Getting What We Deserve

In "Into the Buzzsaw" Kristina Borjesson has exposed the collusion between our government and their corporate backers to kill controversial stories and destroy reporters' careers. Her book merely tells what most of us know already-- that in the past ten years our Fourth Estate has become little more than a mouthpiece for the powerful. What few of us realize or admit is that we also have ourselves to blame for the travesty.

The reporters quoted in "Into the Buzzsaw" largely view the 1997 legal judgment against ABC News as the beginning of investigative journalism's tragic decline.
(In 1992, reporters from ABC went undercover in a Food Lion grocery story where they filmed how, in unsanitary conditions, old fish were repackaged and redated, expired beef was ground together with fresh beef, and barbecue sauce was put on chicken in order to mask the smell.

Food Lion’s response was not to condemn the events and work to improve conditions — instead, it sued ABC for fraud claiming the journalists had lied on their job applications in order to get access. In a verdict that could only happen in America-- a North Carolina jury rather than criticize the company and laugh it out of court awarded Food Lion $5.5 million in damages.)

Needless to say this had a chilling effect on ABC which had already been targeted by the CIA. In 1984 the agency had attempted to have the network's broadcast license revoked for allegedly violating the FCC's Fairness Doctrine. While it was unsurprising that the CIA under the Reagan administration would attempt to undermine the First Amendment, what Casey and then attorney-general, Ed Meese intended by loudly pleading their "case" before the highest court was to frame the press in general as having a "liberal bias".

For over two decades their tactic has borne fruit. As witnessed in the Food Lion lawsuit, the American public, rather than respond to the facts its being presented, is quite ready to charge the media with "bias" and side with the powerful against its own interests.

Then there is the jailing of Judith Miller for refusing to reveal her confidential sources. Here it was the so called "left" that chose to side (if somewhat tacitly) with the government. No matter that Miller had been a willing abettor in the Bush Administration's fraudulent case for war-- if we expect to learn the far-reaching and often secret decisions being made by the high and mighty it demands that we protect and support the men and women committed to getting us the story. At the end of the day, unless the public holds them to account station and newspaper editors will choose the path of least resistance ... whether we like it or not.