without even looking at those answers or considering that they might apply to themselves. Oh, there is evil in the world. Yes, there is. And that is not a matter of opinion only. How you deal with it is not a matter of opinion either. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the solution is to take responsibility for it, find the hatred behind it, the reasons for that hatred, and audit those out, until the reasons for the hatred dissipate and resolve. That is a tough road, but it is the only one. If someone knows of a better way than Scientology, then by all means let them go for it, but the best route I have found is Scientology.
Very good article and analogies here, Mike. The thought-stopping ‘fake news’ mantra is a tool used for centuries by propagandists who wished to prevent the exchange of information via the free press. It is thought-stopping meant to convince us that nothing will be gained but lies from reading and believing anything we read written by the media.
Becoming Clear was a goal of every member. When we were scientologists, we bit the bait on accepting this propaganda tool because L Ron Hubbard said that the media was out enemy, that in reading it and believing anything of it, we’d be prevented from achieving a Clear thinking. We agreed because he said this was so; we agreed that only he knew truth, and to think otherwise was a betrayal.
Despite the effect it would have on our ability to seek information, to measure and fact-check what we’d read, to make conclusions from an objective mind, we no longer had free choice on the matter because we gave up our right to seek information from the media without believing and insisting that it was all biased. Little did we know what hypocrites we were. However, it didn’t matter anymore to us back then. We knew we were right because L Ron Hubbard was always right, and to think otherwise was to be doomed.
Yes, truth matters. It was what we sought but followed a path away from it. We did not understand the importance of critical thinking, of the opportunities afforded us by the freedom of press. We traded in our free choice on what to read, what to believe of what we read, and what to discern as fact or fiction from it. How fortunate we are to be free of that big lie. We are free now to read and write whatever we want, and to be of a free mind to accept or not accept. But we must always be on alert to any attempts to persuade us from reading information reported on the affairs of the world. It is a duty of sorts to discern the truth of what we read, and especially attempts to stop us from trusting that media altogether. Those are serious
attempts to control information, to stop it from reaching us, to supress us in thinking, knowing, and engaging in the exchange of free thought.
I think most of us are in favor of a Free Press. However we are living in a time where the media has become segmented and plays up to “their” faction of the populace.
Here’s an excellent article about the media using sports to get their opinion out, in the form of “covering” a Sports Story.
https://www.outkickthecoverage.com/american-tennis-player-advances-quarterfinals-quizzed-politics/
“the free press the guardian of democracy”
Truer words were never spoken, and never was a truism more in need of protecting.
Free press is a corner stone of freedom.
But in my view, very sadly, I see the press today as political activism.
When information is used for propaganda or if the press serves a political party ala Dona Brazille feeding the questions from the DNC to the moderators of the debate, then free is not so free.
I’d feel the same if Republicans did that.
The press is at an all time low as far as trust is concerned.
“The press” didn’t “serve a political party,” in the purported “example” you mentioned. Donna Brazile, then employed as one of CNN’s army of part-time commentators and panel participants (she is not “the press”), gave away to the Clinton campaign some questions that would be asked during a primary debate against Bernie Sanders — obviously and intra-party matter in itself. She was found out several months later, she was immediately resigned before being fired from that gig by “the press,” she was embarrassed, she apologized profusely, and it will stick to her reputation forever, such as in your wildly over-broad description. As it should. End of story.
Now, if you want a true example of how “the press serves a political party,” then your biggest and actual example needs to be Fox News, which used to be the propaganda arm of the Republican Party, until things reached the point where the Republican Party is now the operational arm of Fox News. At the behest of one of the world’s richest oligarchs, Rupert Murdoch. Why not use that as your example?
I am disappointed that so many people here stopped being Hubbard cultists in order to become Trump cultists, Hannity cultists, and conspiracy theory and so-called “deep state” cultists of the far right. (Oh, and the “fascism” on college campuses, that’s another laugher.) I am grateful that Mike Rinder isn’t.
The political activism is on both sides. Those on the right only think MSNBC and the like are the only activists.
Those on the left only see the bias in FOX etc.
Those in the middle have to contend with the bias of both binary thinking political junkies.
Being in the middle is a weird place to be. When I convey liberal ideas my conservative friends think I’m a liberal.
When I convey conservative views or anything supportive of Republicans liberals call me a trump lover.
Politics, in my view, has the same binary thinking and true believer mindset of fundamentalist religions.
Us vs. Them, good guys vs. bad guys.
I find it almost impossible to find folks to have an adult dialog out there regarding politics.
But that’s just my experience.
Couldn’t agree with you more.
It’s my experience, too.
The infamous media, in print or by word….possibly the reason for this word:
re·trac·tion
rəˈtrakSH(ə)n/
noun
noun: retraction; plural noun: retractions
1.
the action of drawing something back or back in.
“prey are grasped between the jaws upon tongue retraction”
2.
a withdrawal of a statement, accusation, or undertaking.
“he issued a retraction of his allegations”
Unfortunately, the retractions of the “front page” allegations (if published at all) are usually buried in the “back pages” where fewer people see them…
The press can well report on the matters it chooses. But there are forces like the CIA. Do study the subject of CIA operation Mockingbird. And consider the long list of subjects, which are not covered in mainstream news. They still find, that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy.
Yes, and who was REALLY behind 9/11?
