Ted Koppel Tells Us Why the Media Fails to Cover the Real Issues

Lots of speeches and talk about the middle class and healthcare and taxes, but too often the perspectives of working people are missing from the debate and the media coverage. So we're happy to be here be covering the convention with SEIU, the Service Employees International Union. SEIU understands that these issues need to be featured in new and different ways -- reaching beyond the headlines and bringing forward stories and perspectives that highlight and celebrate the voices of working people and the issues at the forefront of their lives during this historic election.

And don't just take it from us. Last night we had a chance to speak with Ted Koppel inside the convention center. One of the Deans of American journalism told us that the mainstream media is too distracted by what's immediate to cover what's important.

For more Huffington Post coverage from the Democratic National Convention, visit our Politics @ the DNC page, our Democratic Convention Big News Page, and our HuffPost bloggers' Twitter feed, live from Denver.

Comments

[flipbiscut24]

Ted Koppel is a tool ....... of the media owners, and has been for years.

You can bet if their face is on TV, they are towing the party lie ... errr, I mean line, and dancing to the man behind the curtain and his music.

The game is rigged.

Everyone on TV is in on the game.

It's all sewed up, nice and tight.

Good cop/Bad cop.

Americans only have each other now, as the entire media is run by liars and thieves of the most scoundrelous kind.

[Labsmim]

I am so proud to know that there are other people like me .... MSM is sickening with all of the "sound bites" and " what Obama needs to do" crap. I am sick of hearing Dick Gregory ask "who is this guy, we still don't know who Obama is ". All of this non-sense panders to the folks that will not vote for Obama anyway. I want to hear about the issues , healthcare , jobs, the deficit --- what does Obama and McCain have to say, not what the candidates eat or where the wives buy their clothes. Give me a break. Let McCain explain his healthcare plan of $5000 tax credit, will Americans have to pay taxes on their employers's part,. Nothing significant comes out of the Mccain camp except smears against Obama according to the MSM

[BraveWarrior]

Let's see the Republican nominee, a hawkish US senator, was on the phone, before, during and after the Georgian assault with the president of Georgia. Not one journalist or newspaper has questioned McCain , or his foreign policy expert , a lobbyist for Georgia about the nature of their conversations. Condi tells us she warned against provoking Russia yet will never be asked why the subject came up or why she had to. The Georgians say that 'western intelligence' did not predict such a strong response,- who had asked them? No one reports on what the mission of the American and Israeli trainers could have been. It is beginning to smell like a world class cover-up. Could have the too clever Bushies have stumbled into the worldwide humiliation for the 'paper tiger'? Are they so desperate to hang on to power to protect so many ugly secrets from seeing the light of day?

[CharlesJ]

One of the Deans of American journalism told us that the mainstream media is too distracted by what's immediate to cover what's important.

Sounds like it is more about ratings then what is truly important. If there is something immediately available regardless of the truth and honesty about it, the MSN is all over it. They very very rarely attempt to debunk anything that is obviously an out right lie, and then end up covering it as a lie if and when they are forced into the corner of no choice but to debunk the lie rarely stating the facts or producing the evidence that debunks the lie. Such a shame in my book.

[Epicuran]

The last semblance of a true MSM journalist is Koppel now that Russert is gone. We can lament that fact, but in reality the public will get what it demands (deserves) from the media; just as it will from our government.

[PurplePhase]

You are correct.

It's sad that his wisdom falls on too many deaf ears.

We need to have news organizations back in the hands of corporations not run by other corporations. The media needs to be an industry of its own and independent of all other industries. The pubic isn't served well when the MSM is owned by fairy tale vendors (Disney), appliance makers (GE), dream factories (studios), and other non-related companies.

We also need to eliminate the common misconception that infotainment is news. It's not.

