Byline Employee Matters Agreement Made Easy

Byline employee matters agreement

Lu Wolfson professor of communications at American University and author of a new book the untapped power of the press what kind of job is the American press doing today well if you look at the job it was doing 10-15 years ago you'd say it's wonderful progress there are things being done now that are on America's front pages that are on the evening news that were never there ten years ago and that a lot of people in journalism said wouldn't be there but there are also things that aren't there that ought to be there what would you say if all that what should be there that's not there today in my book I write about why don't we tell people more about what government is really like get inside of a tell about the decision-making process do it in an interesting way that catches their eye and that really explains to them what is going on in Washington what those people in Washington are doing to you to us and why and I think that's a way to do it okay I'm going to be talking with mr. Lou Wolfson tonight let me show you his book the untapped power of the press which came out a several months ago and as he was seeing it now being reviewed across the country in a number of newspapers and and various TV shows as well amen okay for those of you who are who are interested in the in the press you say it applies to people who are journalists as well as non journalists Michael sure absolutely and certainly there's a wider and wider audience of people who are interested to know what are the news media all about what makes them tick let's talk for a minute about the news media in Washington I think as I say in your book here they're about 4,000 of us now which is a lot of people it may be larger I saw one count this week that said 10,000 depends on how you count them I suppose if you counted all the mini cameras we see now here and added everybody up there'd be a lot of us where do most journalists concentrate in Washington on the news I mean do they focus on the White House do they focus on Congress I mean do they pick one spot that really demands everyone's attention or or Gary well I think there is a focus as you know there's a focus on the White House and Congress I mean you're going to see more stories about what the president doesn't says and also following Congress because that's where a lot of the decision-making is initiated but there are other stories that get less attention and that is for example the agencies that bureaucracy journalists are now covering these but they once looked at them and their eyes glazed over and said you know we don't want to know what goes on in all those cubby holes in government and yet in those cubby holes and governments the decisions that are made in the White House and Congress are pursued the decisions are often changed policy gets shaped and when it gets down to grassroots it may be something entirely different why have journalists stayed away from some of some of the agencies too technical or it takes to difficult just to find their way through the masses of people to the people who are making the decisions journalist instincts are to go for a breaking story to begin with when journalists when a journalist goes to work each day and this isn't true of all journalists every day many are very thoughtful but they don't say gee I think I'm going to explain this about what goes on in government today what they say is I wonder what's going to happen today and that's why there's this concentration on breaking news you get caught up on it it's easy to get our easier to get a story it's easier to get attention for your story your byline you get on your face on television and there are demands from your editors and your producers as to which kinds of stories will be most attractive and sell not selling the sense of for money but sell be easiest to see and watch and and understand and as a result they shy away from getting into the processes of government a lot you don't get in and see how decisions are made go back and say well why why did we get this tax reform what really happened what what we're on what caused this series of events don't you sometimes have to have a lot of people in order to do that because you still have to cover the breaking story and sometimes if you're covering the breaking story isn't that harder to take to be able to step back at the same time and try to do the larger picture why does everybody have to cover the same breaking story though that's my question we have all kinds we have wire services we have combinations of news organizations the Los Angeles Times in the Washington Post have a news service the New York Times other newspapers and we have these combinations and yet everybody kind of sweeps along going for the same stories and yet papers get four or five someone get four or five different versions of the same story coming into the news organization every night now true one news organization may do a little better than the other one reporter may do a little bit on the other but it's marginal meantime there's an awful lot of things that aren't covered I think the the biggest problem is there is a kind of a feeling in Washington in the press corps gee that stuff is not interesting people don't want to know about it and it's hard to make it interesting and yet there are are news organizations as you know who are beginning to do this and they are the ones who are most admired by other by their peers as to say I wish we could do that kind of thing mm-hmm what's your opinion of the caliber of journalists who cover Washington I have a very good opinion a very strong opinion I think they're very good I think today's journalists are brighter than they were certainly in my generation I was in the press corps a while back and you know we were rather timid about a lot of things we never had a great deal of curiosity about a lot of things that young journalists today have and a lot of them are frustrated because of this because they're smart they know there are stories that ought to be told and yet they don't get the