I’m sorry to add my opinion on this, but I just can’t help myself Mr. Rinder. The smile that this has put on my face is an unbelievable happy one. I am not nor have I ever been a $cientologist and knew very little about it, but after watching “The Aftermath” I’ve become so interested in the cult and I am a full supporter of anyone who can help bring them down. Now as to my happy smile: seeing the people on here who were a part of that cult and the mind numbing control it had over their very thoughts and actions, seeing them engage in their own free thinking, posting opinions that are contrary to others with no fear of repercussions and engage in a honest healthy debate is, in my opinion, beautiful! I stand in awe of everyone of you! To break free of that, to lose the things you all have lost and come out on the other side as strong individuals is breathtaking!
Now for something maybe a little corny, but what I say to my (even grown) children when they have accomplished a milestone – take your right hand straight in the air beside your head, bend your arm backwards at the elbow and pat yourselves on the back. You deserve it.
I don’t mind this one bit. The relevance to the subject of Scientology is pretty evident to me, but even if it wasn’t, it’s your damn blog. What a fantastic speech, as well. Thanks for bringing it to everyone’s attention.
Obama was thoughtfully weighing all his words and considered all viewpoints in his briefings and speeches which I sorely miss with Trump.
A free society got to have a free press and the more civilized it will act. Look at Northern Europe, where any inkling of corruption gets quelched by the people, press and the main governing body quite speedily.
LRH was a dictator. Thanks Mike for including this speech in your blog. It is extremely pertinent here.
I agree Mike Rinder, concerning scientology and hubbardology. Here he claimed the banner of free communication and freedom and yet thru the years from the very beginning of dianetics, he hisself created a dictatorship in dianetics/scientology as “source”, or no free thought or comparison is allowed, or discussion. You are with us or not is the 1965 KSW banner of rhetoric. So much for being a free being. How diabolical.
Even in the beginning, the folks that helped, those were John Campbell, Dr Winter, Robert Heinlein, why all of them said Hubbard had it wrong.
Dr Winter wrote a book about it.
Campbell told Heinlein Hubbard wasn’t right in his theories in a personal letter.
Heinlein told Campbell he was was right to see if there was such a thing as “clear” in a personal letter to Campbell.
I gotta give Hubbard credit for persisting and persuading others to persist.
Thanks to new technology, why ex members can persist to, on what a fraud dianetics and scientology are.
No clears or OT’s.
When vast media conglomerates (6 of them) control what we the people are fed, then one can certainly see that “free” is not so unfettered as many would like. One has to look beyond the MSM to get a better semblance of what the facts may be.
Critical thinking skills are crucial when digesting the spin the MSM continually dishes out. Sifting fact from opinion requires attention to details.
Historically, the truth always comes out. ALWAYS.
Great article, Mike, and great speech by Senator Flake. But one development that’s not mentioned here is the growing drift toward censorship and fascism on college campuses these days, generally coming from the political Left. When controversial speakers are invited to appear on campuses these day, the self-styled arbiters of political correctness resort to mob violence to keep them from appearing, and cowardly presidents and administrators usually back down in the face of student protests. If these speakers do actually appear on campus they are either shouted down or worse, threatened with physical violence.
Shockingly this happened here in Vermont last year when Charles Murray was supposed to speak at Middlebury College and had to be escorted from campus with protective security guards in the wake of student threats. It seems that critical thinking skills are not much valued these days in the halls of ivy, having been replaced by the trendy theories of Foucalt, Derrida, or whatever philosphe du jour is in vogue at the moment. Hey, if you don’t like the ideas of a Charles Murray or whomever, by all means disagree and engage him in civilized debate; don’t turn cars over and start fires because you don’t like his ideas.
I shudder to think what kind of a “liberal arts” education college students are getting spoonfed these days (at great public and private expense, I might add). I’m done.
I just scanned through some of the other comments here. Interesting that none of them mention the assault on free speech that’s occurring on college campuses these days.
“Interesting that none of them mention the assault on free speech that’s occurring on college campuses these days.” Probably because most people here would rather stick to the topic of $cn and not get dragged down the rabbit hole… but I guess it’s gotta be done. Such speakers are not disinvited because of “cowardly presidents and administrators” — they are disinvited because if there’s a protest and people gets hurt, the school gets sued, and who can afford that? (Especially with conservatives cutting educational budgets and paying for it with corporate welfare and tax cuts for the President and his 1% friends.) Duh. Not everything that happens is due to evil liberals. Time to take a break from Fox News.
“they are disinvited because if there’s a protest and people gets hurt, the school gets sued, and who can afford that?”
That’s always the convenient excuse for cancelling “unpopular” speeches on campus, and it rather proves the point the the student mob gets to call the shots – which insures they’ll only get to hear the speakers they’ve already been primed to hear.
“Now take a break from Fox News.” Cute insult, but I never watch it.
Controversial speakers wanted to arrive on campus, spew their hate, receive their hefty paycheck and leave the expense of providing security and damage for the Universities to pay. They used student clubs in an effort to skirt having to pay for this. No one stopped people from speaking – but, if they wanted to use a large hall on campus, they just were required to pay for security, use of the space, and to schedule so it doesn’t conflict with academic classes. This wasn’t an academic talk, the talks had no academic purpose – it was for profit tours of self-proclaimed alt-right celebrities. No one is prevented from standing on the plaza and speaking their mind, but they cannot charge people to hear their message without shouldering all of the expenses related to that. Once that was enforced, they cancelled.
