Objective journalism was on trial Friday night on Bill Maher’s Real Time, with the New York Times as a focus for the discussion on whether opinion has buried news coverage.
The panel discussing this important issue included Ari Melber, host of MSNBC’s “The Beat With Ari Melber” and staff writer for The Dispatch, along with Sarah Isgur, host of “The Dispatch Podcast,” and contributor and political analyst for ABC News.
Maher started off by bringing up the revelation that broke in this week’s court filing in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against Fox. In the papers, it was revealed that top executives and news hosts didn’t buy into then-President Donald Trump’s allegations of 2020 election fraud, even though they give air time to those who pushed that theory.
Maher decried that as an abrogation of the rules of responsible journalism.
Isgur hit the nail on the head as to why objective journalism seems quaint: “We’ve seen a shift away from ad revenue,” she said. “Now it’s all about individual subscribers.” That’s why news organizations are catering to “ideological niches.”
Melber claimed “people at Fox know they’re lying,” adding the hosts “were in on it.”
Maher countered by asking Melber whether MSNBC isn’t guilty of doing the same thing at times. Isgur reminded Melber that MSNBC was notorious for always claiming that Trump was this close to being thrown in the gulag.
Melber danced, saying the MSNBC network “should be open to constructive criticism,” but conceded that “the media has a responsibility, and sometimes falls down.” He later slammed the practice of treating debate as “narrative hunting.”
Coastal bias also plays a role in coverage, the panel agreed, pointing to the recent Ohio train derailment as a subject that’s been under-covered.
Will MSNBC be critical of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s slow response to the disaster be criticized, Maher asked.
Predictably, Melber blamed Trump, a movement “completely trying to delegitimize fact.”
Maher also point to the New York Times fight this week over its coverage of Trans people and their issues. Maher said that coverage “can’t pretend” that another sde of the debate isn’t valid, as a petition that included Times staffers and celebrities insisted upon
“So to their credit, the Times pushed back and said, “No. We are going to be even-handed.”
Isgur circled back to her opening statement, about how the media business ” is now a subscriber business model, and so they have to cater to (Trans activists). This subscriber- based model is a problem if you want objective journalism. Maybe your subscribers don’t care about (objectivity), they just want to hear their side is right about everything.”
Melber said part of the reason for the pushback at the Times and other media outlets is that journalists are trying not to repeat the mistakes of the past. He cited the civil rights movement and the coverage of Selma as one example.
Isgur had one last point on that.” :”When you start censoring truth and not allowed to talk about truth because it hurts your feelings – that’s (wrong).”
Maher’s New Rules editorial indicated his belief that the Parliament fights we see happening in foreign countries will soon arrive on our shores, given how bitterly partisan things have gotten.
Before that happens, he urged politicians to take a lesson from show business: “You can get great things done and still hate each other’s guts.”
He then reeled off a montage of great films and television where the main creatives hated each other. In one example, he cited director Roman Polanski denying Faye Dunaway a bathroom break. Whereby, she pissed in a cup and threw it in his face. The dynamic powered “Chinatown,” which, as Maher pointed out “ironically is about hoarding water.”
“Government needs to learn to do the same thing,” Maher said of cooperation despite hate. “Here we are in terrible, horrible, immoral show biz, but we still do our jobs – turning your children communist and gay.”