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Stacy Teases him but I think the headline is really revealing.
Do the pollsemphasis mine back up the attacks on the Chamber of Commerce?
Not do the facts, not does the evidence, do the polls!
Remember in the days of Journolist (you know that scandal that the Morning Joe crew never asked Ezra about during his appearances on the show)
when the debate was about spin vs facts. It wasn’t a question of what was true, it was a question of if it would work.
I’m sure Ezra and pals have still have a listserv somewhere that this is discussed but the Journolist priority of how it spins never leaves. That’s because it wasn’t a function of Journolist…it is the function of the people in it.
One of the things that I’ve learned since I’ve gotten involved in this business is what the words “off the record” means.
People will tell you things “on background” or “without attribution” meaning that you can use them as long as it is attributed to “a source said” type of thing or as general background information.
“Off the record” is something more blunt. This means you accept information on the condition that you pledge your personal word and honor not to reveal it.
Now if you can get that information from another source that’s different but once you have agreed to “off the record” one’s personal honor and one is obliged to keep that word. That was David Brooks dilemma.
In such a situation he is ethically obliged not to talk (or as Stacy McCain says never burn a source) so I don’t fault him for that…
…BUT it would be interesting to see what his columns about the president looked like after the fact. Did he seem less supportive? Did he give the words of the administration less credence and more doubt? One can’t come out and say “This guy is lying to your face and he told me so!” but you can change the direction of your coverage from admiration to skepticism without breaking your word.
One has an obligation to protect ones source but also to inform the public. Social schedule not withstanding if your priority is to be honorable, you have to find a way to do both.
You know how when you wake up you’re kinda groggy. I woke up today exactly that way and took a peek at a few headlines kinda half asleep scanning a story or two. Then I read the end of this post concerning media outlets banning employees from the Stewart rally where a lady named Emily Bell of Columbia University commented thus about NPR:
She also noted that the case with NPR is different because it is partially publicly funded, which means that it is held to a higher standard to not appear biased.
“NPR has the right approach because they are in the business of serving the public,” She said. “I think it is perfectly consistent to require a higher standard of impartiality.”
There is nothing like a good shock to wake a person totally up. Nobody except a person involved in the liberal academia could have suggested that NPR holds itself to a “higher standard impartiality.”
All that being said I’d let them all go if they want to. I think that way when people read the story they can be aware of the bias of the author and can give that bias as much or as little weight as they think it deserves. No restriction but full disclosure.
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