Mike just stick to the subject.I am immensely grateful for what you did to get families reconnected (mine included)with factual and pretty fair reporting of what is.Just stay with the job.Please?
It’s the same job my friend. I AM part of the media now.
“It’s the same job my friend. I AM part of the media now.”
And I’m very glad you are, Mike.
Anyone decrying a free press should go and live in a Banana Republic wherein a person can be picked up and jailed for saying something against the government.
I know what I’m talking about because I lived in a Banana Republic for 2 years and it happened there all the time.
The hue and cry you’ll experience here is purely political. If it were Hillary or Obama decrying a free press they would be calling for their heads on a pike immediately.
What they don’t realize is that ANYONE in power decrying a free press is a danger to our country and our system.
What they don’t realize is that if you muzzle the press about anything you open the door to the press being MUZZLED, PERIOD, and that includes on the subject of Scientology.
What they don’t get (yet) is that Scientology is LAPPING UP that the free press is being bashed by the President! Wow, is this ever making the cult RIGHT about how evil the press is!
What these people don’t get is that the PRESS is their FRIEND when it comes to exposing the truth about Scientology abuses.
Muzzle the press about ANYTHING at your peril!
fly high free bird..
I agree with you, Xenu’s son. The facts regarding DM and the “church” of Scn are what this blog has always been about. Not about President bashing.
If you think this post is “President bashing” I am sorry.
I guess you view any expression of disagreement or dislike of something the President says is “President bashing.”
If I said I find it abhorrent that he said he likes to grab women by the pussy, that too is “President bashing”?
To me, this is such a strange, defensive position to take…
I won’t take the bait you provide to debate things the president did or said which you find offensive. That is not the purpose of this blog. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But you have said more than once that you want to avoid political discussions on this blog. Your comments today seemed to stray outside the stated purposes of this blog, that of bringing down the C of $ and DM; that’s all I’m saying.
Say whatever you want Mr. Rinder. If someone doesn’t like it, they can start their own blog.
Not that you need my approval, of course.
How anyone is unable to discern relevancy between a free press and the exposure of the Church of Scientology’s abuses to the general public is beyond my comprehension.
The ONLY way this cult will be brought down, is via the truth getting out about the cult.
If ANY vastly rich or powerful person or entity can get the press muzzled, whether its via laws passed, or via handsome financial payoffs to the people who pass these laws, or both, well, say Sayonara to your kids and loved ones, people,
The man you voted for is being bashed now. Well, he has no problem bashing anyone himself, if you’ll notice. Stop worrying about him. Let him take his lumps. He has vast wealth and resources and powerful connections to assist him in dealing with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
And what do YOU have, on YOUR side, to get your kids back?
The PRESS. Pretty much, that’s IT. The PRESS will bring down this cult that stole your money and then stole your kids. The PRESS will dig and dig and chew and chew because its what they DO.
Hate them if you must, but don’t be stupid. Let them do their thing. Actively and VOCALLY SUPPORT them in doing their thing with ANYONE and/or any subject.
The press is already onto the cult. This train has already left the track! It just needs to gather steam, is all.
These stories, all true, are the kind of things the press live and breathe for. Support them in finding them. Keep this train FUELED.
Co$ has vast wealth. You’re NOT going to LAWSUIT them out of existence, you know!
Thank you for reading. End of rant.
That “rant” should have been included in my original post. Just not smart or eloquent enough to say it like this!
Thank you.
Wow, Mike! Speechless (for once). You’re most welcome.
There are a great number of articles on the net regarding the contol of media. Though their numbers may vary somewhat, it’s clear that major media is owned and controlled by major corporations. And, even before he was elected, there were hundreds of articles and broadcasts spewing false news about the President. He has been besieged by the Left ever since. Despite that, he has had am enviable record in his first year. Most of it is NEVER reported by the main news rivers. They are unabashedly Left Wing. Tony’s blog is unabashedly Left Wing. I know very little about “pussy grabbing” by the President, but he certainly is surrounded by a lot of very first class, educated, intelligent women. So the grabbing accusations seem a bit far out of reality. I do think he fires Tweets without thinking them through. But even that is changing.
Do I like the way the country has changed over the past five or six decades? Not one bit. We’ve gone far out of sync with the Constitution and Bill of Rights and they are further belabored daily.
Scientology is a prime example. So is Congress. And I don’t feel most of the major media has a clue about TRUTH. Hollywood, also highly Left Wing, adds more to the BS.
That said, I think that YOU, Mike, have been doing yeoman work in exposing the worst excesses of the debacle which calls itself a “church”. Please just keep hammering away at that and leave the current political battles out of it. I believe you are one of the best things that ever happened to scio. Please keep on keeping on in that vein.
With much love and respect, Peter
Thanks for your compliment Peter.
Just for your info, the pussy grabbing is Donald Trump on tape with Billy Bush. You don’t need to know much about it, he said it and said that powerful men like him could get away with it. That’s all.
Talk is cheap. Guys have been doing that since the cave man. I don’t condone it, but I can only imagine what Clinton said…and DID…all through his career. The Left never censured HIM for that. There’s no longer any balance in this country. And all those “women in black” in Hollywood have known about the situation in Hollywood for decades. But it took a couple of beginners to have the guts to do anything about it. The BIG stars had been lauding and kissing up to Weinstein for years. No balance. No ethics. No integrity.
