By Pat Caddell
I think weâre at the most dangerous time in our political history in terms of the balance of power in the role that the media plays in whether or not we maintain a free democracy or not. You know, when I first started in politics â and for a long time before that â everyone on both sides, Democrats and Republicans, despised the press commonly, because they were SOBs to everybody. Which is exactly what they should be. They were unrelenting. Whatever the biases were, they were essentially equal-opportunity people.
That changed in 1980.
There are a lot of reasons for it. It changedâan important point in the Dukakis-Bush election, when the press literally was trying to get Dukakis elected by ignoring what was happening in Massachusetts, with a candidate who was running on the platform of âHe will do for America what he did for Massachusettsââwhile they were on the verge of bankruptcy.
Also the change from evening news emphasis to morning news by the networks is another factor thatâs been pointed out to me.
Most recently, what I call the nepotism that exists, where people get jobsâtheyâre married to people who are in the administration, or in politics, whatever.
But the overwhelming bias has become very real and very dangerous. We have a First Amendment for one reason. We have a First Amendment not because the Founding Fathers liked the pressâthey hated the pressâbut they believed, as [Thomas] Jefferson said, that in order to have a free country, in order to be a free people, we needed a free press. That was the jobâso there was an implicit bargain in the First Amendment, the press being the only institution, at that time, which was in our process of which there was no checks and balances.
We designed a constitutional system with many checks and balances. The one that had no checks and balances was the press, and that was done under an implicit understanding that, somehow, the press would protect the people from the government and the power by tellingâsomehow allowingâpeople to have the truth. That is being abrogated as we speak, and has been for some time. It is now creating the danger that I spoke to.
This morning, just this morning, Gallup released their latest poll on the trust, how much trust [the American people have in the press] âwhen it comes to reporting the news accurately, fairly, and fully, and [the level of their distrust] itâs the highest in history. For the first time, 60% of the people said they had âNot very muchâ or âNone at all.â Of course there was a partisan break: There were 40% who believed it did, Democrats, 58% believed that it was fair and accurate, Republicans were 26%, independents were 31%.
So there is this contempt for the media â or this beliefâand there are many other polls that show it as well.
I want to just use a few examples, because I think we crossed the line the last few weeks that is terrifying.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012...threatening-our-country-future/#ixzz27tY0Kv2B
I think weâre at the most dangerous time in our political history in terms of the balance of power in the role that the media plays in whether or not we maintain a free democracy or not. You know, when I first started in politics â and for a long time before that â everyone on both sides, Democrats and Republicans, despised the press commonly, because they were SOBs to everybody. Which is exactly what they should be. They were unrelenting. Whatever the biases were, they were essentially equal-opportunity people.
That changed in 1980.
There are a lot of reasons for it. It changedâan important point in the Dukakis-Bush election, when the press literally was trying to get Dukakis elected by ignoring what was happening in Massachusetts, with a candidate who was running on the platform of âHe will do for America what he did for Massachusettsââwhile they were on the verge of bankruptcy.
Also the change from evening news emphasis to morning news by the networks is another factor thatâs been pointed out to me.
Most recently, what I call the nepotism that exists, where people get jobsâtheyâre married to people who are in the administration, or in politics, whatever.
But the overwhelming bias has become very real and very dangerous. We have a First Amendment for one reason. We have a First Amendment not because the Founding Fathers liked the pressâthey hated the pressâbut they believed, as [Thomas] Jefferson said, that in order to have a free country, in order to be a free people, we needed a free press. That was the jobâso there was an implicit bargain in the First Amendment, the press being the only institution, at that time, which was in our process of which there was no checks and balances.
We designed a constitutional system with many checks and balances. The one that had no checks and balances was the press, and that was done under an implicit understanding that, somehow, the press would protect the people from the government and the power by tellingâsomehow allowingâpeople to have the truth. That is being abrogated as we speak, and has been for some time. It is now creating the danger that I spoke to.
This morning, just this morning, Gallup released their latest poll on the trust, how much trust [the American people have in the press] âwhen it comes to reporting the news accurately, fairly, and fully, and [the level of their distrust] itâs the highest in history. For the first time, 60% of the people said they had âNot very muchâ or âNone at all.â Of course there was a partisan break: There were 40% who believed it did, Democrats, 58% believed that it was fair and accurate, Republicans were 26%, independents were 31%.
So there is this contempt for the media â or this beliefâand there are many other polls that show it as well.
I want to just use a few examples, because I think we crossed the line the last few weeks that is terrifying.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012...threatening-our-country-future/#ixzz27tY0Kv2B
Nice catch. Oh well toss that editorial in the crapper.