Access and Accountability in the Media

One Model of the Press: Holding the Powerful Accountable l The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Finley Peter Dunne l The Jungle, Teapot Dome, McCarthy, Pentagon Papers, Watergate, ABSCAM, Iran-Contra, Whitewater, Lewinski

The Accountability Function Today l Missed Scandals: Savings & Loan, Tech Bubble, Enron (et al), Subprime, Execution without Due Process, Surveillance l Daily Show Daily Show l Undoing Crossfire Undoing Crossfire l 60 Minutes (1/29/2012) challenging Leon Panetta on the killing of Anwar Al-Awlaki

Failure of Accountability l David Gregory, Meet the Press l “there are a lot of critics who think that.... if we did not stand up and say this is bogus, and you're a liar, and why are you doing this, that we didn't do our job. I respectfully disagree. It's not our role.”

Failure of Accountability l Judith Miller, former NYT reporter l “My job was not to collect information and analyze it independently as an intelligence agency; my job was to tell … what people inside the governments... were saying to one another …” New York Review of Books (2/26/04)

Failure of Accountability l Leonard Downie, executive editor Washington Post l "We are not judging the credibility of Kerry or the [Swift Boat] Veterans; we just print the facts.” Interview with Editor & Publisher (8/24/04)

Failure of Accountability l Michael Gordon, NYT reporter l "but the way journalism works is you write what you know” l “I wrote the contrary case, giving the IAEA equal time. They disputed it. I don’t have a dog in this fight. I didn’t know what was the ultimate truth.” DemocracyNow! (3/17/06)

Accountability at a Cost l Ashleigh Banfield, former CNN reporter l “There is a grand difference between journalism and coverage, and getting access does not mean you're getting the story.” l “It wasn’t journalism...” KSU speech 4/23/04

Accountability at a Cost l Dan Froomkin, Washington Post l "Calling bullshit … used to be central to journalism... Calling bullshit has never been more vital to our democracy.” l “intense pressure to maintain access to insider sources.. fear of being labeled partisan if one’s bullshit- calling isn’t meted out in precisely equal increments along the political spectrum.” Washington Post (11/30 06)

Trading Accountability for Access l Tucker Carlson, Fox News, CNN & MSNBC commentator l What about “the relationship between the press and the powerful. People don't talk to you when you go out of your way to hurt them as you did in this piece. “ l “Don't you think that hurts the rest of us in our effort to get to the truth from the principals in these campaigns? “

Trading Accountability for Access l Tim Russert, Meet the Press l “When I talk to senior government officials on the phone, it's my own policy -- our conversations are confidential. If I want to use anything from that conversation, then I will ask permission.” Washington Post, (2/8/07)

The Price of a Lack of Accountability l Insider information and an insider point of view. l Confidential sources go unchallenged. l Misinformation and disinformation pass for news.