You are boxing imaginary shadows. I don’t defend Clinton. His actions were just as abhorrent as Trumps. You are exposing yourself as a Neanderthal. Quit while you are behind. Because cave men treated women that way is no justification for anyone acting like a cave man today.
Peter, the Left, as you call the press, was white on rice over Clinton/Monica/blue dress etc etc for YEARS. Non stop, day and nite, 24/7 coverage in print, on radio, TV. Talking heads on all stations and networks, analyzing, speculating, bashing, hashing and rehashing…do you recall?
Trump said powerful men like him could get away with it-I do not believe he said he did it- Harvey Weinstein is a case in point, powerful man, who did a lot more and got away with it for years. Flake comparing Trump to Stalin was a bit over the top for me and too melodramatic for an outgoing Congressman. #Releasethememo. That should clear up the bias of the press if they have the balls to print it when it is released.
Oh please. You are going to do a Bill Clinton and try to parse words like it is OK?
This is a recording of Trump’s words, not “media bias” or Harvey Weinstein.
In case you missed what he exactly said:
Trump: Yeah, that’s her. With the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
Bush: Whatever you want.
Trump: Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.
Please don’t try to defend this. It makes you look bad. It’s disgusting any way you cut it.
So is Harvey Weinstein. He is a pig too and has lost his job and any position he held. Fortunately Weinstein was not President of the United States.
This speech is very much on point here. Look at
what Scientology is doing – free speech, ha! Free
thought, ha! Free discussion, ha! So where is a
group, society or civilization headed when freedom
is taken away from people?
Mike,
It is unfortunate but very telling that several have misconstrued your post today to be nothing more than ‘president bashing’.
In case you folks missed it, the title is ‘Truth Matters’. Get a frickin grip people, the truth does matter wherever you find it. Whether it is the truth about what is happening in our world or truth about your past cult …………… it matters. Please pay attention and if you continue to have difficulties then start your own blog rather than whine about what Mike chooses to post on his own blog.
Grade 0.
“…the truth does matter wherever you find it. Whether it is the truth about what is happening in our world or truth about your past cult……………it matters.”
THIS.
Those who call this post “president bashing” are wearing partisan blinders that obscure the issue, which is TRUTH. One can have political beliefs AND the objectivity to see that decrying and denigrating those who speak a truth which one finds to be inconvenient is a danger to us all.
“On can have political beliefs AND the objectivity to see that decrying and denigrating those who speak a truth with one finds to be inconvenient is a danger to us all.”
One would think, eh? That’s how it used to be, back in the day when we were civilized.
OK, enough sarcasm. Just remember: the same free press that chewed on Bill Clinton, and before him, chewed up and spit out Jimmy Carter, is the same free press that is chewing on Donald Trump. Who obligingly ensures they always have plenty of cud.
After all, most of what the MSM press writes of POTUS are his tweets. These are direct quotes. He tweets , the press reports.
Think about it.
Good article. This reminds me of a comment and I made last week. I have a policeman buddy I fish with sometimes. He encounters so much “untruth” in his daily duty, he expects to be lied to as part of his daily routine. What I found horrifying was his reference to teenagers in simple matters where the evidence is obvious but the lies are more important and the resulting “violence of attitude” upon the truth being enforced is an assault on the senses – and then there are the lawyers! Admitting to the use of lies to maintain power is probably the hardest aspect of a society to come to terms with, it is a common malady. If it happens at the top of authority and all to often – God help us!
Well presented Mike.
Regarding the free press and their frequent bias and abuse of the truth: Always consider the Source before accepting their ‘truth’. That is your responsibility.
It saddens me how divided our country has become. Seems civil discourse has been trampled by the most radical elements on both sides. Mikes eloquent post and Senator Flakes speech should serve as a reminder that together we stand and divided we fall. A free press protects a government by the people and for the people. The people running this country want us to fight each other so we don’t notice that they’re robbing us and giving the majority of the wealth in this country to the donor class. We have to stop fighting each other and be open to the truth.
“We have to stop fighting each other and be open to the truth.”
Well said and a superb comment altogether, Sandy.
Unfortunately, as Jack Nicholson’s character famously said in that film: “Some people can’t handle the truth.”
No, not when it conflicts with certain of their closely held preconceived ideas.
A lot of people operate this way in life, unfortunately.
My late father’s go to expression to describe this phenomenon when he encountered it in people was both resigned acceptance and sarcastic dismissal.
He’d roll his eyes and say about them: “Don”t confuse me with the FACTS!. My MIND is made up!”
I was always permitted to disagree with him about ANYTHING but woe betide me if I didn’t have my facts straight! Or, if I didn’t have any facts at all! Uh, oh! He’d accept anything, no matter how disagreeable to him, but he would not accept mental sloppiness, from me or anyone.
Well, nowadays we have “alternative facts” along with facts.
Sort of like a very large, open buffet of facts.
Lots of choices! Something for everyone! Just grab a plate, come to the table, and pick the facts you like!
Don’t worry, you won’t have to swallow anything you don’t like!
Is anyone ELSE hungry for a snack after reading this wonderful information article & all the comments it garnered….or possibly a snack to eat during the football game…Well here goes:
Seven Layer Taco Dip:
1) Soften cream cheese for about 1 minute in the microwave (REMOVE from tin foil package first)…..
mix in a packet of “dry taco seasoning & mix til blended & smooth)…spread on flat dish
2) Get one 8 or 16 oz cup of sour cream (mix well first so it blends better) & spread that on topof the softened cream cheese/taco seasoning mix.