opportunity to do it and there's a lot of reasons for it it isn't just the reporters fault it's how decisions are made by their editors and their producers it's economic pressures that sort of thing there's a combination of things when you mentioned that all those of us who reporters have to deal every day with our editors who are very good people and have very good very good sense of what's going on and have to coordinate a lot of reporters in an office how do you get a reply mean how would you go about today getting a redditor interested in the subject which he might be not in the mainstream of Washington might be a technical issue or something how does a reporter use do you talk about them being frustrated how do they do they what's your advice to them about getting their stories told or finding ways to tell new stories I have a sense in is easy for me coming from my ivory tower but I have a sense that almost any story in Washington affects people and that's how to sell those stories is to show what is the effect on people what is the effect of a decision made by the Food and Drug Administration that maybe some dull dried decision about a drug that's obscure we don't know about it but people take that drug and there may be side effects and there are all sorts of things that can flow from a very obscure story that's buried in the paperwork and buried in the process and buried in the decision-making what do you think the the public's chief criticisms of the press are today the public's chief criticisms right oh I don't know it's hard to say there's a lot of unease in the news media about people questioning the credibility of news organizations I think the public is very uneasy about the fact that television in particular has changed how much the media affect their lives we're constantly watching the news we're listening to it we're reading about it and they're part of it and but what bothers people most of all I think is they don't understand how the news media work and I say that in my book I think that's the chief problem is they really don't understand and they don't understand some very elementary things about the press and how it works especially in Washington and it's kind of unfortunate because it could be explained to them I've seen and explained I've seen public officials I've taught public officials in fact who didn't understand about the press that were as ignorant about it as an ant the average citizen and when you started to explain basic things they say oh we didn't know the reporter had to go through all that to write a story okay now is your time it's Christmas Eve to sit back I hope you power your shopping done your packages react you can talk about newspapers and journalism and and how you think the press might do a better job or some of the criticisms you might have you know of your own papers or are the people that that see or watch cover the news let's take a call now from Orange Texas you're on c-span go ahead the media cover the events in exactly the same way you'll find exactly the same features humored stories you know everywhere if you don't get coverage it's so much well we may have an agreement but we also may have a disagreement because it's a question of degree I think there's a great deal of diversity in American news media no I don't think we should lose sight of that we still have a free press we have people saying things that others don't say we like it that way and that's the way it should be I think there's a great deal variety but you're right also there's a great deal of copycat journalism if you will and that's not good and a press that often prides itself on its independence quite often doesn't realize that there is a lack of real competition what do you what do you think accounts for what you for the copycat journal journalism just that there are so many reporters and there are only so many key stories in the course of one day well it's also a kind of a safety in that we have something here in Washington and many people probably heard about her at journalism with a heard goes after the same story and there is safety in the herd in part that self imposed by reporters but in part it's imposed by their editors because the journalist who is really independent and strikes out on his or her own and does a story that's off the main story will get questioned well everybody's covering that one over there what are you doing covering that story over there it's very true and I'm just thinking of one of the my most recent experience if I heard journalism when was when Prince Charles and Princess Diana were here I've never stand we've had I think there and I went down to Florida with him I think there were 500 reporters credentialed and you waited for hours just to see them come and go and no one said anything and very little happened and everybody had very little to write about but we were all there there's nothing to say the summit conference in Geneva is another example look at all the report and I talked to reporters who went there and they said I don't know why I went but I wanted to be there and they all came up with essentially the same thing all of us and good analysis they could do some of them could do but how many of those reporters will cover nuclear policy week in and week out or go back to it they won't they'll go on to something else one of the key areas that everyone focuses here on Washington is the presidency is that ik is that an example of what you considered her journalism well I think the people who live in the White House heard feel often feel very unhappy because they feel so restricted from what they can cover and so manipulate it because with this ministration in particular you have a very a president who's well-liked who's very skillful at public relations and as a result they are able to put things out of the White House that make the president look good and they are able to play down the unhappy things and that frustrates the White House press corps and they're kept kind of caged up in their press room a good deal at a time so that in that sense they give a lot of coverage we get