Meet the Press

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. - The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States

"What's going on is a belief that you can manipulate communicable trust between the leadership and the led. The way you do that is you don't let the press in anywhere." - Dan Rather

Freedom of the press is becoming an American myth. Access to candidates, wars and the inner sanctums of government and other public institutions is increasingly limited to those who provide favorable coverage, usually meaning those who simply repeat what they're told under the guise of "reporting." The result is an American public which, by and large, has turned away from news in all its forms. Sarah Palin isn't the only American who can't name a single newspaper she reads. And, frankly, who can blame her?

In the twenty-four hours news cycle to which we've all become accustomed, hours are filled with repetitive, poll-tested sound-bites, given free reign by the journalists supposedly charged with pressing for, if not presenting, the truth. Patent falsehoods are presented daily, unchecked, side-by-side with nuggets of truth. (Barack Obama is not going to raise taxes, in case you were confused.) Over time, each becomes indistinguishable from the other, both simply coming across as sound and fury signifying nothing. How else to explain the inexplicable percentage of Americans who once believed Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks? Or the nearly 60% of Americans who, today, could not correctly identify the positions of the candidate for whom they intend to vote three weeks from now?

Rather than rail against the bought and seemingly-paid-for press, though, I'd like to highlight the contributions of four individuals whose journalistic integrity has grown throughout, and for whom I'm thankful, this election season: Campbell Brown, Jeffrey Toobin, Joan Walsh and Naomi Wolf.

Campbell Brown is an anchor and pundit currently working at CNN. She is the daughter of a former Democratic State Senator and wife of a Republican consultant. Covering the same well-trod territory of her colleagues (Sarah Palin's readiness for high office, race and religion in American politics), Brown displays the capacity to rise above what is handed her and advance the conversations. The segment on the anticipated effects of Obama's race on voter behavior appearing on her nightly program "Election Center," was, not surprisingly, the best of an otherwise extremely cluttered and shallow bunch. Her interview of Republican strategist Tucker Bounds, during which she repeatedly pressed him to explain Palin's foreign policy credentials, became a You Tube sensation and prompted McCain to cancel an appearance on Larry King's show. The deftness and aplomb with which she handled the praise and criticism that followed was the definition of class. And, just this week, she again distinguished herself by being one of the few who, following McCain's long overdue denouncement of the mistaken belief that Obama is Muslim, actually said the following: "I commend Senator McCain for... setting the record straight. But, I do have one question -- so what if he was? So what if Obama was Arab or Muslim? So what if John McCain was Arab or Muslim? Would it matter? When did that become a disqualifier for higher office in our country? When did Arab and Muslim become dirty words? The equivalent of dishonorable or radical? Whenever this gets raised, the implication is that there is something wrong wtih being an Arab-American or a Muslim. And the media are complicit here, too. We've all been too quick to accept the idea that calling someone Muslim is a slur."


Jeffrey Toobin is an author, lawyer and analyst currently working for CNN. He has written the best-researched and even-handed portraits of arguably the four most compelling political and/or cultural events/bodies of the past ten years: The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson (1997); A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President (2000); Too Close to Call: The Thirty-Six Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election (2001); and, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court (2007). As an analyst for CNN, he, without fail, provides the most cogent, blunt and genuine arguments and discussion points during any discussion of which he's a part. Following the first presidential debate, it was Toobin who wisely predicted that McCain likely erred with the American public by too eagerly disrespecting "a worthy opponent." After the second debate, it was Toobin who first mentioned McCain's use of "That one" when referencing Obama, expressing shock over what would become that debate's lasting moment.

Joan Walsh is editor-in-chief of Salon.com. A regular guest on MSNBC's talk show circuit, she is often the lone voice of unvarnished reason, as quick to publicly denounce a political lie as she is to contribute a worthy zinger. Her take on Palin's recent Obama attacks: "The McCain campaign may be going off a cliff. Sarah Palin hit a new low -- and that's hard for her -- when she smeared Barack Obama with his association of '60s radical Bill Ayers, by claiming that Obama sees America 'as imperfect enough to work with a domestic terrorist who tried to kill his own people' -- as though Obama's concerns about American society led him to ally himself with terrorism. Break it down, folks, and that's what she's saying. Palin's got some synatx problems when she talks, so maybe she didn't mean it that way -- but, I think she did." And this response to McCain's most-recent debate performance: "John McCain's gaffe... was tin-eared. My first reaction was that it was a little racist - depersonalizing African Americans has a long rhetorical history. But I think it was more like something a cranky babysitter would say. Angry Uncle Joe, or, yes, Mr. Wilson: 'You know who broke the coffee table? That one.'"

Last, but certainly not least, Naomi Wolf is an author and political consultant who walks the walk of which she writes. Last year, she wrote "The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot," in which she laid out a compelling case for how Americans were being lulled into fascism by the Bush administration, including, ironically, its control over the press. This year, she followed-up with "Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries," an in-depth crash course in, and how-to for, American civics that should become mandatory reading in public school's nation wide, in which she writes: "Our America, our Constitution, our dream, when properfly felt within us, does more than 'defend freedom.' It clears space to build the society that allows for the highest possible development of who we ourselves personally were meant to be. We have to rise up in self-defense and legitimate rebellion. We need more drastic action than e-mails to Congress. We need the next revolution."

Our press may not be as free as it once was, but with leadership from these four journalists and the many like them, perhaps we need not wait for the next revolution too much longer.