The Patriot-News, July 16

Whom to trust?

Dale Davenport
Opinion Page Editor

The third or fourth time I heard Rush Limbaugh complain about "the liberal media," I figured there was a motive.

It was probably 1993, and at first I believed it to be strictly business. "They won't tell you the real story," he'd say. "Here is where you'll get the truth."

Nothing wrong with a little competition, I thought. Besides, different takes on the same story is the defining feature of a free press. The reader/viewer/listener gets to hear multiple versions or perspectives of a story and can make up his or her own mind.

But as time passed, and the drumbeat was picked up and amplified by others, I began to wonder if there wasn't more to it. The demonization of "the mainstream media" as a monolith with an agenda antithetical to traditional American values -- an enemy of the state, as it were -- became a common "conservative" rant. The media were not to be trusted.

Now this is not a defense of any individual, media outlet or organization. We are all human, with our own ideas and experiences which influence our work. Sometimes journalists do things that raise questions of trust.

But in a free and open society, an independent press is a business, and trust and credibility are its staples. It's what we sell. So to think that all "mainstream media" have a political agenda that is somehow contrary to America's best interests is absurd; it ignores the reality of the marketplace.

Nevertheless, repeat a theme often enough and it will gain traction. Sprinkle in some anecdotal "evidence" -- and some of us have blithely provided it -- and a perception will develop in spite of reality. And, eventually, perception becomes reality.

Thus it is that some conservative pundits now claim that the nationwide decline in newspaper circulation and the loss of viewers by network TV news are a result of "liberal bias" and the lack of trust.

Whether this is true or not, there are a couple of ways you might expect reporters and editors to respond. One is to back off the hard-hitting investigative pieces that embarrass the government or individuals in it. Each one, for certain, is going to be characterized by Limbaugh, Hannity et al as further evidence of liberal bias. Why risk further losses?

Or, instead, we can be defiant. Challenge the decisions and -- especially -- the secrecy of the government by reporting on the mistakes and the wrongdoing. The characterization will be similar, but, in the long run, which is more important to the future of the country and of democracy?

Last year the federal government classified 15.6 million documents, or about one every two seconds. In 2001, according to figures from the Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press, the government classified 8.6 million documents.

Over the last five years, 469 criminal cases were removed from the docket in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C. There were no records -- at least not public records -- for the people charged with federal crimes in these cases. Where are those people? In jail? Deported? Who knows?

In a free society, it is a free and independent press that asks those questions. It is "the media" who stand up for the citizens by insisting that records be open so that they know what their government is doing, and to whom. Only after pressure from lawyers for the Reporters Committee were some of the files opened and the disposition of defendants made public.

It is by nature an adversarial relationship, the government and the press. So it is not surprising to hear government officials complain about what the press does or to learn of government efforts to manipulate the news, even to "plant" stories (See Plame, Valerie, or Libby, Scooter). WHAT IS SURPRISING is to hear the attorney general of the United States suggest that reporters and editors be charged with crimes for reporting certain stories. And it is truly distressing to hear commentators and members of the public cheer that prospect.

In the end, it comes down to a choice of whom to trust, the government or the press. We know what the press bashers have chosen, and I wonder and worry about that.

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