I hate to bring up the old “is there objectivity in news reporting?” debate, but after watching CNN’s coverage of the Republican National Convention last night, I feel I have no choice but to speak out!
In days of old, the major U.S. television networks would send their veteran news reporters to the Republican and Democratic National Conventions to provide accurate reporting on what was being said and by whom. Panelists representing both parties were interviewed with some tough questioning. The whole thing had a rather dull, newsy feel to it, but you had the sense that you were being informed and being given the straight goods. (witness Cronkite at the 1968 Democratic National Convention).
Now, in our age of broadcast journalists doubling as celebrities and even worse from a journalistic point-of-view……….personalities……….Convention coverage is more folksy, lighter, and more importantly………biased - not blatantly, but, however subtly, still painfully obvious.
The incident that comes to mind involved CNN news anchor Kyra Phillips. She has come under fire before over her perceived pro-Bush and pro-war-in Iraq bias, so it should have come as no surprise when, during a live report from Alaska, she offered up that she would love to have a beer with Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin (Governor of Alaska). To make matters worse, she then told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer to say “hi” to a Republican Party spokesperson on the guest panel, who she referred to as “my buddy.”
You get the idea. Nothing wrong with being a Republican. Nothing wrong with being a broadcast journalist. Nothing wrong with being a broadcast journalist who happens to vote Republican, but when said journalist makes it obvious where her bias lies, how do we know we are getting the straight goods? How are we to treat Phillips’ reporting about the Democrats?
Anyway, the whole spectacle makes for great television, but it would be great if the news networks left the politicking to politicians and the objective analysis to the reporters.