a lot of attention for the president but they feel frustrated about what they can say I say in my book and this is a case of untapped power to a high degree I think that there are all kinds of stories that you can go after to see how presidential decisions have been made and that we ought to know about and forget about the superficial what happened today stand up on the White House lawn or whatever okay let's take a call now from Chicago you're on the air go ahead yes ma'am mom I'm very intrigued with the gentleman's book I will be one of his customers as far as s all right my name is mr. Schad I'm from Algonquin Illinois a suburb of Chicago is it cold out there very my question is I am I have a personal experience with the with the media and the press and an income tax trial in the summer of 1984 in Arizona and my question is why is that it seems like an established fact that what the media puts out on a tax trial are the results and it seems like it's always a press release that the Internal Revenue Service has put out rather than a non-biased report of actually what happened and the case well you've hit on another aspect of reporting of government which is reporting on the courts and there are great weaknesses in that the kinds of stories that interest the news media are usually more sensational stories obviously ones that have to do with crime or at the top of the list it's an interesting experience here I know some reporters in Washington when I was reporting which was quiet nobody covered tax court now more and more reporters are covering it because there are interesting stories there to cover you need a reporter who's going to take initiative and go after that sort of thing but you're right they don't ordinarily cover it in the process unless something is very sensational and sticks out and then a few will flock there we also live in a city where we have untold press releases coming out of government committees and that occasionally in the rush or perhaps some if there's some extra space one day that you might find someone rewriting a press release but there's may happen fascinating stories in tax court and those reporters who have gone after them have come up with some wonderful story okay let's go across the country now perhaps a warmer climate going to Palmdale California going in fact they are like every other person who doesn't know everything about what they're talking about they report on things and resolving something like I was mm-hmm listen to their reports read him in the paper you find out that they really don't know what they're talking about they're just making news well I can say that in one sense you're you're right they often tell are incomplete in their reporting but I don't really agree with you I don't think the reporters I know the ones that are really conscientious and that's the rank and file of American journalists - are really trying hard to get at the news and they're trying hard to tell a foolish story if they can your experience is a common one and many people that are watching and listening now probably have had that well GRE those stories and I'm not so sure about it because I remember a story I was involved in and they got it all wrong well people read and watch news stories with different kinds of perceptions they like to have themselves look good in the news story or their organization look good and that's not always going to be the case often they want things to be complete they want almost a journal written about it rather than just a news story written about it and that's not going to happen either so a journalist has a heavy burden which is to try to distill down the news tell a mass audience about it and be faithful to it and they don't always succeed it's a very imperfect profession tell me what profession you're in sir ask him about what his what he's experienced my point was there are a lot of imperfect professions around ok let's go now to Kansas City Missouri you're on the air go ahead hello Michael nope well ok ok [Applause] with your topic this evening about the earth journalism and I hate to bring this up again but never left this is what I've been trying to get in about is the vote on the tax bill that everyone was so irate about some were claiming that Tip O'Neill gaveled off too fast and others were claiming that he did not etc etc now let me begin by saying I'm a c-span junkie I taped the whole thing from beginning to end and I reviewed it at least four times and in the places where the controversies were at least a dozen matters so if I may take about 30 seconds in the beginning there was the rule the rule which was originally turned down was change minutely but there was an addition to the room making it possible for mr. Michel to introduce a Liva was a sense of the House Resolution which had to do with the timing of the tax pit okay I'm gonna speed you up here let's get to your question well I can't get to the question I'm tonight hey get to the logical progression well hurry up because I've got to give a lot of other projects run too so let's go from there to the end of the tax bill when Tip O'Neill did what usually does which is alright there's no problem there but I heard journalists and I chick rim to say it was on c-span who claimed that he was calling for somebody to ask for a vote what he did was he called for the vote he passed it he wrapped it off with the other end of his gavel not the heavy let's hurry up now cuz I'm gonna have to cut you off real quick he called for mr. Michael to bring up his what was made made in order by the rule to bring up his timing well now what's your question real quick why why do we as this not been reported ok they said that he was calling for mr. Michael - okay try that I think that I'm not sure but I think they had to do with it was a record vote or a voice vote and I don't know because I didn't watch it you've got the advantage on me but I want to say that I think the reporting of the tax reform legislation is some of the best reporting and I've seen in journalism because it does go in the process it's an interesting fact the washing