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The state of journalism in America is pretty bad when the major
media have to keep up with the National Enquirer. Yes,
congratulations to the Enquirer for breaking the story about
Jesse Jackson's personal misdeeds. It was time to unmask
the "reverend" and his misconduct, whether women,
money, power, or all of the above.
That doesn't mean the major media has to focus on the
continuing saga of the Clintons. By now, that should be a
page 12 item (preferably in a 10-page section).
This is not to justify any of the former first couple's
crimes. It is to question the character and taste of
placing the sex angle in the public eye when the real issues are
being buried. The real issues are fraud, bribery and abuse
of power.
We went through this sickening business in 1998 with the
Monica Lewinsky affair. Somehow the public impression was
that then-president Bill Clinton was being impeached for
adultery. No, his impeachment was for perjury, but media-madness
and media-mudness focused on the stains on the blue dress.
This isn't journalism, it's gutter-gossip. Haven't we
gotten past that yet?
There is a world out there!
We have some very serious issues to deal with in America, far
more worthy of front page copy than the never-ending "Days
of the Clinton Lives" on page one, sometimes in full color.
Let's grow up and, in President Bush's words, "move
on."
Continuing investigations of the Clinton fraud and bribery
issues should be treated journalistically and not as tabloid
material. Are the newspapers in such financial trouble
that they can't make a living from news?
The average American reader loves junk, just as the average
American loves McDonald's whether it's healthy or not. And
tabloid news is just as unhealthy for the American mentality as
a greasy bacon-double-cheeseburger with fries is for the
American body.
How would Chet Huntley and David Brinkley have carried a
stunningly popular news program in the 60's with the trash
that's called "news" now? We watched the
Huntley-Brinkley report, or Walter Cronkite, to learn what was
going on in the world, not in someone's bedroom. What will it
take to bring that kind of news back to page one? A war? A
depression? An asteroid headed for earth?
The Seattle earthquake pre-empted the page one news for a day
or two. But what's a 6.8 earthquake compared to another
Clinton escapade?
Or is it just that the news media can't face the truth about
the economic downturn in America, and is doing a 30's vaudeville
act to distract weary and fearful Americans while the truth
rumbles on?
News apparently doesn't sell in this age of rap and narco as
well as gossip.
The media needs to stop running like water to the gutter and
start regaining some dignity. It just might set the
standards back to where we can call news "news" again.
Even when it hurts, even when it makes people ... think!
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