Editorial

WHEN TRUTH GETS LOST AMID TRIVIA

"What is sex?'' the ABC radio announcer demanded to know on a Friday
morning "news'' broadcast.

It was a teaser for a story on President Clinton's impending testimony
before the Ken Starr-chamber grand jury. But it was also a reminder of
the great extent to which the whole Monica Lewinsky "scandal'' has
been driven by a media that is far more obsessed with bedroom affairs
than foreign affairs.

The news in this country has become so trivialized that some
sociologists now speculate that a person may actually be more confused
after listening to an evening news program.

What's wrong with American media?

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, the national media watchdog group,
offers one answer.

The new issue of FAIR's magazine, "Extra!,'' examines media bias and
discovers a Washington press corps far out of touch with the American
people.

So, are Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich right? Are limousine-liberal
reporters cruising the beltway in search of the latest opportunity to
undermine conservative ideals? Hardly.

According to a survey of Washington reporters, editors and broadcast
producers conducted for FAIR by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth
University, the D.C. journalists were significantly more conservative
than the American people.

Compare attitudes about corporations. While 43 percent of the
Washington press corps reject the notion that too much power is
concentrated in the hands of large corporations, only 18 percent of
the public share that view.

Indeed, journalists registered as more conservative than the people on
each of the following issues: protecting Medicare and Social Security,
expansion of NAFTA, the need to control and regulate corporations,
taxing the wealthy and development of a government guarantee of health
care for all.

It's not that journalists are right wingers, per se, the study found.
The real point is that they are defenders of the status quo, while the
American people are inclined toward reform.

"(Journalists') adherence to the middle of the road and conventional
wisdom is consistent with media outlets owned and funded by
corporations that benefit from the status quo and are threatened by
alternative analyses,'' says sociologist David Croteau.
"Unfortunately, this too often leaves citizens with policy `debates'
grounded in the shared assumption of those in positions of power.''

Thus, we get endless stories about Monica's blue dress, rather than
the issues Americans worry about.

When journalist do "think outside the box,'' they are often shot down.
That was what happened to San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb
when he exposed links between the Central Intelligence Agency and
Nicaraguan Contras who dealt drugs.

Webb was attacked by fellow journalists when the story appeared two
years ago. But this year, the CIA acknowledged that it had indeed kept
drug dealers on the payroll.

Former Associated Press reporter Robert Parry argues that Washington
reporters launched "excessive attacks'' on Webb because "Webb's series
jabbed a painful nerve for many thriving journalists who had shirked
their responsibilities to the American people.''

As the national media obsess all over themselves regarding the
Lewinsky affair this coming week, that same irresponsibility will be
in play. Real stories -- stories about campaign finance reform and
defending family farming and reforming HMOs and fixing American
foreign policy -- will be pushed aside in order to examine the stain
on a blue dress.

Checked-by: "Rich O'Grady"