not to be parochial but the Washington Post had a story in the last two days which was actually called a process story in which they explained that things are going to be different in the Senate from the house because the house has very tight rules and when things get out in the floor there aren't a lot of things you can do in the Senate there's going to be a lot of amendments and the whole process changes and that changes the effect on the legislation so I think the press is very good at that sort of thing when it's a big major piece of legislation okay let's go now to Malibu California you're on c-span thank you anyway absolutely Malibu and I certainly can cure I'm gonna get your book but notice I watch c-span all of the time and CNN because I think they do the best reporting when I turn over to those networks I have noticed such a difference in the last several years particularly ABC they use the same sources when they want interviews they have the same people over and over again Koppel has toned down or even if there's a topic you would think he would covered than the top of that day it's not covered that night where it used to be but I want to get to one of the things that bothered me that the showman you know the that wonderful news reporter on the time was dumped from the time because he was covering corruption in New York City and there was no more said about it but you know who I mean children I can't think of his name and I know what you're he was all developments going on in New York another thing is the then of course the Sacramento PD had a story on lack soul and they got dress dress because they don't have that kind of insurance they could report the story so they backed off okay do you have a quick question wrapping all this up yes I'm wondering why except for CNN and few of our local stations have not covered it's terrible homelessness and I don't mean they're drunks okay you mean okay well you know you know they've antigen me but III think that's being covered very heavily where I live it is a story being covered a great deal here in Washington but you know one of the points you hit on about newspapers pulling back on investigations that's a problem because there is a resurgence of libel suits people are trying to get at newspapers by using libel suits as a weapon and that's another side of the press's relationship with government we have to always be wary about that those of you who've out there who wonder sometim about the Free Press and whether or not not to be controlled let me I can't say trust trust me but let me guarantee to you that we're better having a Free Press that isn't being controlled imperfect as it may be okay let's go now to Southfield Michigan go ahead you're on yes go ahead my arrack political group and they were talking about you notice my case the reasons my case and they're kind of put pressure on our state department any more information against Israel but what I like to suggest as a favor to me as being a caller that the big s would would get the press to print a story of how how the Arab countries give military actual battlefield military secrets to the Soviet Union and that Israel gives her military secrets Annabelle veal to the United States it would be a terrific story and it would be up-to-date thank you okay I haven't got that okay I turn for a question talking about peace here in Washington and journalists are journalists used by government officials here in Washington you mentioned that in your book as well sure they are I mean one of the problems with press reporting and that's what people should understand is that they are very frustrated because people in government don't want to talk to the press often for a variety of reasons they want to conceal information because it's embarrassing because they don't want the attention because it makes them look unfavorable it gives it frozen unfavorable light on their work there are a whole host of reasons why officials play their cards close to the vest and journalists every day must cope with this and it's difficult and I don't think people really realize that it's very hard and the officials are often complaining these days more and more about the media and how they're everywhere the same officials often want the media attention but they want the kind of attention that makes them look good there are also many officials in our Congress members of Congress in the bureaucracy who would be happy never to see a reporter and that is not healthy one of the things I say in my book is one of the scandals of press coverage I think is the lack of coverage of local congressmen and that's a problem there is coverage of it but there's very little real probing that shows people what the local congressmen really does how they perform how they judge by their peers that really evaluates their performance you covered here in Washington yes and in at home too the same thing and let's sit let's let's get into that more the people the stories that are covered now are often very self-serving and the reporters who are forced to cover that kind of news know that but they aren't able to go further because they need to educate the producers the news directors the editors back home and that's hard and some of those congressmen for a number of reporters and covering news or various issues that relate to their states or their local areas rely on those congressmen for a lot of sources as well yes and therefore they there are some restraints on them they write a story that that's analytical that's evaluative and they say oh boy I may lose the source my I covered Congress myself and my experience and it's easy for me to say but I think it's true you may lose them for a week or two but they'll be back in because they need you and they need that attention also fine if you write a fair and objective story that they may be unhappy about some part of it but if they think it's fair and objective because they're good ones and I think to wrap up on this Carla's question I think the officials are still way ahead on using the press compared to how much the press really get it and