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All The 'News' Unfit To Print

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 16, 2007

The writer's words were, as usual, straight and to the point:

"There is everywhere an increasingly angry disillusionment about the press, a growing sense of being baffled and misled; and wise publishers will not pooh-pooh these omens."

Although those words might sound like they came from some Internet blogger critical of the "mainstream media," they were written by Walter Lippmann, considered by many to be the premier political commentator of the 20th century, in 1919.

So long before the Internet, Google, Yahoo, Webcasting and Fox News, Americans had complaints about the news media. Nowadays they just have more avenues to complain.

Back in September in this section, Tampa Tribune Vice President and Executive Editor Janet Coats wrote about the challenges facing our profession in this Internet and digital age. The most significant point she made, however, was that the paper's guiding principles would remain, regardless of technological advances.

One letter writer remained unconvinced. "Internet and radio are now the most favored sources of news because of timeliness, depth and accuracy. We don't trust Dan Rather, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, etc., because they make stuff up."

Oh really?

'True Stories' That Aren't

We do receive a steady stream of e-mails from readers on "stories the media won't cover." The other day we got one from a lady in Brooksville who wanted to know why the media wasn't exposing the fact that back in the 1960s Hillary Clinton defended a group of Black Panthers who had brutally murdered one of their comrades, even going so far as to "shut down Yale University with demonstrations in defense of the accused Black Panthers during the trial." It was "the rest of the story" by radio commentator Paul Harvey. "This deserves the widest possible press," she exhorted. "Where is our press?"

Of course, the reason the press hasn't "covered" this story is that it's totally untrue. It's an urban legend that's been snaking its way across the Internet for years. With all the scrutiny received by candidates these days, does anyone really believe this wouldn't have come up?

The same goes for the story that Oliver North warned Congress about Osama bin Laden during the 1987 Iran-Contra hearings (never happened), or the "transcript" of "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney explaining his political views, which anyone who has heard Rooney would know instantly wasn't him.

Rooney has been denying this garbage since 2003, and in 2005 disclaimed in a "60 Minutes" segment, saying: "There's a collection of racist and sexist remarks on the Internet with a picture of me with the caption, 'Andy Rooney said on '60 Minutes.' If I could find the person who did write it using my name I would sue him." But it's alive and well years later, and will likely never die.

While most of this "news" is harmless, sometimes it can be dangerous. A while back I received a bunch of e-mails from some angry white folks insisting that the news media was conspiring to cover up the "hate crime" murder of a white couple by a group of blacks in Knoxville, Tenn., and going so far as to claim the victims were sexually mutilated. It doesn't matter that the police have repeatedly stated there was no racial aspect to the crime and that no mutilation occurred; the legend continues.

Unfortunately, people believe this stuff because they want to believe it, especially if it fits their political or ideological agenda. That's why when I e-mail irate readers a link that disproves what they sent, I never hear back from them. I also encourage them to forward it to all those they mailed their "suppressed" story to, but I doubt if they do.

Primary Role Remains The Same

Lippmann also wrote: "The news of the day as it reaches the newspaper office is an incredible medley of fact, propaganda, rumor, suspicion, clues, hopes and fears, and the task of selecting and ordering that news is one of the truly sacred and priestly offices in a democracy."

Nearly 90 years later, that hasn't changed. There are still issues that many readers feel we don't cover, and every once in a while we'll get something wrong. Rest assured, however, that when we make mistakes, as Dan Rather did a while back, a correction will soon follow, unlike many of the "news" stories people snag off the Internet.

Yes, the Internet and other technological advances present challenges to my profession as they do to others, like the recording industry. But before you accuse us of covering up a story, check it out at snopes.com or some other urban legend Web site. That is, if you're interested in hearing the truth.

Joseph H. Brown is a Tribune editorial writer.

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