3) Spread one can of WARMED Chili (w/o beans) on top of the first two ingredients
4) Pour on some warmed Salsa (any kind mind/medium/hot) over the first 3 ingredients
5) Top the above ingredients with shredded lettuce
6) Top the lettuce with chopped/dice tomato
7) Top everything with shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Get your “chips” (I use the “taco dip scoops”) & enjoy with ANY beverage…..
.ENJOY this delicious Taco Feast my dear friends!
Always in for a munchie. I love our Mexican evenings. Tku
I’m always in for a munchie, too. I love our Norway evenings.
Thank you for speaking to the larger societal context, Mike. I agree with you.
Two responses:
“the press usually corrects itself when it gets something wrong.”
Only if you dismiss Fox News and Breitbart as news (something I’m quite willing to do). My point is that there is ACTUAL fake news — the fake sting that actually destroyed ACORN, Pizzagate, birtherism, etc. I’d like to see something like a “truth in advertising” law applied to journalism. Not to imprison people who tell truths that are inconvenient to those in power, but to require stories demonstrated to be deliberately false to be accurately labeled as something other than “news” or “journalism.”
“the question of why the truth is now under such assault may well be for historians to determine.”
If there is such a thing as history after this. The facts of history (e.g., the invention of the white race as a basis for permanent inherited slavery) continue to be rewritten and erased. Facts of science (e.g., the common descent of all life on earth, the effect of human pollution on global climate) have become forbidden in a way unknown since the days of Galileo. I think the survival of human civilization does require the rebellion of the actual masses of people against the lying institutions.
Mike, congrats on the Producers Guild Award.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/producers-guild-awards-2018-winners-list-full-1074751/item/award-outstanding-producer-fiction-television-1057841
“Yes, Mike, big congrats! Team Leah! Free press , YES!
Mike excellent post today. Thanks for pointing out a cornerstone of our republic that is now being attacked by our infantile president as was attacked by our infantile cult leader, Hubbard and his pseudo protegé Miscavige.
So many of us were mind-trapped inside a destructive cult. All we needed was a sufficient amount of truth to set us free. We actively decried any other point of view. We were fed false propaganda at every event. “White PR” they called it.
What we lacked was the ability to debate, openly and honestly, the data we were being spoon fed.
Unfortunately, what I see today is that 85% of so-called information coming out of the news media is propaganda for the democratic party and 10% is propaganda for the republican party and about 5% is objective news attempting to debate the issues or offer a reasoned analysis.
Much of the entertainment media is similarly biased.
In this way, the public are caught in a very similar mind-trap that we ex-cultists were. We’re given one side of the story and expected to believe it and are shamed or ridiculed if we dissent. In some social media circles one is disconnected (blocked) if one agrees with our new president. In other circles one is blocked if he doesn’t agree.
I was never taught critical thinking skills or the art of debate or how to pick apart an argument without feeling the need to be divisive or hostile. From my experience with raising four kids and now 10 grand kids, NONE of them were or are being taught these vital skills. The lack of these skills leads to people who are easily manipulated.
A free press is vital. But with freedom comes responsibility. And when the media in this country starts to make Pravda look honest and objective, we’re in trouble.
Please don’t forget that the dissenting press under Obama was actually spied on by the government. He did his attacks on a free press largely covertly. Trump does them overtly. I think it’s wonderful that it’s all out in the open now and we can have an honest debate about the veracity of the media and it’s political agenda.
Personally, I have a lot of questions that I’d like addressed with actual facts and figures. The vast majority of what I’m getting from the so-called free press is propaganda.
Hopefully the president will reflect on what he says and make some changes.
Hopefully the press will do the same.
I see a lot of propaganda coming from the “free press”. Trump is arrogant and dislikeable, but I think his presence has exposed elements of a corrupt oligarchy in our government. A lot of the “free press” seems to be operating with the purpose of relentlessly attacking to obstruct or destroy the president. I’m interested to see where it all goes. I think politically we may be headed down the rabbit hole. As of now I believe Trump will be at most a one term president, if that makes anyone feel better.
Chris, I agree. Trump is rattling a lot of cages.
Just this. Personally, he makes me shudder, but I was glad he won BECAUSE he’s shaking it up! Much needed, whole lotta shakin goin on.
Chris, and BK, Trump is being himself. In his latest incarnation as POTUS, he is simply being himself. He’s never been any different. He has long been a VERY media savvy guy. He KNOWS when he says something outrageous the press will be all over it. He KNOWS they’ll print it. Out of context, possibly. Or, worse, in context.
Please don’t forget that the dissenting press under Obama was actually spied on by the government.
Source please. Would love to see facts on this statement. Thanks.
Never mind, found some articles.
LDW said “Personally, I have a lot of questions that I’d like addressed with actual facts and figures. The vast majority of what I’m getting from the so-called free press is propaganda.”
Very astute post, LDW. Whether you lean left, right or Libertarian, the press must be held accountable. During my lifetime of almost 70 years I’ve observed that the news media has become more focused on sensationalism, entertainment and celebrity than on real journalism.
As with Scientology, the Internet has been corporate-controlled journalism’s Waterloo.