analyzing how they perform okay let's go down to South Pasadena California go ahead South Pasadena yeah I have two comments to make I'd like a response from your guests on both of them first of all with regard to the media in America taken all together as one collective thing it's an industry it's a private industry and it's a multi-billion dollar industry I don't see any reason why the rules and regulations that we monitor private industry by for accountability purposes should be any different for private industry than they are for the press and so when I hear a lot of times that press is being a sanctioned or they're not allowed to write what they want to write so on and so forth because of this and that lawsuit I don't think that that should be something that we should take as a threat to our freedom of speech or anything else I think it's part of that monitoring process that we impose on all private industry in this country and the second thing I wanted to say was that I read well I subscribe to US News and World Report and they subscribe to the National Review to human events to Time Newsweek and to the New York Times and I want to CNN and I listen to c-span quite often have to be an uninformed person however I do find that there are many things that I will read in one publication which I will not find in other publications such as the New York Times and so forth and I don't understand I think the caller a ways back who is having some difficulty saying what he wanted to say I think he was trying to say that if the facts are available for anybody who wants to find them even if we do have to go to great lengths to find them why is it that those facts can't be made available in the most popular publications and on the most popular broadcast why do we have to go to such great lengths to find these things thank you very much okay okay I'm a little a loss to answer your second question because it's pretty general it depends on what you mean if the facts are available sometimes I hear people say that I hear public officials say that I hear people on the right wing or the left wing people who have special interest people have access to grind and they talk about how the press should be more responsible that they ought to tell us the facts and what they're really saying often is well they ought to tell a story the way I'd like to hear it and that makes me nervous when we talk about facts tell me what the facts are that are missing and then we can talk about that so that that question is a little hard to answer the first point is well-taken yes news organizations are our businesses - there's no question about it they feel the same pressures they should abide by the same rules but they are also and they should not use their status as a free press as a reason to avoid doing some of the things they should be doing on the other hand they are not just business organizations and everybody should understand that clearly if we don't have a free press if we have a press that's slowly but surely gets its gets its freedom nibbled away its ability to cover the stories as it judges and not how government judges are some special interest judges you can take it away take that freedom away just like that and I think that you will be one of the first persons that will say what happened okay let's go to New Brunswick New Jersey go ahead you're on c-span what the previous caller said about the make a point about really what all of Free Press is is what a Free Press really decides to print and when you come down to it all the Free Press is is what the Edit is the very few evidences in this country decide to make newsworthy what is on page one and not page 65 and you know two-inch print and my question is really apropos to the previous segment about Israeli spying in 1967 you know the Israelis attacked the United States ship USS Liberty and international waters and killed 34 Americans and they wounded 109 Americans now this was not an accident because for six hours they buzzed the ship and they knew exactly who the who the ship belonged to and then for two hours they attacked the ship and they killed all this men now for 18 years this report has been suppressed you know for political reasons now if the press put it in their mind to say let's have some justice let's find out who who's responsible for this let's have some war crimes tribunals and let's get down to the bottom of this we you know we do it but because the press you know is politically involved in too many ways you know these these Americans lives have just gone for naught and it's you know it's disgusting and to make another point I like to make another point real quick when you know mr. klinghoffer died you know if the previous day the president is united you know the previous week I would say if the president United States had died you know we would had a hard time kind of making a the same opportunities of what mr. klinghoffer did it as the president honored state a day yes - mr. klinghoffer was shot Jewish terrorists in this country they killed an American Arab and he was on page 500 in a 2-inch print and that was it now what's the point that's what rapido is the power of the press is depending on who the editors really care to print and what they may seem to make newsworthy okay let's stop right there and let you have a chance to well I think the man may have an argument he may know something that we don't know but I also sense the voice of a special interest of a strong opinion here and the journalists I know fortunately in this country are amazingly good at not letting their strong opinions decide the judgments about how news is played they may make mistakes you may disagree with the way they decide what gets attention and what doesn't get attention but I want to tell you that I am very admiring of the journalism as a profession in this country and the way journalists makeup balance judgement about a lot of the news and you don't even know that they're doing that and they're doing it on your behalf what I often tell my students is let me tell you you're the only people who make your mistakes out