Holt Your Horses
The fifth petition of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution calls for the freedom of the press. In documented arguments for this petition, the founding fathers cited the need for media as a fortification of liberty never to be restrained or interfered with by a despotic or tyrannical government. The Media was the apparatus that gave voice to the weak, and the ability for the unguarded and vulnerable to be heard. The media was charged with the protection of the citizenry at large.
This is why the canons of journalism or journalistic standards are intended and aimed towards principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and public accountability.
In this manner, the Edward R. Murrow Award, in part, recognizes local and national news stories and news people that uphold a high standard in the code of journalistic ethics and values and its importance and impact as a service to the community.
In modern journalism, these standards have all but been forgotten. For the most part, news dissemination is now fully partisan and wholly opinionated. Media seems to be much more interested in opportunities rather than the broadcast of straight news for the readership or viewership to decide.
In accepting 2023’s Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism, NBC news anchor Lester Holt said, “I think it’s become clear that fairness is overrated . . . The idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in.”
So what Lester Holt is essentially saying is that partisanship and one-sided dishonesty are acceptable and that it is adequate and tolerable to deliver the news with the political slant and flavor of the reporter or his or her network. Also, it is acceptable to omit any news that the reporter or disseminator finds objectionable to his or her brand of ideology or politics.
Holt does a lot of stories on his sponsorship and support of climate change alarmism. This, we know, is his unfairness to the cause. He looks at nature and explains everything in the context of human-induced climate change and not the many other natural phenomena that generate natural activity of climate and weather. He preaches much of his news with what I deem “alternate, optional, or preferential facts”
What you are getting from Holt’s news is ‘HIS’ news and from ‘HIS’ perspective whether real, legitimate, or make-believe and he’s only one in many with the same bias. This is elitism at one of its highest levels. This incessant manner of biases and partisanship has been known for quite some time, especially in today’s news; however, most, unlike Holt, make no admission of their undeniable guilt.
In response to George and Ira Gershwin in 1928 “How long has this been going”, I refer you to the linked page displaying all of the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Award victors since its inception in 1977. Not a true partisan among them. Walter Cronkite, despite being liberal, delivered the news in a neutral manner, and while his name appears as a past winner of the Edward R. Murrow Award that simply is not true. Imagine, even deceitful and dishonest about that. AI as below, responds with “However, there is no record of Cronkite receiving the Edward R. Murrow Award”