Know Nothing Journalism
December 1, 2009A few weeks ago, I covered Sarah Palin’s pop-star-worthy greeting by more than 1,000 screaming fans gathered in Grand Rapids for her first book signing.
It was quite the media event, evidenced by the fact that “Access Hollywood” was on hand. MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell was embedded for some reason at that fated Barnes & Noble (remember when we used to have ethical debates about reporters who covered real news, say those stationed with troops in Iraq?). She happened to interview one of the Palinites camped out, a 17-year-old swathed in a top with a cartoon that read: “The U.S. government spent $700 million on the Wall Street bailout and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”
O’Donnell asked the young woman, who said her name is “Jackie” and is apparently an intern with the Michigan Republican Party, if she was aware that Palin supported the bailout. To be charitable, Jackie did not have a clue. But she, like everyone else with a pulse and a grudge, has a blog, so she turned an episode that should have made her want to study harder in school into an excuse to bash the “liberal media.” Naturally, right-wingers at The Weekly Standard and Newsbusters.com chivalrously came to the dim-witted damsel’s defense.
Personally, I think this episode demonstrates the pointlessness of man-on-the-street journalism. Most people, even the politically engaged, are staggeringly ignorant of public affairs. So what do we really learn by interviewing people who can’t find Afghanistan on a map about how many troops we should send there? Perhaps only that our educational system is worse than we thought.
I wrote my weekly political column on the Sarah spectacle (how could I not?) and was treated to my fair share of motley e-mails from her admirers. When one reader yawningly accused me of being a no-good liberal Democrat for failing to see the brilliance of Palin and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (and, yes, she managed to misspell their names), I remarked that they were heirs to the Know Nothing Party.
The gentlelady was ebullient at the clear evidence of my bias, as she determined that I had just slandered the collective intellect of the GOP. After I advised her to explore the history of the 19th century Know Nothings, best known for whipping up irrational nativist and anti-intellectual fervor, I never heard back.
In today’s fragmented media, my fan could slap her disjointed thoughts together in a website that nets millions of hits — with a bit of help from well-placed links on The Drudge Report, of course. At the very least, she can post her comments after my column and there they likely will remain unfiltered, unless they’re particularly vulgar.
That’s all well and good and is heralded by some as the democratization of the news. My curmudgeony position on this is well established. We have a handful of active political blogs in Michigan, all of which are rabidly partisan, that can be entertaining and occasionally informative. Now the Associated Press is down to a two-person Capitol bureau, to the detriment of all citizens in this state, who now know even less about what their employees are doing in Lansing. So do I believe any of these blogs will fill that void?
Well, no. I make a point not to drink until after my column is done.
I’ll cop to having fun at bloggers’ expense, mainly because of their utterly predictable, over-the-top reactions like Pavlov’s dog. The mainstream-media-sucks meme is a staple of blogs, both right and left. Odd that they can dish it out but can’t take it.
But what has actually disturbed me is the uncomfortable parallel between some of these blogs and the luddite defenders of Mrs. Palin.
RightMichigan.com dismisses anything in the Detroit Free Press (which they rip as the “Ivory Tower”) as naturally being liberally biased. I suppose that derives from the fact that it used to be a Democratic rag back when there were seven newspapers in Motown and their respective politics were nakedly woven into every story. Those days are long gone. The Freep now has a vaguely center-left editorial page, although anyone familiar with journalism knows there’s a wall between that and news.
Not surprisingly, Democrats, particularly Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Attorney General candidate Gretchen Whitmer, are generally dismissed as whacko. The same can certainly be said for Republicans on the liberal sites (as well as their public enemy No. 1, House Speaker Andy Dillon, who, yes, is a Dem). Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (and his coy aquamarine eyes) is routinely pilloried as the anti-Christ.
Fine. There will always be a place for partisan carnality. But blogs lose me completely when they stoop to trashing experts just because they don’t espouse the correct beliefs. On Michiganliberal.com, the smartest people in the state — those committed to seeing it succeed — are idiots. Tom Watkins, Phil Power, Jack Lessenberry — morons all.
Watkins, the former state superintendent who sounded the alarm years ago on the benefits crisis breaking K-12 education, is an internationally renowned consultant who travels to China as often as Michiganders escape to Chicago. Alas, he is routinely ridiculed as a “Very Serious Person” for having the gall to support Dillon’s public employee health care reform.
