Nothing more important than a well-informed electorate

Chapman Museum event will focus on Adirondack 46ers

By Ken Tingley

With trust in the media is at its lowest point, consider these words by a television journalist.

They are important.

They offer a perspective you might want to consider, and if you concur you might want to be more careful about what you watch and more careful about what you believe.

It’s a speech, really.

It’s a promise to do better.

It acknowledges two important points: 1. Making money with high ratings has become the most significant standard in the news business; 2. The news is being spoon fed to its viewers as if they are ordering from a menu. It is for their enjoyment and not their edification.

The news anchor apologizes to his viewers for his failures.

Imagine that.

Taking responsibility for his actions.

Read it closely.

I was an accomplice to a slow and repeated and unacknowledged and un-amended train wreck of failures that has brought us to now.

I'm a leader in an industry that miscalled election results, hyped up terror scares, ginned up controversy, and failed to report on tectonic shifts in our country.

From the collapse of the financial system to the truths about how strong we are

to the dangers we actually face. I'm a leader in an industry that misdirected your attention with the dexterity of Harry Houdini while sending hundreds of thousands of our bravest young men and women off to war without due diligence.

The reason we failed isn't a mystery. We took a dive for the ratings.

In the infancy of mass communication, the Columbus and Magellan of broadcast journalism, William Paley and David Sarnoff, went down to Washington to cut a deal with Congress.

Congress would allow the fledgling networks free use of taxpayer-owned airwaves

in exchange for one public service. That public service would be one hour of air time set aside every night for informational broadcasting, or what we now call the evening news.

Congress, unable to anticipate the enormous capacity television would have to deliver consumers to advertisers, failed to include in its deal the one requirement that would have changed our national discourse immeasurably for the better.

Congress forgot to add that under no circumstances could there be paid advertising during informational broadcasting. They forgot to say that taxpayers will give you the airwaves for free, and for 23 hours a day you should make a profit, but for one hour a night, you work for us.

And now those network newscasts, anchored through history by honest-to-God newsmen with names like Murrow and Reasoner and Huntley and Brinkley and Buckley and Cronkite and Rather and Russert, now they have to compete with the likes of me, a cable anchor who's in the exact same business as the producers of Jersey Shore. And that business was good to us, but (we are) quitting that business right now.

It might come as a surprise to you that some of history's greatest American journalists are working right now, exceptional minds with years of experience and an unshakeable devotion to reporting the news.

But these voices are a small minority now and they don't stand a chance against the circus, when the circus comes to town. They're overmatched.

From this moment on, we'll be deciding what goes on our air and how it's presented to you based on the simple truth that nothing is more important to a democracy than a well-informed electorate.

We'll endeavor to put information in a broader context because we know that very little news is born at the moment it comes across our wire.

We'll be the champion of facts and the mortal enemy of innuendo, speculation,

hyperbole, and nonsense. We're not waiters in a restaurant serving you the stories you asked for, just the way you like them prepared.

Nor are we computers dispensing only the facts because news is only useful in the context of humanity.

What do you think?

Maybe you are wondering how you missed this pronouncement.

And what network it was on.

Maybe the the greater question is how would you respond if your favorite news anchor announced its mission was a “well-informed electorate” and it will be giving context to the news and champion facts while being the mortal “enemy of innuendo, speculation, hyperbole and nonsense.”

I know you are nodding your head.

This is what we all should expect and demand.

But why do I think you would just change the channel; that you say you want the facts all the way up to the part where its difference from your point of view.

The news anchor in question was Will McAvoy, a fictional character on an old HBO drama called “The Newsroom.”

It aired in 2010.

Politics is worse now.

How it is covered on television is worse now, too.

“The Newsroom” was created and mostly written by Hollywood writer Aaron Sorkin, an avowed liberal and maybe an idealist looking for our country to be great. Even now, Sorkin believes he didn’t get “The Newsroom” quite right. But in the 13 years since it first aired, cable news has gotten far more partisan and can be trusted even less.

I think Sorkin was closer to getting it right than he ever imagined because we are living it now.

Chapman event

Most of us are familiar with the Adirondack 46ers. Many of us might have even contemplated trying to hike all 46 of the Adirondacks highest peaks.

Mark Simpson and Joe Ryan will be the speakers at the Chapman Museum on Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. and address the 100th anniversary of the first person to summit all 46 peaks as well the Adirondack 46er organization. The Chapman Museum requires a reservation for this free event (518) 793-2826.

Preorder new book

Probably, the most tedious part of publishing a book is the final proofing process. I’ve been going back and forth with my publisher over the past few weeks, correcting text, the placement of photos and so on, but it is almost done.

“The Last American Editor, Vol. 2” is my second collection of columns and includes 90 more columns from my days at The Post-Star in Glens Falls.

The time frame spans fro 1991 to 2020.

I hope you will consider preordering.

North Dallas Forty

Before immersing yourself in the new NFL season, you might want to see a pretty real movie about professional football.

I stumbled onto “North Dallas Forty” Tuesday night. It is not so much about the glory of the game as it is about the violence of the game for our pleasure. NFL players have short careers. Most don’t end up millionaires.

It is good to be reminded of that from time to time.