There was a striking exchange on Meet the Press yesterday between Tim Russert and Ted Koppel about Rudy Giuliani’s strength as a presidential candidate. It was one of those discussions that we’ll want to hold on to as the campaign progresses.
Russert had just finished noting that, as mayor, Giuliani was a staunch opponent of the NRA. Now, he’s emphasizing his support for the 2nd Amendment, and showing up at the NRA’s national convention. Russert and Koppel, though they avoided use of the dreaded “flip flop” phrase, agreed that Mayor Giuliani bears little resemblance to Candidate Giuliani. It led to this:
RUSSERT: What do we do as journalists to try to cut through this?
KOPPEL: The amazing thing is, you see story after story after story, especially from the New York press, which after all knows Rudy Giuliani pretty well from his years as mayor, and he’s not the most popular fellow in town. And he has certain eccentricities, shall we say, that the New York press has highlighted over the last few months. Doesn’t seem to be making a dent anywhere else in the country.
RUSSERT: Why?
KOPPEL: It beats the hell out of me.
Ooh! Call on me! I know this one!
It’s not “making a dent” because shows like Meet the Press aren’t actually telling the public about these “eccentricities.” Indeed, the fact that Russert and Koppel seem confused about this is quite disconcerting. If they want to “cut through this,” they have everything they need — the facts, the forum, air time to fill, and a public that needs information to make an informed decision.
“What do we do as journalists?” Here’s a radical idea: report on the stories.
Koppel’s right; NYC reporters have been doing some accurate, hard-hitting coverage of Giuliani’s mayoral tenure. They’ve treaded lightly over some of his personal eccentricities — his adulterous affairs, his multiple marriages, his estrangement from his children — but they’ve done a pretty good job of highlighting his record of not taking the terrorist threat seriously before 9/11, his deceptive claims about tax cuts, and his unabashedly progressive positions on hot-button social issues. Perhaps most importantly, a handful of outlets have actually pointed out that Giuliani’s record on 9/11 is not even close to what the candidate would like us to believe.
This would “make a dent” if television news outlets started talking about the revelations. But they don’t. Instead, as Meet the Press made clear yesterday, they casually allude to the fact that these revelations exist — without actually identifying any of them — and then marvel at the fact that people don’t know about them.
It was a 30-second example of what’s wrong with political journalism — one media celebrity talking to another media celebrity about why Americans don’t know about stories the media celebrities won’t put on the air.
Noting that there are ample stories that could undermine Giuliani’s narratives, if major outlets picked up on them, Matt Yglesias wrote:
This, it seemed to me, was an interesting topic for a national broadcast television show. Maybe these worthy panelists would inform their audience of these pieces of information known to New Yorkers, and resolve to bring this information to their audiences at Time, The Washington Post, NPR, CBN, and the various General Electric-owned media properties.
Sorry, just kidding. It didn’t occur to me for a minute that they would do this. And, indeed, they didn’t. Instead, they went meta and had a brief discussion of why it is that these accurate accounts of Giuliani’s record and personal behavior “don’t penetrate.” And, of course, they never considered the possibility that their own failure to report on these accurate portrayal’s of Giuliani’s record and personal behavior might play any role in it.
No, of course not. That would be responsible journalism. As Atrios concluded, “It’s always fascinating when our elite media gatekeepers pretend to not understand why certain stories don’t actually get through their gates.”