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Comments to the article written by Milosz Matuschek, 21.07.20, in Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Zuerich
Introduction
The brutal reciprocal cannibalism of the media ´saints´ – in the form of the hysterical political correctness can strike anyone today. The Chekists (an allusion to Stalin’s Czechs) among journalists are cannibalizing themselves: There needs to be a new commitment within the news industry, with minimum standards regulating public debate.
Milosz Matuschek is deputy editor-in-chief of “Swiss Month”. He recently published “Kryptopia” and “Generation Chillstand”.
Do you prefer to drive to work in a horse-drawn carriage or a Model T Ford? Neither? Have you never seen a helicopter before and are not surprised that actors talk in movies? That’s exactly how it was a hundred years ago, in 1920. Today, of course, we are more advanced in many ways. So let me ask you one last, perhaps this stupid, question: Why do you put up with 1920s-style journalism?
We have been discussing political correctness and identity politics, condemning the monsters that devour freedom, for some time now. In essence, it is a privatization or appropriation of the space in which public debate takes place, by a few, in the service of a superior morality self-proclaimed as “the right side”. The chain of examples is long and endless: the framing manual of the German public broadcaster ARD, the Relotius disaster at “Spiegel” and, recently, the resignation of “New York Times” columnist Bari Weiss, who, although he did not intend to mobilize left-wing liberal readers in a decisive manner, was nevertheless persecuted and finally threw in the towel, bewildered.
Executioner and Traitor
Partisanship and bias – this is basically the main accusation made against journalism by some in today’s mainstream media. This is exactly what Walter Lippmann, the most widely read journalist of the 20th century, Pulitzer Prize winner and promoter of presidents, wrote in the journalism logbook a hundred years ago, in the short article “Liberty and the News” from 1920, which is so frighteningly topical today that one wonders in frustration how so little has changed in its substantial core. For him, the supreme law of journalism is succinct: “Tell the truth and shame the devil”. What do you put in your tea for journalism students today?
Knowledge of the issues requires a broad view. Quality media must not compromise on a half-truth. This is written in the New York Times, Justin Lane / EPA
Some journalists still believe that they are intellectually far above their readers, thinking that they are only waiting to be enriched by them. By what right? Spiegel” journalist Philipp Oehmke even proclaimed an end to neutrality in journalism. But the Olympics of virtue in journalism is like the game “Journey to Jerusalem”. The longer it takes, the more dead bodies will pave the way. The rules of the game could, similarly, be taken directly from the Cheka manual of the Stalinist secret police; anyone can be a potential executioner or informer. The consequence: the more brutally one acts, the less one doubts the veracity of the author. This is the destructive incentive system of any ideology. But in the end such a system will cannibalize itself. We are probably experiencing the height of this process, as shown by a public letter signed by 150 intellectuals, including J. K. Rowling, Malcolm Gladwell and Noam Chomsky.
Systemic problem
Only good journalism counteracts bad journalism, if you don’t want to leave the field of play to demagogues, screamers and rat hunters. That is why a new commitment to minimum standards is now needed from the entire newspaper industry. Since “journalist” is not a protected term, the common basis can only be to stick to the facts according to a methodology accepted by all. Partisan journalism is a form of corruption, a betrayal of the reader, a detriment to its own profession and a sin against the truth.
And as the case of “NYT” columnist Weiss shows, it is a systemic problem. The diversity and multiplicity of opinions are nothing more than a public relations fact, a fig leaf. If in the end the mediocre, the cowardly and the ‘politically correct’ set the tone, there will be no more need for newspapers.