[raker]

Russert was not a journalist. He was a political operative turned TV personality turned political operative. Meet the Press is a place for Republicans to launch the week's talking points—kind of a TV version of The Washington Post. The thing is, there is not a single news program on TV worth watching and there hasn't been for a long time. Punditry is not news. Neither are viewer polls. Neither is Hollywood news of any kind including movie grosses. That just about covers the TV news universe.

[PurplePhase]

Russert started as a journalist and ended up nothing like one. He favored Republicans but gave opportunities to others. He was one of the very few who gave Ron Paul extensive time to make his case.

I grew up in the old days when we respected media members with gray hair, wrinkles, and lengthy tenures. We felt more confident with their reports. We didn't always agree with them but we listened. Now the tables turned and those with long tenures especially in the Washington Beltway are scorned and disrespected just like the politicians they cover, if not worse. I wouldn't object if term limits were imposed on Washington journalists but who could enforce that and networks "sell" their images to enough viewers. As far as I am concerned, the likes of Sam Donaldson, Baba Wawa, Bill Kristol, Cockie Roberts, George Will, Dan Rather (gone) and others overstayed their welcome on the Washington scene. Commentators are worse. These days we can hardly tell their real age with beauty treatments, botox, makeup and cosmetic surgeries for both genders.

The only current long term journalists I care for include Helen Thomas, Charlie Rose, Ted Koppel, Jeff Greenfield, Brian Lamb and his people at C-SPAN, and Bill Moyers, Jim Lehrer et al at PBS. Some journalists at NPR are pretty good too. C-SPAN, PBS, and NPR are non-profit or near that. All three need funding but they don't dance to the tune of sponsors like the other networks.

[praxitas]

as bad as the networks may be, they are far better than cable news. turners hypotesis that time was the constraining factor in broad and deep news coverage has been proven wrong. the problems is that news is seen now as entertinment and is measured by the same cost profit metric. the cable stations are then confronted with how this profit ratio can be improved (in order to sell more and costlier advertising) so 2 things happen. first, since real news costs time and money to research and produce, they cut these costs by filling the hours with endless loops of th same or trivia. loops are cheaper to produce (next to nothng) than new content. second, they figure that the best way to increase viewership is by either hyping everything into urgent breaking news, or by poaching on the entertainment and gossip medias turf. basically, assuming the american audience was interested in international news and/or in deapts analysis etc. there is probably (from a cost standpoint only) room for one 24 hour cable chanel, which would depend on information from affiliates across the world, unless of course they consider independent reporting, etc. which would leave room for deliberate mischief or fraud. its depressing.

[dadw5boys]

Jobs will come back to the USA after Bushco and the Republicans are out.

[jmpurser]

Don't bet on it.

[UnknownSoldier]

The Jobs were leaving before BushCo took over, The Crime Family (shout to Mike Malloy) just accelerated the process.

[ndem]

Thanks for this Stuart! And Ted! What is so disturbing is that even serious newsmen and women cannot get their voices heard except through these alternative citizen reporting sites...this is seriously disturbing.

[darker]

It is seriously disturbing that REPUBLICAN CORPORATIONS OWN THE MEDIA.
Distration is their chronic tactic to screw around with AMERICAN MINDS.

Americans BELIEVE THE MEDIA. We will have another BUSH-MCBUSH in the
White House if we don't watch out!

Vote for COMMON SENSE: Obama-Biden.

[chinohillster]

If the people of the United States _truly_ wanted ACTUAL NEWS coverage, _AMY GOODMAN_ would be the anchor on CBS/NBC/NBC/CNN/MSNBC/insert-name-of-network-here!

But....Ms. Goodman has more journalism in the tip of her little finger than the entire MSM has in its collective person - and, horrible dictu, she isn't (a) perky (b) 'young' or (c) a "bubbleheaded bleach blonde" (courtesy of Don Henley....)

[Einstein44]

It seems that yellow journalism is ruling and ruining our country.

[kroses98]

But Koppel was a part of this "yellow journalism" when he was on ABC!!!!!!!!

