Comments on: Thomas Jefferson Wouldn’t Think Much of Modern Journalism. Blogging – That’s Another Story…

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:59:49 +0000

As a Historian, I can definitely tell you that you can pretty much find ANY point of view backed up by Jefferson. He backed everything and anything. He liked to always have something to say. Now, if you produced something from Washington or Adams, that might be a little more reliable…

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 11:23:43 +0000

Thomas Jefferson may have foreseen the decline of the mainstream media…here’s a quote attributed to him:

“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”

By: Steve Boriss

Steve Boriss — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:09:18 +0000

Jim C., I would say that any organization whose entire board consisted of Presidential appointees confirmed by the Senate is by definition “government-controlled.” But I don’t believe it even takes that much for an entity to be “government-controlled.” I am also referring to the government’s ability to influence the content by creating a fearful environment in which there are unacceptable consequences to airing material the public wants that politicians from their own self-interests don’t. To a large extent, I would say that even the TV networks are government-controlled as their need to get their broadcast licenses renewed has clearly led them to watered-down coverage of government as compared to what Jefferson would have liked. Compare the political discussion on regulated broadcast TV vs. relatively unregulated cable — the political talk on cable is much “hotter,” much more critical of government. And obviously, radio was government-controlled during the era of the Fairness Doctrine. Its lapse led to much freer speech and the explosion of talk radio.

By: Jim C.

Jim C. — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 03:08:06 +0000

Steve Boriss: there’s a bit of a logic gap between “a study of alleged bias” and your conclusion “control by politicians”. I look forward to your attempting to plug it.

Furthermore, freedom from influence or control by government or politicians is no guarantee of lack of bias, as the BBC infamously exemplifies.

By: Steve Boriss

Steve Boriss — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 01:17:43 +0000

Simon, The board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which provides funding these organizations could not survive without, consists of 9 board members selected by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Now with a Republican majority, some at PBS and NPR have complained that the CPB is starting to push a conservative agenda. The chair of the CPB from 2003-05 was Kenneth Y. Tomlinson who commissioned a study of alleged bias on the PBS show, NOW with Bill Moyers. This sure seems like control by politicians to me.

By: Simon Owens

Simon Owens — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 00:00:32 +0000

Oh please, NPR and PBS isn’t government-controlled. It gets part of its funding through the government, but it’s largely funded by both corporate and individual donations.

Like most articles of this sort, it’s huge on generalizations and short on facts, examples and statistics.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:39:13 +0000

“The federalists having failed in destroying the freedom of the press by their gag-law, seem to have attacked it in an opposite form, that is by pushing it’s licentiousness & it’s lying to such a degree of prostitution as to deprive it of all credit. And the fact is that so abandoned are the tory presses in this particular that even the least informed of the people have learnt that nothing in a newspaper is to be believed. This is a dangerous state of things, and the press ought to be restored to it’s credibility if possible. The restraints provided by the laws of the states are sufficient for this if applied. And I have therefore long thought that a few prosecutions of the most prominent offenders would have a wholesome effect in restoring the integrity of the presses. Not a general prosecution, for that would look like persecution: but a selected one. The paper I now inclose appears to me to offer as good an instance in every respect to make an example of, as can be selected. However of this you are the best judge. I inclose it lest you should not have it. If the same thing be done in some other of the states it will place the whole band more on their guard. ”
Thomas Jefferson to Thomas McKean
WASHINGTON, Feb. 19, 1803.

By: strayhorn

strayhorn — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:14:14 +0000

Journalists who are fond of quoting Mr Jefferson often are surprised when you mention this quote:

“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.” –Thomas Jefferson to John Norvell, 1807. ME 11:224

http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1600.htm

By: RiverCocytus

RiverCocytus — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:11:15 +0000

Thomson: Yes, they stepped over the line with the fancy of ‘objective reporting’ – it made people think that the thinking had been done for them already. Objectivity does exist, but is impossible from a single viewpoint.

Like an open mind, as soon as it is ‘declared’ it becomes false.

By: David Thomson

David Thomson — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:03:44 +0000

Americans must cease believing in the myth of pure objectivity. It simply does not exist. I cannot, for instance, be “fair and evenhanded” with someone like Joseph Mengele. Try to imagine a newscaster saying:

“Today we are interviewing Joseph Mengele. Is he a torturer and murderer of innocent human beings, or a scientist bravely pushing the envelope? Is this Nazi a misunderstood man? We report—and you decide!”

The very premise that the MSM can be “above the fray” is intrinsically impossible. Human beings are not made like that. Media outlets should return to the era when they boldly declared their biases to the general public. All of them should pattern themselves after the National Review or The Nation.