A Time For Reason:

When Rachel Maddow interviewed John Stewart he criticized her for being too partisan. I enjoy Mr. Stewart’s show, but I disagree with his criticism of Ms. Maddow and the other commentators on MSNBC. Although I was a child at the time I remember Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunts. I remember the Army-McCarthy hearings, which I watched with my parents, and I remember Edward R. Murrow putting his career on the line by taking a stand against Senator McCarthy. Edward R. Murrow was correct when he said we cannot promote freedom abroad by destroying it at home. The John Birch Society thought Joseph McCarthy was right even after he had been discredited. Their paranoid rants about traitors and conspiracies made them as dangerous as he was! No one should have remained non-partisan about Senator Joseph McCarthy or the Birchers.

Joseph McCarthy and the John Birch society were eventually defeated but the paranoia and irrational fears they exploited live on. The Republican Party has swung so far to the right that it is now pandering to the same sort of paranoia embraced by the Birchers and Joseph McCarthy. The Republicans are once more taking into their party people who are advancing wacky theories about traitors and government conspiracies. At least one Republican candidate for the Senate even advocated second amendment remedies, which means armed insurrection and/or assassinations. No one should be non-partisan about candidates who are making such threats!

The paragraphs above were inspired by Keith Olbermann’s commentary on Ted Koppel. In that brilliant commentary Mr. Olbermann also talked about Edward R. Murrow’s courageous stand against Senator McCarthy. What Mr. Olbermann addressed so well in that commentary are the issues of journalistic integrity and, perhaps more importantly, journalistic responsibility. He was saying that the fear mongering and demagoguery we are witnessing today are so wrong and so dangerous that they fall out of the realm of partisan politics and must not be tolerated. I agree with him, and I thank him for the stance he has taken. At the very least journalists have a duty to report the facts. They should point out the absurdity of Republicans alleging that the health care reform bill has a provision creating death panels. They should tell us what is actually in the health care bill that was passed. They should report that extending the Bush tax cuts for the Rich will add seven hundred billion dollars to our national debt and that it will not create as many jobs as other things on which that money could be spent. Omitting facts is not responsible reporting and including facts that reflect poorly on one of the parties is not a partisan act. The facts are never partisan; they are reality.

I can remember a time when there was a growing concern about the influence of television. There was a commitment to public service at that time. News broadcasters were expected to report the facts and educate the public about the issues. My sincerest hope is that Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and the other good people at MSNBC will have enough influence to make the main stream media accept the responsibility they have to inform the public regardless of which political party might benefit from that. Now is the time for reason. Only an informed electorate can make wise decisions! Since most people rely on television for the news it is up to news broadcasters to keep the public informed. That is the duty of any news organization, and most news broadcasters have been shirking that duty.

Note to my visitors: Please see my previous post entitled “Who Shall Pay?” It is about the extension of the Bush tax cuts, and we need to make it clear to President Obama that only the cuts for middle class should be extended!