Wednesday, June 08, 2005

It is not a journalist's job to tell the truth

The Heretik brings us the full scoop. Apparently it is not a journalist's job to seek the truth. Rather, it is a journalist's job to serve as a transcriptionist to power. Thus a journalist cannot tell the truth (i.e., that Bush lied about "exhausting all peaceful means" and always planned to go to war with Iraq no matter how well Saddam cooperated with the weapons inspections). Rather, at most a journalist can retrieve words that Bush transcribed then, and contrast them with words that Bush transcribed now, and hope the reader can tell from the difference in the transcriptions that Bush is lying.

I have a modest suggestion. Since it is apparently a journalist's job to accurately transcribe what those in power say, rather than to seek -- and report -- the truth, why not just do away with "journalists" altogether and have politician's press agents write the stories themselves? That way we KNOW that the politician's words were accurately transcribed.

Oh, you say that a politician's words somehow become confused with being "true" if accurately transcribed by a reporter, and that thus this sytem is more useful (for the politicians) than just doing away with the middleman? Thus "journalists" are still important because they help give politicians (liars) legitimacy? Okay, then...

-- Badtux the Snarky Penguin

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