BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON
The national Democratic Party’s hierarchy, led by the President himself, inaugurated a campaign a few weeks ago to put a negative face on the Republican Party and its candidates. The face they chose was that of House Republican Leader John Boehner. And so began the Boehner bashing.
The President mentioned Leader Boehner an incredible eight times in a speech the first week in September. Other Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, followed suit.
Then the media joined in.
An article by Eric Lipton in the New York Times was deserving of a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the worst trashing of a public official since the early days of the Republic. He described the “60-year-old, perpetually tanned, sharply tailored, chain-smoking golfer” as someone with extraordinary ties to Washington lobbyists who have “provided him with rides on their corporate jets, socialized with him at luxury golf resorts and waterfront bashes…”
Lipton’s adaptation of the Democratic talking points was nothing new. Reporters often report on campaign ploys and use the plotters talking points, but not like this. This was (a) what seemed like blatant collusion; (b) pawned off as news rather than commentary, and (c) not done well enough to deserve the stature of news in the New York Times, or any other reputable newspaper, for that matter. It wasn’t news and it didn’t conform to any of the standards of news reporting with which I am familiar. The country editor who taught me the craft 40 years ago would have bounced my butt out of the newsroom for submitting a story like that. It appeared to violate at least three of what used to be the generally accepted code of journalistic ethics the mainstream media have all but abandoned.
First, is the abuse of anonymous sources. The article used year-old statements attributed to Boehner bracketed with quotation marks that were supplied by an anonymous source who either has incredible recall or keeps extremely good notes. The article also quoted an unnamed lobbyist who claimed a degree of influence with Boehner that is laughable and not worthy of print. Who in hell checks that stuff?
Second, the story lacked balance. The theme of the Lipton piece was the extraordinary relationship Leader Boehner has with Washington lobbyists. Its treatment, however, was both inaccurate and misleading. Calculate it however you like, Boehner’s relationships are hardly extraordinary, particularly compared to the Democrats with whom Lipton conspired.
For example, according to a Washington Examiner story, Speaker Nancy Pelosi raised almost twice as much money from lobbyists as did Boehner. In fact at least 18 House Democrats have raised more lobbyist cash this election cycle than Boehner. The Examiner: “…from 1999 until today, according to the Center…Boehner has raised $299,490 from lobbyists. For comparison, Harry Reid, Blanche Lincoln and Chuck Schumer have each raised more money from lobbyists in this cycle alone. This election cycle, Boehner is not even in the top 20 recipients of lobbyist cash.”
Beyond the campaign contributions, there was no evidence in the article that the Leader’s fundraising activities are any different than those of Democratic leaders in Congress. Given recent news reports revealing that Speaker Pelosi and DC Delegate Norton were shaking down lobbyists for donations, Boehner comes off timid.
Third, the story contained inaccuracies and misconceptions, particularly those that accused him of casting votes under the influence of lobbyists.
The New York Times was followed by unbecoming, partisan and personal insults from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who unfortunately is not following in the footsteps of predecessors who exhibited a degree more maturity and integrity, the likes of Tony Snow, Mike McCurry, Jody Powell, Marlin Fitzwater, Jim Brady, Dana Perino, and even the besieged Ron Ziegler.
The Gibbs assaults were followed in lockstep by commentaries from Ruth Marcus, Dana Milbank and Joe Conason of Real Clear Politics. They all echoed in style and substance what Gibbs and Lipton used days earlier, including the reference to a 14-year-old incident on the House floor.
In the end, the only thing the Lipton piece accomplished, other than embarrassing a few lobbyists who were foolish enough to talk with him and making the White House and some liberal special interest groups happy, was to further diminish the esteem of the traditional media and cast an ever widening shadow over its future.
Every day in print, broadcast and online media there are more examples like this illuminating the decline of one of the nation’s essential private institutions. The examples are everywhere, in the pack journalism obsession with the non-burning of the Koran; in factual inaccuracies and lack of editing; the absence of any distinction between news and commentary; the book deals and other conflicts of interest; the abuse of anonymous sources; the marketing of celebrities and entertainers as journalists; the growing practice of repeating unsubstantiated rumors; the gross exaggerations of reality; and the automatic default mechanism to worst-case scenarios.
Worst of all is the divisive and exploitive nature of the business today. Journalists don’t just report on political fights and policy disagreements, they encourage them, blow them out of proportion and sometimes instigate them, all for the sake of ratings and readership. They foment anger, and seem to delight in playing President Obama’s favorite game of creating victims and villains and pitting them against each other.
The media need some form of self-imposed and/or independent oversight and public accountability. The American people deserve as much. If the media are going to claim protections under the First Amendment, the public, in whose interests the First Amendment was drawn, deserve some assurance that what they read and hear and view as news is fair, accurate, objective and honest. This free-wheeling, unaccountable, unedited, 24-hour barrage of BS is destructive. Some people may be entertained by it, but no one is benefiting from it, and as we saw with the unconscionable wolf pack coverage of the Koran burning incident, a good many people being are hurt by it, some fatally.
If the media don’t at least begin the process of instituting a major reassessment of their role in society and their obligations under the First Amendment, then national leaders with public responsibility should.
Editors’s Note: Mike Johnson is a former journalist, who worked on the Ford White House staff and served as press secretary and chief of staff to House Republican Leader Bob Michel, prior to entering the private sector. He is co-author of a book, Surviving Congress, a guide for congressional staff. He is currently a principal with the OB-C Group