Thank goodness for Mike Rinder, Leah Remini, Jason Beghe, Paul Haggis, Tony Ortega, Joe Childs, Tom Tobin, Debbie Cook and all the others (too many to list) who have used their freedom of speech to expose the abuses of Scientology.
LDW,
Specifically, what news source in your opinion is offering that 5% , i.e., that objective news reporting?
“Unfortunately, what I see today is that 85% of so-called information coming out of the news media is propaganda for the democratic party and 10% is propaganda for the republican party and about 5% is objective news attempting to debate the issues or offer a reasoned analysis.
Much of the entertainment media is similarly biased.” Thank you for your good analysis of the situation, LDW. You and What Wall make very good points
Good speech by Jeff Flake, but the press has also set itself up for Trump’s distasteful attacks by their biased & emotional coverage of this unruly President.
What happened to America’s “Free Press”? Most of today’s news media is owned by 5 or 6 corporations:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/democracyondeadline/mediaownership.html
Wikileaks and other Internet sources are today’s Free Press.
“Wikileaks and other Internet sources are today’s Free Press.”
Truer words were never spoken. The modern corporate press has repeatedly demonstrated its lack of ethics and accountability. The Founding Fathers believed that the press should be free of PRIOR GOVERNMENT restraint, not that it should be immune from consequences for libeling public figures with impunity, as CNN and others have done with Trump. “Fake news” was a label originally used to attack private citizens fact-checking the excesses of these organizations. Let’s see what Jefferson had to say about that:
“No inference is here intended that the laws provided by the States against false and defamatory publications should not be enforced; he who has time renders a service to public morals and public tranquility in reforming these abuses by the salutary coercions of the law; but the experiment is noted to prove that, since truth and reason have maintained their ground against false opinions in league with false facts, the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint; the public judgment will correct false reasoning and opinions on a full hearing of all parties; and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness. If there be still improprieties which this rule would not restrain, its supplement must be sought in the censorship of public opinion.”
T. Jefferson-Second Inaugural Address
http://www.history.org/almanack/people/jeffinaug2.cfm
This is why the enemies of free expression have been trying to shut down dissent on online content providers. Also, if you are going to make this sort of argument for freedom of speech, you also have to make it for freedom of religion, no matter if it allows for exploitative creeps to abuse said freedom.
Ernest, who on this blog, least of all Mike Rinder, is arguing against freedom of religion?
To WhatWall and many others here, I have to say the problem with relying on Internet sources is that they are very clearly not held to any of the same standards as the hated “MSM”.
I absolutely have concerns with just mindlessly accepting everything that’s printed in the NY Times or everything you see on CNN. I absolutely think it’s important to be aware of conflicts of interest that might be impacting their reporting. I think it’s important to be aware of what stories are being covered and which ones are not, which is something the internet can help analyze. I work for an organization that’s been reported on in my city and I know what gets reported is usually not completely accurate – reality is usually far more complicated and messy and involves a lot of “inside baseball” that can’t be accurately reported. So I know to take even a well researched news story with a grain of salt.
But when it comes to conveying what is happening in the world, and when it comes to giving analysis of what impact events might have, the mainstream media must maintain certain standards of how their information is obtained. They require fact checking. They expose themselves to the public and to each other for scrutiny. They correct themselves. They’re not perfect, but they know about journalism.
When you get your information online, or when you encourage people vaguely that they should get their information online, there is an extremely high risk that you’re sending people to far more biased, flawed, and corrupt sources of news than the mainstream media itself – as flawed as that might be already. Misinformation spreads around the internet lightning fast, and many people obviously don’t have the skills to evaluate where information is coming from.
I have frustrations with the mainstream media as well. I think it’s important to scrutinize it and try to improve it and not just accept it because it’s the best we’ve got, as with the pbs article you yourself link to for support. But all the flaws of the MSM can be found tenfold in the “internet sources” that you cite as a better alternative. I want there to be a better alternative. I don’t want the MSM to be the best we’ve got. But instead all you get on the internet are isolated groups of people who already agree with each other, publishing articles that support their pre-existing beliefs usually with very little scrutiny, fact checking, or accountability.
A free and honest press is essential to any civilized society. The first act of any tyrant wanna-be is to muzzle the press.
A press which has an agenda and uses their position not to inform but to sway, is an enemy of a civilized society. The first and most vital act of that society should be to call out the duplicity and tar and feather the those responsible for the perversion.
Every free citizen supports a free press, but that support doesn’t embrace the use of the media by social engineers who use deceitful or misleading propaganda to sway public opinion.
Well, this is a slippery slope argument. That’s exactly what Hubbard said justified his attacks on the press — it was controlled by social engineers (psychs and the World Bank) who used lying propaganda to sway public opinion against him.
By definition, a free press is going to present opinions that not everyone agrees with at some point. And generally those who disagree with something in the media feels it’s propaganda opposed to their view.
There are a lot of arguments on all side of this issue.
The point I am trying to make is to support a FREE PRESS and beware anyone who seeks to undermine it. ANYONE. “Liberal,” “conservative,” “genius,” or “fool.”
Look at the words of Jefferson at the top of the post. Stand up for a free and robust press.
