Journalism defined by Fox's Eric Burns
Reported by Chrish - June 14, 2005
Eric Burns of Fox News Watch was a guest on John Gibson's Big Story today, 6/14/05, to discuss a poll which just came out. People were asked who they thought of as journalists; here are the results shown on Fox:
79% Peter Jennings
64% Mike Wallace
48% Katie Couric
40% Bill O'Reilly
30% Bob Woodward
27% Rush Limbaugh
19% George Will
Gibson said the public perception differs from those actually in the profession, and "who could blame them, when actors like Sean Penn take on the role of reporter. He is on assignment for the San Francisco Chronicle in Iran, just ahead of Iran's presidential election." (Video is shown of Penn.) So from this we can take that it is (liberal) Sean Penn and the myriad of actors "like" him writing for major US newspapers who are blurring the lines between entertainment and journalism, and not the likes of O'Reilly and Limbaugh...
Eric Burns opines it is "the dumbest survey I've seen in months. I don't know what it's supposed to prove, that people don't know what a journalist is? That the definitions are changing? Is journalist a pejoratave term today? John, y'know, people don't seem to like journalists very much so maybe by Peter Jennings getting 79% people are saying 'we don't trust Jennings at all because he's a journalist. I have no idea what they're trying to do."
Gibson overtalks, saying "By that reasoning when 40% say Bill O'Reilly is 60% obviously think higher of him."
Burns said, well if that reasoning is correct, but that's one of the problems with the survey..."Look, essentially, if you take away people who present news without thinking, which is to say a lot of local news anchors, you have basically three kinds of journalists: you have people like you, who elicit news by interviewing, you have people who present opinions, either by writing or speaking, and you have people who present facts, either by writing or speaking. If you are in one of those three categories, no matter what a poll like that says, you are a journalist. I understand rating these people based on how good you think they are, but they're all journalists."
Comment: Hey gang, we're journalists! Screw all those classes and lectures and degrees; all we have to do is read or write opinion.
Gibson asks if maybe the poll reflects how famous these people are and Burns throws that out as flawed because Limbaugh is, according to Gibson, as famous as Jennings. Gibson counters that Limbaugh might deny, "disavow" being a journalist and Burns says, based on a quote of Rush's that he read, that Limbaugh is "untroubled by the findings."
Gibson wonders if it says anything about how the public regards the news business or "the so-called jounalism business". Burns replies that this one doesn't, but a lot of other findings do. He says, "as you know, a lot of people don't like us these days" and that another recent poll shows that "we rank lower today than we ever have" and that earlier poll cites the use of anonymous sources as the major cause.
Leaving the segment Gibson says "I've always called myself a reporter...the 'j-word' always bothered me."
Comment: No, John, that's your conscience! I know you're not used to it.
Comment: This is a textbook example of Fox News deliberately undermining journalism and journalists. It is THEY who have blurred the lines and no doubt deliberately. They demonize other news outlets and cast aspersions on sources, demeaning the profession and the professionals in it. They let viewers know it is OK to not trust journalists; it makes it easier conjure mistrust when the truth doesn't fit the agenda.
