We don’t do this—unless we are paid hacks

By Alex P. Vidal

 

“Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media.”—Noam Chomsky

 

I HAVE noticed that some if not most of our colleagues in the United States media are biased and political.

If their reports don’t tilt on the side of the Republicans, they are on the side of the Democrats.

I thought this was just a coincidence.

I now realize this is a reality in as far as my personal observations are concerned.

If some of the media personalities are not liberals, they are conservatives—at least in the way they carry their stories and analysis.

Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate if an American reporter/TV anchor is a mouthpiece for a certain cause or movement, or a plain and simple propagandist masquerading as a press worker.

Instead of delivering only the news, sometimes they become part of the news (especially when they tangle vis-a-vis the White House firebrands).

There are a few, however, who are moderates.

Moderates are commonly identified as the second largest group, closely trailing conservatives, constituting between 36 percent and 39 percent of the population, according to recent polls here.

Moderates are commonly defined by limiting the extent to which they adopt liberal and conservative ideas.

This is part of my “culture shock” as a media practitioner coming from the Asia Pacific Region.

 

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As a community journalist in the Philippines, I was trained to be objective and not to be biased.

We always present both sides and don’t vandalize a straight news with opinion, personal prejudice and prejudgment—unless we are hired by propaganda machineries as political flame throwers, paid hacks, and political “blocktimers” to deodorize a political personality and/or muckrake against a candidate for public office.

I have worked with several community papers in Iloilo since 1988, and had been a correspondent of at least two national papers.

We are apolitical and we don’t murder facts; objectivity and the veracity of the stories we build are paramount and golden.

During election period, if we mess up with facts and play monkey business with our political stories in the Philippines, our editors (publishers seldom interfere in the editorial policy) or station managers (those who aren’t hypocrites) will easily notice the shenanigan and give us the dressing down right away.

I’m not saying that my American counterparts are doing this for money. Media professionals in the U.S. are among the highest-paid in the world.

What we get in the Philippines is a pittance compared to their gargantuan salaries and other privileges.

So money is out of the question why some of our American counterparts seem to behave strangely and don’t have an iron-gripped fidelity to truth.

 

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I will give a few examples.

After the Trump-Biden Presidential Debate in Ohio on September 29, the liberal media were unanimous in reporting to the American people that former Vice President Biden won at least by a wide margin based on their polls, while the conservative media parroted President Trump’s braggadocio that the multi-millionaire former reality TV show personality was a runaway winner based also on their polls.

Which polls are credible?

If you are in America and you watch Fox News, you will believe Mr. Trump won the debate handily.

If you are in American and you watch CNN, NBC, MSBC, among other networks, you will notice that they quickly called out Mr. Trump in sharp, clear-eyed terms following the debate.

“It was a train wreck. But it was a train wreck of the making of one person,” said “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd on NBC News. “We know who did it. President Trump did this.”

“Donald Trump came across like a bully,” said ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl.

“That was a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck,” said CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper. “That was the worst debate I have ever seen. It wasn’t even a debate. It was a disgrace.”

 

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Just The News, a conservative-leaning cable TV network, reported that majority of Spanish speaking viewers of Telemundo think President Trump won the presidential debate.

During post-debate coverage, Telemundo anchors displayed a poll showing that 66 percent of Spanish speaking viewers thought Mr. Trump emerged victorious, compared to 34 percent who thought Biden won.

The network reported: “Spanish speaking viewers of Telemundo expressed their preference of who won tonight’s presidential debate: 66 percent Trump 34 percent Biden.”

CNN had a different version: “Minutes after the first presidential debate of the 2020 election season wrapped, Fox News turned the keys over to its chief propagandist, Sean Hannity.”

CNN added: “The characterization of what transpired when President Donald Trump met former Vice President Joe Biden on the debate stage stood in stark contrast to what viewers believed took place. A CNN instant poll found that debate watchers thought Biden beat Trump in the debate, with 60 percent saying Biden won compared to 28 percent for Trump.”

 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two dailies in Iloilo)