It is essential that diverse opinions be expressed, but concurrent with that is the need to make it clear that it is an opinion and that it is not being presented as a fact. The problem with a lot of the media today is the disguising of opinion as a fact, which is deceitful and foolhardy as it undermines the whole essence of what the free and robust press is supposed to embody. The media was almost 100% anti-Trump during the last election cycle, and its attempts to coerce the voters was seen for what it was and so it was largely ignored. That the NYTimes had to recant its handling of the election cycle and promised to go back to being an honest source of news illustrates quite clearly just how far off the rails the ‘free’ press wandered. When this happens, it is in the public interest … actually it is vital to the life of the society … that the fake press be called out on it.
When Jefferson made the above comment in support of a free and robust press, I’m sure he was also aware of the need to hold the press accountable when it slides down that slope, ideally by the other press, to do otherwise is suicide.
I don’t think anyone has a problem with people who voice opinions and try to sway public opinion over to their view, providing they are honest about it and are not trying to manipulate using deceit. When the press gets involved … it gets muddy.
There’s also the problem of too many people seemingly unable to distinguish an opinion from a fact.
That’s my opinion.
I’d love to stand up for a free and robust press. I wish I knew of one. Every organization, be it government, ecclesiastical, or private/commercial has it’s own version of Orwell’s Ministry of Truth. I would say that the overwhelming majority of media worldwide forwards not so much news or “truth” but PR-like narratives crafted to promote some agenda meant to benefit their respective organizations and to manipulate public views and perspectives. When I’m confronted with the prospect of judging what is true and what is not, I ask myself, “What would Winston Smith do?”
I guess what I am saying is that as long as the media has the good of the pubic in mind, there is no problem. When they lose sight of that and shift to the good of some speciial interest group, then there is a problem.
Much simpler.
Bob G, the TV and cable media have selling people things in mind. Informing them is not the goal. Selling them stuff is the goal. Cars, laundry soap, toilet tissue, whatever. Some sort of entertainment is delivered whether its comedy or reality or a news show for the sole purpose of selling people stuff.
If you want to know the audience for any show just observe the commercials. If you’re watching a news program that’s still non stop bashing Hillary a year after she lost the election, very likely the commercials will be for adult diapers, Slip and Fall 1-800 lawyers, and denture adhesives. Red meat.
CNN will non-stop bash Trump. Red meat to the Democrats who loathe Donald Trump! This is what THEY want to watch and hear.
Plenty of people LOVE to get all worked up, all riled up over some TV “news and commentary”.
And, so long as what they’re watching and listening to coincides with what they already believe and want to hear, then its “unbiased”.
They stick with their one, sole “unbiased” news source. They’ll tune in every day so they can get all riled up.
Millions of Americans enjoy this – “Oh, boy, that oaf Trump is really gonna get bashed today”…”Man, are they ever sticking it to Crooked Hillary today!”…
Red meat. The viewers get what they want Facts are selected to coincide with what the sponsors know the targeted audience wants to hear. No one gets informed although they may think they are. The advertisers products get sold. Everybody’s happy.
In my opinion, the ultimate resolution of the conflict between a free press and lies told by the press (when that occurs) lies in the responsibility of the RECEIVERS of the news, facts, etc, in distinguishing between truth and lies. It is not solved by banishing a free press.
I just thought of this now, haven’t taken any action on it yet, but can make it a life goal to educate people on this.
Agree with you 100%
AMEN, Dave Fagen. It is OUR responsibility to insist on accurate reporting when covering the news. THEN they can give us their opinions – why not?
But when our President, whether Democrat or Republican goes on the record as calling the press “the enemy of the people” and we go into agreement with that, then we’re on our way to being the world’s largest and most diverse banana republic.
I agree wholeheartedly. But I have to add that with an education system that fails to teach kids to analyze fact from fiction we have a population that not only will not, but cannot discern.
Yes, this needs to change.
Could not agree more.
In my opinion, Trump and others, on both ‘sides’ of the debate, are no longer willing to give the press the benefit of the doubt about their true motivations. A critical look at the media is absolutely vital to the existence of an honest and none biased free press. Jefferson’s quote above is too absolute, and he was wrong; to not challenge the press is the road to tyranny
If the press could be trusted, there would be no debate on this issue to begin with. There have been too many instances where the press has abused its power to the point that it can no longer be believed carte blanche and rightly so.
The division in our society is to a large degree, those who believe what the press says vs those who don’t. If we had correct information about the affairs of our government, its motivations and actual outcomes of policies, we could all make more rational decisions and have more agreement amongst us.
I totally agree with a “free and robust press”, so long as it is honest too.
Hmmm, I don’t think that is a provable fact. Check out any dictatorship in history. The first thing to go is a free press. It’s not a convincing argument to claim the problem with the press in Russia or Pinochet’s Chile or Amin’s Uganda or Iran or North Korea is that they have “abused their power”…
The “power” is on the side of those who want to shut down a free press because they don’t like what it exposes.
Mike, History proves your statement every time.
“. It’s not a convincing argument to claim the problem with the press in Russia or Pinochet’s Chile or Amin’s Uganda or Iran or North Korea is that they have “abused their power”…”
You are right!!
I am not saying the freedom of the press is a bad thing, quite the contrary, just freedom of a dishonest press, which is something I believe to a large degree we have now. I would rather see the press clean up its act, or be forced to clean up its act, rather than be abolished.
A society of checks and balances, with the good of the people in mind is what I would like to see. Which would include representatives of the people, the law and a free honest press. I dont believe we have that at the moment!
Are you equating Trump with Pinochet, Amin or other dictators?