in public all the time your byline is going to be on it your face is going to be on it everybody's going to know it but that's okay because you're making sound professional judgments and you're trained to do that and they are trained to do that okay if you're having trouble getting through the lines are all lit up I thought maybe might be a quiet Christmas Eve but I see journalism provokes a great deal of thought and opinion I love to talk we're gonna go now to Los Angeles you're on the air go ahead arrogantly music Americans both he comprises that he had the gavel down Republican opposition regarding the boat on the vanes on the tax reform bill he's seen that the tape four times I will suggest you see another hundred times because that's not how the way happens we don't have time for blow-by-blow we don't have time for [Music] [Applause] [Applause] that sorry up now we're gonna let's quit we want to keep this on the press tonight penny who says government isn't exciting I'm not I don't mean to cut you off but but we don't have time tonight really to go blow-by-blow through all of the proceedings I think we should have gotten you to their phone numbers and let you talk to each other you have been a good way to do it so let's go now to Miami Florida go ahead you're on the job because he voted for the AWACS for the Arab from the Israeli Lobby and he's written a book for 1985 and you can't buy in the bookstore in South Florida because there's railey Lobby has kept it away you cry for freedom and speech and Free Press and unbossed and everything but when it comes to Israeli Lobby you won't print one thing against them people and I'd like to know why that book has been blackballed in South Florida I'd like an honest answer on that thing I don't know I can't give an honest or dishonest answer that because I don't even know what she's talking to no it may be that it hasn't appeared in the bookstores or the other answer is maybe it's all sold out I don't know what that has to do with the press I think it may have just been the power of the reporting about perhaps the Israeli Lobby they're people who feel fairly strongly well III wouldn't agree with that I think that you've talked to the Israeli Lobby here in Washington you find that they feel as strongly as you do about the reporting and in from their point of view okay let me tell you just a few things that I've neglected to tell you earlier about mr. Wolfson his background he co-founded and directed the graduate program of journalism at American University for nine years previously he was the Washington bureau chief for the providence journal-bulletin he's taught public affairs the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard he's an undergraduate from Dartmouth as a master's in journalism from Columbia University and the second master's in Soviet studies from Harvard so certainly a man well qualified to talk about the media tonight let's go now to San Bruno California go ahead you're on c-span Merry Christmas thank you I I just get yellow and I hear a man like mr. Wilson defense the press the president ill-repute all across this country and he should know that there's a reason for it you keep talking mr. Wilson about freedom of the press I say license is what the president takes now and the internet with Tip O'Neill when a congressman from the Republican side get up asked for a boat a point of order a Democrat high on the Rules Committee get up and objected now one objection stops the vote we asked for unanimous vote to to have a recorded vote on that I didn't read in one newspaper and I take three of them out here in San Francisco one newspaper tell the truth about that now don't continually talk about freedom of the press let's talk about truth of the press and the slanted way in which they print their stories thank you I'm not sure that was a Merry Christmas or not yes we don't read the same papers because what I read seemed to explain it satisfactory to me and I don't think it was slanted at all it may be and I would have to go back and look at the all the papers and myself to see whether perhaps it was a whether all the details were included in all the stories myself let's go now to Sarasota Florida you're on c-span go ahead talk about the book tonight my question in primary concerns is how the media has manipulated a lot of presidential candidates and built them up to a position such as John Anderson's candidacy who he was darling of the media and Gary Hart benefited from the media what my main question primarily concerns about is how the media has failed to follow up on that on election eve rather I need your comments on election eve coverage of presidential candidacy and how sometimes you see a business review the Returns come in other times you see a lot of background media but not a whole lot of analysis I think especially since they've done so well with candidacies how come there isn't more background on these candidate well I'm not sure that I would agree with that I think there is a lot of analysis my quarrel there's a chapter in my book where I deal with the media's coverage of politics and elections and Lord knows there's enough of that coverage because it's one of the favorite stories of the press and so they thrust themselves into it they put a lot of resources into it a lot of staff and it's a heavily covered story there is analysis my quarrel is that there is not enough selective coverage there's not enough of the kind of analysis that you're talking about consistently and it often gets lost and buried in the minutiae and the repetitions and the herd coverage and that is I think the problem although I understand your concern I just think it's a more specific problem and I hope that if you do get a chance to read my book it'll come clearer to you what the real problem is that's what I said at the beginning of the show I think one of the real problems is many people have a sinister view of the press a conspiratorial view and when they read how things are covered and things are decided they would see where the fault may lie if there is fault but they would also see