(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . A By-the-Script News Media Will Fail Us [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-07-12 This week I watched presidential hopeful Chris Christie get interviewed on Morning Joe. I know. Why do I put myself through such torture? Not surprisingly, the interview consisted of too many softball questions, Joe Scarborough talking too much, and an almost complete absence of follow-up questions. That last one is probably the most glaring. (To be fair, Willie Geist seems to be best equipped to go off script and ask a question related to the previous answer.) Even someone with a newspaper career as uninspiring, inconsequential, and, in the end, as failed as mine knows the value of follow-up questions. They may not always be successful, but they’re necessary to try to pin down the interviewee on vague statements, distortions, and outright lies. And every time a reporter fails to ask them, he or she is failing in the only real job they have: Keeping us informed about what’s going on. Here are some examples from the Morning Joe interview: *Christie was asked if Trump was the GOP nominee for president, “would you vote for the Republican nominee for president? Would you support him as the nominee?” He replied “I’ve said I won’t vote for him.” The logical follow-up is “Would you then vote for Joe Biden or whoever the Democratic nominee is?” If Christie said no, the next questions should be “Since this is really a binary choice, are you really doing everything you can to stop Trump when you won’t vote for his opponent? Are you really sincere about your desire to keep him out of the White House when you won’t vote for the Democrat?” *At one point, Christie said beating Joe Biden “is vital for us to do for the future of the country.” Follow-up: “Those are pretty strong words considering Biden has had quite a few legislative accomplishments and a lot of our economic indicators are heading in the right direction. Specifically, why is he so bad for the country and give examples of that?” *Christie tried to tie Biden to inflation. That cries out for these inquiries: “Does a president really have that kind of control over inflation? What specifically has Biden done to increase inflation?” Christie would probably claim that the government under Biden has spent too much money. That leads to this: “How much is government spending a factor here? Which spending was wrong, and please be specific by not just naming a bill but what particular provisions of the bill? If Biden is the cause of inflation, why is it a worldwide issue and not confined just to the United States? How much have other factors beyond Biden’s control affected inflation, such as the pandemic, supply chain issues, and the war in Ukraine?” *Christie supported Trump in both his 2016 and 2020 election bids, even helping him with debate preparation. He said he left Trump after the former president declared the 2020 election was stolen before all the votes were counted? That begs this: So, after watching Trump as president for four years. Seeing things like how he handled the coronavirus, the spending, the behavior, what some may call his unfitness for office, why did you sign up for four more years of that? Why, after all that you saw, did you think it was better for this country – I’m not talking about your party, I’m talking about this country – to give Trump a second term than to elect somebody like Joe Biden? *On immigration, Christie said, “Neither party has dealt with the issue when they’ve had majorities in Congress.” Follow-up: “In 2013, when Barrack Obama was president, Democrats controlled the Senate, and the Republicans controlled the house, the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill 68-32, only to see the GOP leadership in the House refuse to even bring it to a vote. Who’s at fault there?” Even better: “When you consider the level of anti-immigrant rhetoric that comes from the Republican Party, including GOP governors who have used immigrants as political pawns, members of Congress, and your party’s leader, Trump, why should we expect your party to ever agree on effective, compassionate, immigration reform? How can a party that’s ginned up its base by demonizing immigrants to the extent yours has reach an agreement on legislation that directly affects people so many on your side hate? *** Look, I know I’m being hard on Joe Scarborough and Mike Brzezinski, the hosts of Morning Joe. I watch their show every day. They’re good at what they do, and the success they’ve achieved shows that. In theory, what right do I have to question them? But it just burns my ass to see a softball interview of someone like Christie. Every time a politician like him gets off easy it’s not only a missed opportunity to shine a light on the individual, but it’s one less chance to take a hammer to the wall of lies the Republican Party depends on to win elections and push its perverted agenda. I know there’re a lot of really good interviewers in the media. I know Morning Joe isn’t really into longer-form, gritty interviews, even though they have plenty of time – four hours a day – to present them. I also know the media is a gatekeeper of our democracy, and that’s it’s been under near constant attack from the Right in an attempt to delegitimize it. It’s an easy scapegoat. But when it fails to hold our officials accountable the damage can be incalculable. Like a lot of entities, the media has its own hall of legends. The greats of their profession. They weren’t perfect, but they didn’t reach the heights they did by not asking a tough question or letting an obvious follow-up query go by the boards so he or she could stick to their script. If you’re not going to act like journalists, then let your viewers and readers know. If you aren’t ready to politely (or more forcefully if necessary) grill someone like Christie than don’t give him a platform if you want to call yourself a news show. That goes for anything from a cable television program to a major newspaper to a small-town publication. The lying is too easy nowadays to take any other track. The misinformation and propaganda from the Right is too overwhelming. We need too much from the media to ever let it off the hook. If you’re looking for friends and want to avoid confrontation and uncomfortable conversations don’t be a journalist. Find another calling. If you don’t, all you’re doing is cheating yourself, you’re cheating your profession, you’re cheating your craft, and, most importantly, you’re cheating the people who count on you – who need you – to show them the truth. That’s the biggest shame of all. *** Thank you for reading my post. You can see more of my writing on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Also, please check out my video blog: The 3:13 on Politics. 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