Accuracy, schmaccuracy

More than 30 years ago, a nation was riveted by All The President’s Men, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s story of how two unknown reporters came to help expose the scandal that resulted in the resignation of an American President.

“Woodstein,” as the two were known jointly by their editor, inspired thousands of Americans to embrace journalism as a career. What made it so attractive to so many was the simple notion that one could make a living, earn respect and do some good by telling the truth and insisting that the people in power do the same. Based on the movie version of ATPM, reporters appeared to work hard and didn’t seem to make a lot of money, but they had a cause and a career.

But the coverage of the tragic event at Fort Hood is a great reminder that the days when nothing was prized more than “getting it right” are gone. Way gone.

Anyone paying attention could see that much of the “information” being passed along to viewers on the major news channels was, at best, unsubstantiated.

Glenn Greenwald examined the contemporaneous commentary of a blogger who was monitoring the coverage as it unfolded. The tweets make clear that no one who actually knew anything about the incident was talking to the news outlets.

New details from CNN: One gunman “neutralized,” one “cornered,” no word on the third. . . . Whether there are two shooters or three seems to be in dispute at the moment, but there’s certainly more than one: The second shooting on the base evidently occurred at a theater. . . . Fox News says there are reports that the men were dressed in fatigues. . . . MSNBC TV says two shooters are in custody now. . . . it sounds like both shooters are military . . . According to MSNBC, there were three shooters. . . In case you’re wondering whether the other two soldiers in custody were actual accomplices or just being questioned because they knew Hasan, Rick Perry just said at the presser he’s holding that all three were shooters. . . . Hearing rumblings on Twitter right now that Perry was wrong and that the two other “suspects” have now been released. Was Hasan, in fact, a lone gunman? . . . . According to the general conducting the briefing going on right now, he appears to be a lone gunman.

There is a lot more of this here.

Among the worst moments was when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, after being informed that the alleged shooter worked in Bethesda at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, announced that he (Blitzer) lived in Bethesda and he never heard of such a place – seeming to suggest that there was no such Center. After the commercial break, Blitzer reported that, in fact, the Center is located on the grounds of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.

Uh, never mind.

CNN also spent an hour using Google satellite photos to show the building where the shootings took place, going into great detail about the thousands of square feet the structure contained. That is until video of victims being assisted was released and CNN realized that the shooting hadn’t taken place anywhere near where they had been reporting. And so on.

So, here we are, well into the 21st century, and consider at the state of the news biz: We have one 24 hour news channel that slants the news to favor a single political party, and another that is so focused on filling up 24 hours that they’ll let anyone prattle on about anything.

As Jon Stewart has shown, CNN is far more likely to fact-check a sketch on Saturday Night Live than to ask interview subjects on their own network to back up their charges against the President.

So, what can/should we do about this? Well, we’re kind of already doing it. We’re not watching or reading as much news as we did. We don’t believe as much of what we read or hear as we once did.

As has been mentioned previously in this space, the honorary title of “Most trusted man in America,” that Walter Cronkite wore proudly, today could only be hung on news satirists Jon Stewart or Stephan Colbert.

Where are the modern day “Woodstein’s” who are dedicated to the truth?

Who will keep us informed while keeping the politicians and the corporations honest? Does it still matter?

What do you think?