where the pressures are and how it is amazing some of the things the press can get it okay let's go now to Santa Monica California go ahead you're on c-span thank you very much I'm enjoying the program as everyone else is doing mr. Wolfson as he wants to find the well the rest of us seem to find the liberal media bias is very simple all he has to do is have his students put a checkmark on a piece of paper every time they hear the expression left-wing liberal and then on an opposite column every time they see right-wing conservative at the end of a week or a month you're gonna find a whole lot of right-wing conservatives and practically no left-wing liberal connotations because the press assumes the right-wing conservative but they just assumed also there is no left-wing liberal or it isn't referred to very often in that way it's a simple exercise it'll prove out in a week or a month at the most thank you I think this is one of the great misleading points about the press I'm sorry I'm going to diss agree with our caller often there are people who think of the press being too liberal there are political scientists who've analyzed this and others there have been surveys to show that supposedly but now there is a whole body of literature being beginning to come out and I write about this in my book that says this really isn't the case that no matter how a journalist might view things and how they might vote it doesn't show up in the way they report things and it is very misleading and I think people are often barking up the wrong tree in talking about the the sinister supposedly liberal press in fact there are other faults that you should question that you should zero into and I think that's a side road and a false path we're gonna continue with their calls but I want to tell you that up next will be the US Capitol tree lighting ceremony followed by stay tuned for a speech by Glenn Lawrie Harvard University professor the topic the crisis of black America and then tonight at 9:00 p.m. you'll find out who and who all the c-span viewers chose as the man of the year so if you want to find out stay tuned until 9:00 p.m. if that's Eastern Standard Time let's go now to Manhattan and a call from the east go ahead you I don't think he was fired but his column was dropped yes I remember his name after I said that but you're absolutely right as Sydney schanberg thank you for bringing it up I think the Man of the Year tonight it's now he ought to be Santa Claus obviously okay let's go back across the country probably a little bit colder climate now we're going to Everett Washington go ahead you're on c-span Louis I have a question for your guests do you perceive the press well does your book perceive the press as being having a more of a right-wing slant or a left-wing bias or being middle-of-the-road now I'll hang up and listen to your answer well I really don't talk a great deal about labeling which it is but as I just said I think that is it is a is a false path to say I know why there's problems with the news media because they're too much on the left and some people think they're too much on the right - I think the press is very much in the mainstream of American life and what is nothing not understood by people is it often reflects the general view the majority view in the country and in fact if you wanted to label it I think that's where you'd put it I think you'd put it in the middle conservative on some things maybe liberal on others ok and now back to Princeton is one thing I think what's often misunderstood is journalists and many of the ones that I know have a certain approach to life and to what their work and their career and how they cover things they have a passion for finding out what is wrong with the world and no one has raised this point but often people say the press is too negative and yes it is true journalists look for things that are wrong because they want to help people I mean that I think I know people are going to understand that and they're suspicious of journalists but in fact the journalists I know are very concerned about getting at the problems finding out what they are telling the public what is going on so that then we can go on and work out some solution to public problems my book talks about the question of whether they report enough about Paula how policies decided and how we decide the solutions I don't think we do ok let's now try it again we'll go to Princeton New Jersey go ahead hi no Washington then I'd like to ask two questions about aviation reporting a one directly has to do with this sort of heard instinct that's been mentioned earlier in the program when covering air crashes there doesn't seem to be as much attention paid to some of the details and although I will say that there has been some we see some progress in insofar as reporters explaining the investigative process in this now I would like to see what mr. Wilson thinks about the coverage of these kinds of disasters well you probably are up a better up on this than I am since you report on this or or involved in some way I think when you get a story that gets a lot of attention my sense of this is when you get a story that gets a lot of attention here then you find out a lot about it and if it's a visible story some will say it's a sensational story in some cases I level at that too but those the stories do get chronicled do get analyzed do get investigated others don't and that's the problem okay let's go now to Tucson Arizona a lot of calls from warm climates tonight this is great tucson arizona go ahead you're on c-span wonderful I heard reporters awesome the hands out hand out then the leaks and so forth are either self-serving or or have to do with political infighting and maybe embarrassing somebody or you know getting a higher position or getting rid of somebody and it seems to me is that if the people in the press know that the Train they would continue to do to report in that fashion and if I could quickly I'd also like to say as anyone features I am a the grammar used in the press we saw in Tucson in the past year or I thought a headline