Sleeping Watchdogs

By Hank Silverberg            

(Stakeout at the  Richmond, VA courthouse)  

      Journalists are supposed to be watchdogs, protecting the general public from government excess, corporate greed, and individual scallywags. That’s what our founding fathers had in mind, but these days the watchdogs seem to be lost in the deep woods. So, there’s a message I want to send to all those men and women who practice journalism: stop whining! The American public really doesn’t care about your comfort level, your ego or your Q score from your employer’s latest focus group.

     It is time for reporters, producers and editors to return their attention to getting stories right, and producing stories that really matter. They should pay less attention to the minute details inside politics that drive cable pundits wild and drive TV viewers to Netflix, cat videos on YouTube or the latest so-called “Reality Show”.
     While everyone has been focusing on the movements of Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, or Scott Pruitt’s $43,000 soundproof phone booth, here’s some of the stories bumped out of the evening news line up (if they ever were in it) or pushed to the back pages of your newspaper. In  2016 a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers found that 56,007 bridges in the United States were structurally deficient. They carry 188 million cars a year.    
https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/  How long before they start falling down? There has been little follow-up reporting by anyone on this, except for a few lines in newspaper stories about President Trump’s proposed budget. If you have seen a story about crumbling roads and bridges on network or cable news, tell me about it, because they are hard to find.  

(Crumbling roads and bridges)

     There have been dozens of stories about cabinet shakeups and extravagant spending by Trump appointees. They are legitimate stories but not something to obsess about. While reporters concentrated on the phone booth story, Pruitt’s EPA loosened 65 regulations that will make our air and water dirtier , allow oil drilling on federal land and coal ash dumps in our rivers. You need an advanced internet search to find the few stories written about potential destruction of planet earth.
     We’ve heard much about efforts to end Obamacare, but stories about the proposed cuts in Medicare and Social Security or work requirements for Medicaid affecting millions of Americans, are hard to find. Though there might be a few more, I found only this one in the last few months. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/12/01/gop-eyes-post-tax-cut-changes-to-welfare-medicare-and-social-security/?utm_term=.5869e02bf588   Except for stories like hurricanes, wild fires and volcano eruptions, you will hear little else on cable news or the nightly broadcasts besides the latest minute twist in the porn star case or the Mueller investigation. Yes, those ARE stories that need to be reported, but in the long run clean air, safe roads and a secure retirement are more important to average citizens. Even the headlines about potential nuclear war with North Korea centered more on personalities than what is really at stake. 
     That brings me back to the whining. Last week, there were hours of air time and pages of print stories on the White House Correspondent’s dinner. There have been hours more about how the average American doesn’t trust “main stream media”—a faulty label with no real parameters. And much of it includes whining from reporters and pundits about other reporters and pundits or other networks.   We must stop that, for the good of the journalism profession and the good of the country. How?

 

(Reporting I-95 construction 2014)

 
       First report stories that REALLY matter to people in big cities and small towns across the country. Second, get the facts right. Use what old-style news people (like me) call your “bullshit meter" to challenge politicians, bureaucrats and political hacks who spread disinformation. Keep focused as you do it. Reporters need to  remember that their profession is the only one protected by the U-S Constitution. Don’t get all bent out of shape when someone calls you out, whether it be the central figure of the story, (like the current POTUS) or the general public. Get a backbone. Remember that hundreds of reporters in other countries have been murdered by repressive regimes or violent factions simply for reporting the truth. 

    Finally, keep your head high in your work, and keep your head low in your personal life. YOU should NEVER be the story.

      (Your comments or suggestions for future editions are welcome. Comment section below) 

        (If you wish to order a copy of my latest book go to Amazon.com, BN.com or hanksilverbergbooks.com)  

                                                                       

 The Vice-President of the United States is conflicted. She has risen to her current job by jumping on the bandwagon with President Andrew Freeman who is  now, waging war against America’s biggest enemy—Iran.  Amy Roosevelt must make a decision whether to stay with Freeman or challenge him for the nomination. Though back channels she learns that the President’s health is declining. As Roosevelt ponders her decision, a conservative back bench Congressman from Missouri breaks out of the wanna-bees in the other party and also decides to run.  All this plays out as the man known only as Ishmael, continues his campaign of violence.