Power is the former HomeTown Communications magnate now spending his fortune on the ultimate good government project, the nonpartisan think-and-do tank, the Center for Michigan. He, too, is a VSP, although he can be somewhat forgiven, as he slammed Bishop in a recent column.
Lessenberry is Michigan’s most prolific journalist over the last four decades who has won an Emmy for his reporting on Jack Kevorkian. Although MichLib eagerly links to Lessenberry for his frequent fisking of Republicans, the site savages him for his praise of Dillon and criticism of Granholm. It’s amazing how Jack is utterly brilliant when he agrees with the blogger boys, but evidently downs stupid pills whenever he doesn’t. Such sophisticated analysis.
I understand that blogging is romantically viewed by some as speaking truth to power. Go for it. But that’s not what’s at work in mindlessly deploring those with impeccable credentials who constructively contribute to the political discourse (as opposed to flamethrowers like Glenn Beck) because they’re “wrong” on an issue.
Sure, everyone needs to vent. Just don’t expect folks to buy that Tom Watkins, who has written hundreds of pages of research on educators’ benefits, is less learned on the subject than some dude with a computer and a political ax to grind against Andy Dillon. That, too, is Know Nothingness on display.
Some of the finer qualities of liberalism, I’ve always thought, are a thirst for knowledge and diversity of thought.
It would be sad to see that crushed by the Information Age, right alongside civility.
Susan J. Demas is a 2006 Knight Foundation Fellow in nonprofits journalism and a political analyst for Michigan Information & Research Service.
14 responses so far ↓
1 Matt Roush // Dec 1, 2009 at 4:46 am
I just shared this on my Facebook page with the following comment: “A depressingly accurate analysis of public policy journalism in the blog era. Everybody on both right and left is a rabid partisan — and, for the most part, intellectually dishonest (utterly unable to concede that the other side occasionally has a point) and a moron to boot (utterly ignorant of history). Feed your inner curmudgeon and go read this.”
2 Jack McHugh // Dec 1, 2009 at 7:16 am
Good point on the (mostly rational) ignorance of the “man on the street” regarding most details of public policy. The other one that gets me is the affectation of soliciting – much less listening to – the opinions of “the kids” and young people on complex public policy issues.
3 Lester Graham // Dec 1, 2009 at 7:53 am
Susan– So much information available to the public and so little constructive comes of it. Man-on-the-street interviews too often leave us wondering how this can happen in “the information age.”
4 Eric Baerren // Dec 1, 2009 at 8:49 am
Is this the same Susan J. Demas who predicted that Andy Dillon would be recalled and re-elected on the same day … and when pressed by her fellow OTR panelists, said she was paid to be wrong? Is this the same Susan J. Demas who suggested that Joe Schwarz would launch an independent bid for the 7th Congressional District? Is this the same Susan J. Demas who said the MEA might endorse a Republican for governor next year?
By the way … calling someone a “Very Serious Person” is mostly a crack at people who regularly engage in the argument from authority logical fallacy in their opinion writing. Tom Watkins says we must bring all public employee health insurance into one statewide pool. Tom Watkins is a Very Serious Person. Therefore, we must bring all public employee health insurance into one statewide pool. But, of course, we don’t know anyone who does that.
5 Bill Kandler // Dec 1, 2009 at 8:54 am
Susan,
Wow. Great column. The difficulty in assessing the effectiveness of our policy makers is a distressing lack of facts upon which to base such an analysis. We need an unbiased press to delve int the issues and ferret out facts. We can decide what we think about a particular pol’s approach to a problem. We need information. We do not need someone to tell us what we think. The polarizing influence of the “media” has our institutions at a standstill. As a society we cannot do the simplest of things–identify a problem, formulate a solution and go out and “do it”.
6 Rob South // Dec 1, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Thanks Susan. I want to add that the lack of journalistic oversight is also affecting municipal governments.
7 Jim Walsh // Dec 1, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Pretty good column except for your concluding comment about liberalism being something with a thirst for knowledge and diversity of thought. I’m sure you really believe those standard liberal words without even thinking aboutthem. Nothing could be farther from the truth today.
8 Tom Crawford // Dec 1, 2009 at 6:02 pm
wow. cogent. scalding. provocative. dang.
