Howard Kurtz asked David Gergen if the Newsweek debacle is going to “become part of the pantheon of media blunders that get recited here?” And Gergen said yes, of course:
| GERGEN: I’m afraid that it will become not only in the pantheon, but one of the leading examples, and even a tipping point in the public’s view of the media. You know, the polls have gone down and down about public trust in the media. Almost half the public now thinks that the media tends to be un-American or anti-American. You know, two-thirds of the people in one poll say they don’t — they think the media is always slanted in its reporting, and this is only going to — it’s only going to drive those numbers in the wrong direction further. And so much so that it’s one of these moments that I think is really — it just gets burned into the public memory bank. It’s what’s needed now, Howard, in my judgment is that the Rick Smith’s effort to raise standards at “Newsweek” now needs to be followed by other news organizations coming together and trying to see if they can’t agree upon some standard of ethics and reporting responsibility that would play across the board. |
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