MediaWatch: March 1990
Table of Contents:
- MediaWatch: March 1990
- More Media Money Moves Left
- NewsBites: Free Enterprise? Oh No!
- Revolving Door: New Racket for Brackett
- Networks Ignore Mendela's Unpleasant Past
- Environmentalists Get All The Time
- Other Networks on Nicaragua
- Goldberg Scolds Media
- Janet Cooke Award: NBC News: Sandinista Surrogates
Goldberg Scolds Media
"VICTIMS AMERICA"
"There are too many reporters out there who work the 'Victims America' beat. They specialize in uncritical stories about the 'downtrodden.' They act more like social workers than journalists," CBS 48 Hours correspondent Bernard Goldberg observed in a Feb. 2 New York Times op-ed.
"So what if many of the homeless are truly drug addicts or alcoholics or simply lazy?" Goldberg asked. "When the Victims America correspondent gets on the case, the plight of the homeless turns out to be society's fault....If only they hadn't cut the budget in Washington. If only the educational system hadn't discriminated against them. If only, if only. Journalism by sentiment means always having to say you're sorry."
Then Goldberg asked: "How many stories have you seen on TV -- in your entire life -- that attempt to find out how many...laid off workers took school seriously?...How many, in short, brought about their own economic mess by not preparing for life in the real world?"
Goldberg's questions could have been triggered by the January 18 48 Hours on New York's homeless. No one asked a seven-year "resident" of a public park why he wasn't working. Dan Rather was too busy asking a burglarized businessman, "what happened to the idea that I am my brother's keeper?" Rather ended by citing a survey that found homelessness was no longer one of the subjects that interest Americans most. Maybe viewers are tired of journalism by sentiment. As Goldberg concluded, "there's so much to gain by being compassionate. And only our credibility to lose."
