Truth or Facts?

Howard Kurtz has an interesting column that explains, I think, the problem with modern journalism

Capturing reality is harder than it seems.

As Army Gen. David Petraeus’s long-awaited testimony last week failed to sway the debate over the war, partisans on both sides castigated the media for what remains a blurry picture of Iraq. Why, they ask, can’t journalists cut through the fog and deliver an accurate portrait of how the unpopular conflict is going?

This frustration with journalism extends to a slew of other controversies. Is Sen. David Vitter being truthful in denying involvement with a New Orleans prostitute who was paid by Hustler magazine? Is Sen. Larry Craig dissembling when he denies soliciting sex in a men’s room? Did Alberto Gonzales give faulty testimony and make misstatements about various Justice Department controversies or is he a liar?

Why can’t news organizations resolve these disputes? Are they afraid to take a stand? Or is there no realistic way to do what the critics demand without becoming partisans?

How about this novel notion? It’s not up to news organizations to resolve disputes.

Kurtz uses the word “truth” several times in his column, but the word he should be using, and never does, is the word “fact”. It’s not the job of any journalist to reveal “truth”. That’s what preachers and philosophers do – or at least try to do. All a journalist should be doing is telling us the facts: who, what, where, when, and why. It’s not their task to interpret what they find, nor to set it into any broader context or “narrative”.

It’s not true, as Kurtz maintains, that Americans are fristrated that the MSM can’t “paint a portrait” of Iraq. Americans are frustrated that they can’t trust news organizations to print the facts. We’ve seen news organizations print enemy propaganda as “truth”, ignore stories that have been handed to them on a silver platter, make up stories that fit their predetermined “narrative”, and accept lies from writers whose work “sounds true” regardless of whether it’s factual or not. We don’t need the MSM to tell us the truth. We need the MSM to tell us the facts – all of the facts. We’ll determine the truth for ourselves.

UPDATE: By the by, did you notice that Kurtz’ litany of controversies all involved Republicans? There was no mention, for instance, of Democrat William “Cold Cash” Jefferson’s ongoing theft of taxpayer money. He also seemed to forget all about the Hsu-nami of stories about Hillary Clinton’s criminal fundraising pals and her sieve-like memory about them. Is that the sort of “truth” that Kurtz is talking about? I say he should stick to giving us the facts. If Kurtz and his journalist compatriots can manage their jobs, we can manage ours.

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Category: Oh, THAT liberal media.