Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Three years ago exactly,the satirist Steven Colbert got up at the normally sedate White House Correspondents Dinner and tore into the press and the president in a savagely funny speech. Over the last five years you people were so good,over tax cuts,WMDs,global warming. We Americans didnt want to know,and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. Those were good times8230; as far as we knew. Yet,so unable were the Washington press corps to sense the exasperation with their failure to question Bushs team that the next days coverage reported Colberts speech had flopped,even as it took off on the Internet to become the most-downloaded speech ever. Colbert had seized on something elemental,the general disgruntlement that newspapers had failed to hold government accountable,giving in instead to denial-of-access blackmail. This impression gathered momentum till random Joe Blogger felt OK questioning the credibility of the disparagingly capital-lettered Main-Stream Media. And so,as newspaper upon newspaper in the West struggles to survive,many ask: so what? We wouldnt miss them.
And now,at another Correspondents Dinner,an eloquent reply. The US president stood up to defend mainstream journalism. Your ultimate success as an industry, said Obama,is essential to the success of our democracy. He added that a government without a tough and vibrant media,is not an option for the USA.
