ARI FLEISCHER: I was a White House press secretary. Here's why I back Bezos' Washington Post decision
Controversy over Washington Post not endorsing for president could end up being good for journalism. As a former White House press secretary, I back Bezos' surprising decision.
The recent meltdown at the Washington Post by reporters who objected to the neutral position by the paper’s editorial page in the presidential race shows that if journalism – a business that lacks trust and is in decline – is going to be saved, journalists are the last people to whom newspaper owners should listen.
Journalists are the ones who have created the current mess known as journalism. The overwhelming majority of journalists today are out of touch with the American people. They are liberal and that is why so many of them are upset that the Post failed to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
They can’t stand former President Donald Trump. They want and need their values and virtues re-affirmed. When they’re not, they scream.
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Just recently, Gallup reported that trust in the media by the American people is at a record low. When asked, "how much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media -- such as newspapers, TV and radio -- when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately and fairly," 69% said they had little or no trust in the press to tell the news straight.
The media has been in decline for decades. Reporters don’t care. It doesn’t matter how much trust and money they lose, journalists, especially in Washington, D.C. and New York City, are fierce defenders of a dying status quo. They refuse to change because they think what they’re doing is right and the American people, especially Trump supporters, are wrong.
When I was press secretary to President George W. Bush in the early 2000s, the media landscape began to change. Reporters who always were liberal had previously believed their jobs were to be fair and neutral. After Hurricane Katrina, the aftermath of which the press blamed on the Bush administration, in contrast to their coverage of the Biden White House for the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, reporters increasingly enjoyed being activists, armed with opinions, not facts, especially as social media emerged.
They swooned when Barack Obama emerged in 2008 and most went into virtual full opposition when Trump entered politics in 2016.
Today, most journalists are thinly disguised activists for liberal politicians and causes. The Democratic-media industrial complex runs deep. From journalism school students who are overwhelmingly Democratic to liberal J-school professors to most newsrooms today, liberals are in control and conservatives are hard to find, outside a few limited outlets.
That’s why the non-endorsement was so jarring to them. Too many of them have the same left-wing world view. The sensible idea of neutrality is shocking to them, especially if it involves Trump.
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But if trust in journalism is going to be restored, Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is showing the way. It will be through neutrality and fairness.
The American people want to be told the facts and the truth without spin, and they are capable of analyzing what a story means and what conclusions they should reach without being dictated to by the media. They’re fed up with one-sided opinions disguised as stories or analyses.
Reporters today are largely incapable of neutrality, especially when it comes to Trump. That’s why Bezos’ non-endorsement is important. He just delivered what most Americans want, despite the protests by biased newsroom and editorial page staffers. Today’s journalists are driving their industry into bankruptcy and ruin. They’re neither trusted nor profitable. They are the last people media owners should listen to.
If journalism is going to be saved, it will take owners who are dedicated to fairness and neutrality. If newsrooms don’t agree, the owners should get new newsrooms.
For whatever reason Bezos did this, other media moguls should do it too, not just on the editorial page but in newsrooms everywhere. It’s the only way journalism will be saved and trust restored.
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