Three Recent News Media Pet Peeves

The first concerns the press39 penchant for making grand sweeping pronouncements particularly as such pertain to predictions about the future A November 22 2021 RealClearPolitics commentary piece by AB Stoddard declared quotThe Democratic Party Is Poised to Blow Up Soonquot This was not unlike inverse predictions trotted out in the aftermath of the Georgia Senate runoff elections on January 5 2021 when Republicans lost both contested seats and commentators declared the end of the GOP But fewer than 11 months after Tom Nichols writing in The Atlantic under the headline quotThe Republican Party Is Now in Its End Stagesquot forecasted the imminent collapse of one of the world39s oldest political parties a just released Gallup poll showed a dramatic shift in party preference of Americans toward the GOP over the course of 2021 with Republicans holding their largest fourth quarter lead since 1995 What a difference a year makes So beware of grand pronouncements whether it39s quotDemographics are Destinyquot quotThe Second Coming of American Fascismquot or pick your sweeping statement du jourSecond as readers of this column and my writings elsewhere may recall I frequently draw attention to how certain terms are employed in both the press and in political discourse more broadly I have variously taken issue with the terms or phrases quotofficials and authoritiesquot quotholding the powerful accountablequot quotthe American peoplequot etc But there is another recent term frequently thrown around by journalists that ought to be reconsidered and that is quotreformquot whether used in the context of quotvoting reformquot quotfilibuster reformquot quotentitlements reformquot or anything else The use of the term quotreformquot as opposed to the more neutral word quotchangequot or quotmodificationquot presupposes in its connotation the inherent desirability of a proposed change even if the burden of proof still remains to demonstrate that such a proposed course of action is in fact preferable to the status quo quotReformquot is in the eyes of the beholder and any journalist striving for even a degree of neutrality should be mindful of language choices such as this one Although political operatives perhaps most famously Frank Luntz are famous for pushing language choices that subtly reframe the terms of the debate media outlets ought to abstain from this endeavor A key component of politics I often say is about defining and redefining language But the press should leave that to the political strategists and campaign advisors Lord knows there39s enough of them alreadyFor my third and final at this time pet peeve there is the national press39 habit of seeking to define through coverage choices and interview questions selected a given political figure or elevate a given officeholder to prominence in the first place by a certain issue or dispute often one in line with a media outlet39s editorial position In a previous column I invoked Spiro Agnew39s 1969 observation about how the press can quotelevate men from obscurity to national prominence within a weekquot Had anyone heard of Rep Adam Kinzinger RIl prior to the aftermath of the presidential election of 2020 Similarly based on media coverage choices Rep Liz Cheney RWy has become synonymous with the events surrounding the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump never mind her very relevant foreign policy views and what they represent in the current foreign policy schism within the GOP or her actual voting record during the Trump administration On a similar note if the press had devoted as much attention to say the Iran issue as was spent on the Russia collusion question Rep Michael McCall RTx or Rep Brad Sherman DCa would be as much a household name as Rep Eric Swalwell DCa Something similar might be said for Rep Chris Smith RNJ and his longstanding signature issue of combatting human traffickingAnd as it relates to this third point as I have discussed in the past it is important to recall that media coverage does not just flow one way where the political tos and fros are covered through journalists and then disseminated outwards to the public In reality public demand for certain coverage choices can impact which stories are told and this in turn influences which issues mediasavvy or attentionhungry politicians devote themselves to So for instance if prime time news consumers were as focused on solving a given issue like say human trafficking or Alzheimer39s or gang violence rather than endlessly following personality clashes and the horse race more officeholders would clamor to put forward such proposals and thus garner the sort of media praise that is oxygen to many if not most in the political realmI am conscious of the fact that many of my columns tend to point out where the news media could do things better quotCriticismquot despite its connotation in modern use is not always meant to be negative and can take the form of praising a work of art or literature or in the case of media criticism commending when the press on the whole has covered an issue comprehensively and well and certainly some of my columns do this exactly With that said this column can perhaps best be read alongside last month39s piece quotMedia Herds Now and Foreverquot in the sense that that column discussed a general framework for how news outlets can improve for 2022 while this one lends its focus to a few specific more micros areas of potential improvement However I would contend that despite the criticisms here perhaps seeming specific or picayune they actually say a considerable amount about the state of the news media in the early stretch of this new decadeClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated 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Three Recent News Media Pet Peeves

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Erich J. Prince

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Three Recent News Media Pet Peeves

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