9 Beth Leeson // Dec 1, 2009 at 8:05 pm
I can’t resist weighing in, especially agreeing with my old friend Bill Kandler. Most of us are at least as smart as the average bear, but as “real” news dries up, we struggle to figure out “just the facts ma’am” and apply those facts to logical thought. Blogs sometimes make me angry, sometimes make me cringe, and sometimes make me smarter or more thoughtful. But I’d readily trade in the man-on-the-street journalism for solid, somewhat neutral reporting. I miss the sound of newspapers (real paper) and the weight of a stack of them on my lap.
10 Tim A // Dec 2, 2009 at 6:09 am
I find it amusing that the nut job reporter sought out a 17 year old, who, in my opinion, held her own very well, considering her age. There weren’t any adults at the Grand Rapids event for the reporter to pick on?
The “thirst for knowledge” term you have coined really isn’t accurate. I think”thirst for power” is more dead – on.
11 William Clifford // Dec 2, 2009 at 11:03 am
For an in-depth discussion of the sad phenomena Demus references, read Susan Jacoby’s recently published book \The Age of American Unreason,” in which she asserts that “America is now ill with a powerful mutant strain of intertwined ignorance, anti-rationalism and anti-intellectualism.”
12 Brady Schickinger // Dec 2, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Thank you Susan for a very well written piece. To their credit, blogs are a step up from the on-line comment sections of many professional news organizations and often provide unique viewpoints and news that is missed by the media. Unfortunately, all too often blogs are dominated by rabid partisanship and personal attacks. There’s a lot of noise but they fill a role in our democracy that otherwise be missing.
13 John Brown // Dec 11, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Let’s see. Susan Demas labels a 17 year old girl who shows up to a Sarah Palin event as a a “Palinite.” She is “dim-witted” apparently because she doesn’t know Palin’s position on the bailout. Demas explains to us that most people are “staggeringly ignorant of public affairs.” Considering that most people in the last presidential election voted for Barack Obama, I guess that means at least a few were, therefore, staggeringly ignorant. Susan shares with us her view that Palin and Bachmann (hey, I spelled their names correctly) are heirs to an obscure political movement “known for whipping up irrational nativist and anti-intellectual fervor.” Really! We could never accuse liberals of that, unless of course we’re talking about China or insurance executives? We also learn from Susan that at least some if not all those who defend Palin are “luddites.” Oh, and while were at it, Glenn Beck is a “flamethrower.” And what is Susan’s point? Well, that very serious persons should not be mindlessly criticized. It’s difficult for me to take seriously Susan Demas’ admonition when she mindlessly employs name-calling to smear those with whom she disagrees. And no Susan, historical references to Luddites and Know-Nothings is neither serious, nor intellectual, but as you would say, “yawning.” The one illuminating thought Susan shared with us is that the Detroit Free Press is unbiased. Wow, that’s a news flash! Unfortunately, that tells us nothing about the Freep given that it’s plainly and obviously not true, but it certainly says a lot about Susan Demas.
14 Fiona Lowther // Dec 18, 2009 at 6:34 am
Considering that most of the intelligent reporters have long since been cut or have seen the writing on the wall and have left their respective newspapers (or what passes for newspapers nowadays) for work in other realms, it might be worthwhile to check out the blogs authored by some of them. Try ex-Freepster Joel Thurtell’s joelontheroad.com. Joel, Jack Lessenberry and Metro Times’ Curt Guyette have been the Three Musketeers in keeping Michigan readers advised of what Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun is up to. Across the river, Dave Battagello of the Windsor Star puts the Detroit dailies to shame with his workmanlike coverage of the Ambassador Bridge situation.
As for newspapers’ vaunted “neutrality,” “balance” and “fairness” — it isn’t neutral, balanced or fair to NOT cover what’s going on because of lack of sufficient staff or news space. But hey, we can omit mention of the current equivalent of who’s really behind the Reichstag fire as long as we cover Tiger Woods’ sex life — that’s balanced coverage; after all, they’re both hot stuff.
Check out Thurtell’s blogs on the state of the Detroit and Rouge Rivers.
It’s a sad state and a sad state of affairs when the best information comes from blogs rather than from our daily newspapers.
And where in the Detroit dailies has there been coverage of the contribution of Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry co-owner Gregg Ward, who doesn’t have a blog but may know more about Short Sea Shipping and Detroit-Windsor transportaton and border issues than anyone who comes to mind and has testified more than once before Congressional subcommittes on the subject?
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