Whether in the corrupt state today of television journalism in the USA or in reporting at the local level, good journalism comes down to seeking the truth and telling it like it is.

The CBS news network’s premier news magazine public affairs program, Sixty Minutes, is “on fire” according to Scott Pelley, just fired as the network’s key journalist.

Scott Pelley

The tumult at CBS is just part of the network of corruption and sad deterioration in US television news. Two of the chief billionaire players in this cross-ownership situation are the Ellisons—Larry, and his film producer son, David, who are strong backers of U.S. President Donald Trump. The Ellisons own Paramount, which is in the process of acquiring CNN, the first 24-hour news channel founded by the late Ted Turner.

CNN has had an independent news reputation until now, but the connection to Paramount and the Ellisons does not bode well for the likes of Wolf Blitzer and Kaitlan Collins, or for that matter long-time CNN stalwart Anderson Cooper who recently resigned from his other role with Sixty Minutes on CBS.

One of the United States’ finest beacons for good journalism whether national or local was Robert Caro, the Pulitzer Prize winning author, speaking in 2019 about Bob Woodward of Watergate fame. Caro asked: “What is a good reporter? Someone who never stops trying to get as close to the truth as possible. There is no truth or simple truth either. But there are facts. Hard facts. Objective facts. And the more facts you come up with, the closer you come to whatever truth there is.”

In my 50-year career in journalism, I have argued repeatedly there is more to reporting than talking to people on the phone, texting them or emailing them. Reporters must get out and talk to real people, face to face, and cover all the local councils and boards.

While facts are critical, commentary is also vital, but it must strive to be fair and without a proverbial axe to grind. Good journalists must develop a thick skin and be courageous, because they will face criticism when they are doing their job properly, for instance, Scott Pelley, Anderson Cooper, CBC journalists, David Cochrane and Rosemary Barton, and many more working on national and local outlets throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Social media do not offer much more than gossip, and in the age of hand-held computers there are many dangers for youth and adults alike in relying on cell phones as a primary source of information. Television also can develop a grip on uncritical viewers. Tech-enabled authoritarians such as Elon Musk and other billionaires are having far too much control over people’s brains and day-to-day living.

In this regard, it is excellent to see that the Canadian federal government has introduced the “Safe Social Media Act. This is a complicated field to regulate, and the full process of Parliament will be needed to ensure that final legislation is thorough and fair.

Walter Cronkite

But the need is real—guidance counsellors in the school system who deal with students every day, report that too many students are regressing in today’s social media age. Drug use is also leading to a lack of ambition in some students, and shows up in mental health issues, and homelessness as well.

A big part of the answer lies in more pursuit of the truth, not less. Truth-seeking is an essential part of a free press.

But how is the search for truth possible when the most powerful political leader in the world, Donald Trump, is an inveterate liar with his finger on the nuclear button.

Trump has long referred to the conventional media (i.e. not social media) as the purveyors of “fake news.”

The U.S. President recently upheld his reputation for being opposed to, not in favour of, the free press. Trump walked out of an interview with a Meet the Press program interview with Christine Welker, saying with a red, angry face that the show is  “crooked.”                                  
Scott Pelley in his 37-year career with the CBS network, never served in the American military but professionally reported on the course of American wars in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan.
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Responding to Trump’s description of him as “terrible,” Pelley said: ‘Stupid,’ I can take that, ‘Stiff’ yeah, probably; but ‘don’t care about the country?’ Pelley then became visibly emotional and added that “democracy cannot function without a free press.”

Walter Cronkite, the legend of much better days for CBS television news, had great credibility and finished his nightly broadcasts with his famous sign off, “And that’s the way it is.” Canadians and Americans alike were avid viewers.

             
In February 1968, stepping out of his news anchor role, Cronkite went to Vietnam and reported that the Vietnam war, which had so divided America, had become a “bloody stalemate”. He stated: “It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out…is to negotiate, not as a victim but as honorable people that did the best they could to defend democracy. This is Walter Chronkite, good night.”
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In attempting to carve out his political future, all the while denying the importance of the truth and the free press, Donald Trump, whether in the mid-term elections or before, will surely fail.

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