that went clear across the page a paper that said someone may have broke the law and I was appalled and I think that maybe journalists also might do a little more studying to Venus Kramer one of my students is working for the paper out there and I'm sure she didn't write that well we also said in defensive reporters it could have been a typesetter we always said that too I think your question is very good about handout reporting wife the reporters know this why do they continue to do it why do they let themselves be used and there's a variety of reasons and we obviously don't have the time to go into it there are pressures to get a story to get it in the paper or get it on television there are economic reasons why they have to go with things there are reasons why their superiors see certain kinds of stories but not others because they don't understand what goes on in Washington how it works there's a lot of reasons and they are prisoners of the system a good deal what I hope is that they can break free and I make recommendations in my book of ways to do this and among them art for example to educate editors and producers television producers and news directors more about how things work in Washington show them how it works so that they get a broader view of what goes on here and so that their reporters here get a chance to branch out more to get away from the press releases the thesis of my book is that if the press can break free of that break free of the breaking news more and they'll still be breaking news they'll still be handouts then they force officials to come out of the woodwork more to tell more and then the public understands better what goes on in government that's what my book is all about okay we're gonna yep change a call here we're going to go to Norfolk Virginia go ahead you're on c-span I want to wish you Merry Christmas penny and mr. Wilson thank you mr. Wilson you made a statement quite a while back that the crime seems to be what sells newspapers and here in Norfolk when you read the editorial page that people keep saying that they're tired of crime stories because there's an awful lot of good things going on that could be printed and after several these letters the editor come out and and made a big statement that crime does sell the newspapers but like here in Norfolk and most cities in America where there's only one newspaper I assume that 90% of the newspapers are sold by home delivery and very few were sold on the street so how can they say that crime sells newspaper when people automatically have it delivered to the house and asked not to have the crime stories and yet get it or seem to feel that it's mandatory to put crime on the front page well I think it's a subtler process than that in fact I know your paper down there I read it sometimes when I'm down there in the summertime and I think that there is a temptation to go for crime there's a knee-jerk reaction on the part of the press to do that sort of thing but I want to tell you you've got a lot to do to convince me that people don't want to read about that I think that is a problem I think editors have to make judgments not to go for necessarily for it I disagree I think people do want to read that sort of thing and you could fill your newspaper with that and you could fill the Evening News with that and often they do that for the wrong reasons but I think that is the problem and that editors have to say enough we have to keep this in perspective we have to show more about the community or it does get distorted and I sense that you and I do agree about that point okay we have time for one more call this one from Santa Rosa California go ahead good evening thank you for a good show I had a question I'd like to address to mr. Wolfson regarding what seems to be a problem when a reporter will instead of quoting someone he's interviewing we'll attribute of an opinion or point of view to them I had the problem where a while back I was being interviewed by a reporter in my company concerning how certain government regulations were going to affect our business and instead of quoting a very short sentence but I had to give him about a certain technical point he decided to change the wording around and attribute the idea in his words to me and it and he didn't understand the technical quality of the issue enough to do that very well in other words he he changed the technical meaning of what I had to say so that I couldn't claim it as my point of view and it seems like I have an uncertainty every time I read the story where a reporter has done this as to whether I can trust his ability to tell me what the person's point of view is rather than merely quoting the person okay quick answer reporters have to paraphrase sometimes it isn't perfect it doesn't come out the way you like it but boy everybody's had stories like that done about them I've had stories done about me that I said but I didn't say it that way it's out of context and all those sort of things and that's the process unfortunately it's imperfect but it also gets at the news in various they get at the news in various other ways just a real quick analysis of how you expect journalism to change in the next year five years to come well I'm very optimistic and I say in my book that 25 years ago the press was at a point where they moved from something called objectivity which is very sterile to interpretive reporting tell us some more about the background the news explaining things more I think they're now at a take-off point where they can really get into government reporters are brighter than ever editors are learning and I think the the readers and viewers are open to this want to know why they've got how their government okay thank you get it with that Lou Wilson thank you people I'm sure we'll look forward to reading your book the untapped power of the press do all of you have a very very happy holiday [Music] [Laughter] [Music] for more information about this program please feel free to write us at c-span 400 North Capitol Street Northwest suite one five five Washington DC - zero zero zero one [Music]