Mike , EXTREMELY well said in this VERY important essay! And a magnificent speech by Senator Flake about the current political attacks on the press.
As far as the couple of expected attacks on the press already posted here (!!!) – those who are apparently “irony awareness deficient ” – along with the inevitable attacks on the previous president … Forgive these people. I am convinced they cannot help it. As soon as you mention ANYTHING negative about the current administration, it’s like pushing the play button on the old cassette player and the circuits of talking points of “but what about …” leap into action. Just let them play out.
Little silver hammer … Meet knee.
Freedom of the Press is greatest in this great country. And, it should remain so. What has happened is that the ethics of many in the Press today has suffered due to greed and money, similar to what has happened with many politicians, many business people, many preachers, and many every day people. It’s not the law that needs to change, but the people.
O/T:
This committee (E-mail: cpsc@london.ca) is meeting on Tuesday, in London, Ontario, to debate a motion to change the name of Paul Haggis Park:
Community and Protective Services Committee – Tue Jan 23, 2018 – 4:00 PM – Council Member Submission – Paul Haggis Park
The agenda: http://sire.london.ca/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=1713&doctype=AGENDA
The councillor who made the submission is Mo Salih. All the contact info for the councillors on the committee is here:
https://www.london.ca/city-hall/city-council/Pages/default.aspx
You can stream the meeting: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCONeQa0atWlHJlsvNyBZHdQ
I do not believe Mr Haggis guilty.
Who is calling for restrictions on the press?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/05/20/shredding-the-constitution-obamas-attack-on-the-associated-press/?utm_term=.f54201d0356f
I’ve been screaming about this for about 7 years. People are just NOW waking up to it? Sad
Wynski, a little friendly advice that posters here may have just been too mannerly to mention … When (your own words) you scream about something for seven years? … People stop listening. The continual reputation of the same points and the same words over and over and over and over … it becomes white noise after awhile … And no one cares anymore.
Smile a little more, enjoy life a little more (just a LITTLE now, don’t go overboard on me and become HAPPY or anything that radical).
Wynski, ignore this bad advice.
I did Bob G. Thanks. Joe P. isn’t know for his logic.
The stories on CNN, NBC, and the rest of the mainstream media are >90% negative re: Trump. The media are ignoring the stock market boom, progress against ISIS, record low unemployment. They are a “free press” but they act as hate groups and in full support of the deep state.
There is good reason to believe that the deep state exists and is plotting a coup against a legally elected president. Trump is right in criticizing these scum. The truth will come out and supporters of the Clinton crime syndicate will be disappointed.
Also, are you putting on blinders? Conveniently forgetting that Obama went to war against Fox News?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/weekinreview/18davidcarr.html
From the above article, Obama vs Fox News:
“We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent,” Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, said in an interview with The New York Times. “As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave.”
I don’t have blinders on.
I simply took a CURRENT event to make a point about the value of free press.
Of course there will be those who choose to miss the actual point and turn this into a partisan rant about destroying the President and the “scum” press – ironically citing The NY Times or Washington Post to support their position.
When the “free press” claims to be objective reporters of fact and are, rather, shown to be highly partisan, the adjective “free” becomes moot. Without an honest statement of their own bias it becomes propaganda.
—Mike: Why, why, whyyyyy did you enter politics into your most wonderful and effective blog re scn? Politics damned near destroyed the NFL, for god’s sake.
If you think this is a post about politics, you are mistaken.
I knew that by posting this it would prompt people to wonder whether I had lost my marbles because if you even touch upon “politics” in this country at this time it turns into some sort of flame war before anyone has had a chance to take a breath.
But as I said — I think this is IMPORTANT and I too held the view that the press are a bunch of lying propagandists with an agenda and I have come to change my view and appreciate its value in speaking truth to power.
I’ll take the criticism for posting this. I think it’s an extremely important topic.
PS: What will ultimately really destroy the NFL has nothing to do with politics. It is the fact that it is becoming increasingly clear it is a dangerous pastime that turns men into vegetables.
Driveby,
The “deep state” as you call it has existed for quite awhile in several forms.
Trump and Hubbard are similar in their vilification of “the press”. The ability to access all manner of news story including “deep state” stories is part of a free press.
Trump has attacked anyone or institution that cririzes him, as Hubbard did.
There are plenty of press who are skewed by their owners, such as William Hearst. There are also publications that expose actual truth.
What’s amazing is “speaking in generalities” is a major trait of an anti-social personality.
Hubbard was a master of generalities. Trump is following in his footsteps.
Trump stepped into the Republican Party uninformed of his duties as a politician and now he is paying the price. He is also picking “the wrong target” the press(big generality).
And he is effectively destroying the standing of the US on the global stage. He in fact appears to be doing, exactly what your “deep state” wants. Wake up Driveby, you are the product of your own blinders.
Ha Ha! Trump “hates” the press the way an addict “hates” his pusher! He is, was, has been and always will be addicted to attention. He’s gotta have it, lots of it, constantly, and if he can’t get it in a positive way he’ll get it ANY way he can – but get it he will! Try not to overthink this. If you understand nothing else except this about him, the next 3 or 7 years will be A LOT easier for you, no matter how you voted.
Driveby, the stock market boom, progress against ISIS and unemployment issue were set in motion long before trump came into office.
That is one hell of a debatable point. And a debate that really needs to be had. But not here. Just doesn’t belong.
I concur!
LDW I also concur.