Walter, We Need You More Than Ever

Remember back in the day when the #1 priority for news reporting was to provide accurate information? When information provided during a newscast required validation, credible sources, and corroboration? When news reporters lived by a credo of honesty and integrity? When we believed and trusted what we heard and saw during a television newscast? When news reporting wasn't about entertainment or profit but about the truth?

I do. But it seems like ages ago.

Walter, oh Walter, where are you?

The issue about truth in news reporting hit a new high -- or deep low -- earlier this week when an NBC poll revealed that self-identified Fox News viewers have significantly different beliefs about the elements of Obama's health care reform plan than do viewers of CNN or MSNBC. Check out the data about these viewers' beliefs about the plan:

Viewers of

Fox News CNN/MSNBC

-- Coverage to illegal immigrants 72% 41%
-- Use of taxpayer dollars for abortions 69% 40%
-- Government to decide on care to elderly 75% 30%
-- Will lead to a government takeover 79% 39%

Interestingly, the beliefs of ABC, CBS, and NBC news viewers were similar to those of the CNN and MSNBC news viewers, leaving those who watch Fox News in their own and completely different reality.

So, of course, I wonder: What's going on at Fox News? Do they not understand the proposed plan? Are they unable to read English at a 3rd grade level? Are the concepts in the plan -- health care for e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e -- beyond them? Are the blue tooth devices on their ears somehow disrupting synaptic activity? A little too much gravy with their biscuits? Or are they not concerned with those pesky things we call 'facts'?

On the other hand, might it be that people who watch Fox News on purpose are daft? Certainly a possibility, though someone will undoubtedly need to explain to them what 'daft' means.

Before we go any further, let's get a couple of things straight:

• The health care plan is written in English -- or as close to English as law makers can get -- and states clearly that illegal immigrants will not be covered, that taxpayer dollars will not be used for abortions, and that the government will not decide on care to the elderly. (And, no, Sarah, there won't be 'Death Panels'.)

• This is not meant to be political (as much as I'd like to go there), but, instead, about a concern for truth in news reporting and how our country is being further fragmented by the self-interests and individual agendas of a few who, in the process, appear to be providing misinformation for personal gain. Or, possibly, because facts just don't seem that important to them.

By the way, 'misinformation' is a nice word for 'lying'. (Okay, I guess this is a bit political.)

Call me old-fashioned (it won't be the first time), but it seems to me that the news agencies -- and let's count Fox News as a member of this club -- have a responsibility to tell us the truth. We can handle it. (If I didn't say it you would have, right?) That's their job. Once we have the facts, then it's up to each of us to decide how we feel about these facts and, in the process, develop a point of view about the issue. Everyone having the same facts is essential if we're to have a proper debate and come to some resolution.

Instead, at least one of these news agencies has opted for a different route: Appeal to the fear and alienation caused by the emotionally-charged topic of health care reform to increase viewership (and, undoubtedly, advertising dollars) by providing inaccurate, uncorroborated information as fact. Maybe that agency is also interested in killing the plan. Who knows?

And, by all accounts, they are doing a marvelous job of increasing their number of eyeballs: Fox’s viewership is up 11 percent over last year, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN and MSNBC, which benefited from interest in the presidential campaign last year, are down.

I'm all for business growth, but at what cost? Doesn't Fox News -- and all organizations calling themselves 'news sources' -- have the responsibility to inform us accurately? Provide reliable and truthful data? And do so in a somewhat dispassionate way? You know, like journalists? Like Walter did?

Speaking of Walter, remember how he'd read us the news and then Eric Sevareid would try to explain it? Often with the word 'Commentary' clearly shown at the bottom of the screen so we'd know this was commentary and not news. Even if you're too old or too young to remember, this used to be how the news was reported. Truthfully, with the intent to educate. With care. And, critically, with an obsession for integrity.

Where have those days gone? And how can we, as a country, attempt to deal with our most significant challenges if we don't have a common understanding of the basic facts? Providing false information is an injustice that undermines our ability to debate, fragments the populace, and, in turn, prevents us from resolving issues together. Moreover, the dissemination of misinformation (you know what that means) by a news agency, whether intentional or not, is shameful. Thanks, Fox News, for keeping us from doing what we Americans do best: Engage in a good, heated, healthy debate.

We miss you a ton, Walter. You, too, Eric. Now more than ever.