[biglover]

Yes he was and don't let us forget. He lead every night of Nightline with the Lewinsky story.

[lvogt]

His analysis may apply to Nightly news but the cable networks have 24 hours to fill so they don't have to repeat themselves every 15 minutes which is what they do. They are enamored of the process itself which is fine but it get's pretty tiresome.

The absolute, most pointless commentary for the last month was the endless drivel about who will be VP. Empty, mindnumbing speculation. Just tell me when someone decides.

The worst question asked is always... "So, what's going to happen?" Either they don't know or it's obvious. In any case it's pointless. Can't they think of anything that might inform us about the issues even within the context of the horse race?

[LeftLeaner]

I, "TOO", "COMPLETELY" blame the Media with their "PREOCCUPATION" with trivia.

If I want entertainment and fluff I'll watch Access Hollywood, and the like.

All the MSM does is cover tabloidesque issues or covers he said/she said matters.

"THEY" drive the message, and the message is GARBAGE.

I'll watch C-SPAN or Lou Dobbs if I want to be informed and hear the "NEWS"

Everyone else is into gotcha journalism.

It's ALL "THEIR" fault that the public is being limited to real news coverage.

[IndependentAllways]

Gosh, I was agreeing completely until you said Lou Dobbs...ugh! He is surely on one of the biggest and longest ego trips I've seen in a long while and he just won't get off that trip.

Apart from that I agree totally.

[CitizenInformed]

It would be wonderful if C-SPAN, or even PBS, ratings tied or surpassed the sensationalistic convention (or other news) coverage by other stations. That would send a strong message that the public wants substantive coverage. If C-SPAN or PBS coverage ever did tie or surpass the others, wonder if that would be publicly announced. The big corps may want to keep that one a secret.

[erykah]

News is about sensationalism not substance.

[Chavez08]

It's more than that. The MSM always seems to find a "Human Story" that has to do with anything except the corporate attack on the working-class in general.

There are plenty of juicy stories or subjects out there regarding the plight of the American worker.

- Companies that punish workers with non-compete clauses. They fire workers and also prevent them to work for other employers

- Carple (sp?) tunnel syndrome

- Using credit scores to filter candidates

- Employers bullying employees about their political views

- Forcing employees to train their replacements, then firing them without notice

Don't tell me these stories aren't at least as "sexy" as Jenna Bush's wedding photos or bad airplane food!

[AdobePhsyko]

Ted Nailed It.
Solutions for our countries problems can NOT be summed up in 2 sentences or a "Catch Phrase".
The ONLY people who want COMPLETE answers are the PBS crowd and they make up a Tiny percentage of the country.

This country can ONLY get back on track by educating the next generation. Maybe they can fix it before it's too late.

[RTIII]

With the DeFunding of PBS - and the subsequent replacement of those funds by corporations as PBS is forced to air commercials - has meant that PBS has become more and more like corporate television with each passing day. You no longer hear certain kinds of stories there. PAY ATTENTION.

We MUST return to full funding for PBS as only one small part of a restoration of our media to its rightful place as the "fourth estate." Remember; You cannot have a working democracy without a working media.
.

[PurplePhase]

I watched the funding changes in PBS and it's not as bad as you imply. Corporate sponsors are not the sole funders of PBS. PBS still gets funding from private donors.

A true non-profit news organization funded by subscribers only leads to fewer conflicts of interest. However, gathering news on major issues and stories is not cheap these days and as you know, many PBS viewers don't contribute.

Even with corporate sponsors partly funding PBS, it has advantages over the MSM because:

- PBS is not owned by a corporation
- PBS isn't a publicly traded company on a stock exchange
- PBS doesn't have a profit motive like publicly traded corporations
- PBS staff aren't glamorized as media celebrities like many MSM anchors and anchorettes
- PBS informs viewers when a segment is a report, essay, analysis, commentary or an update
- PBS explores fewer issues but in greater depth and usually with participation of those with dissimilar interests and POVs.
- PBS edits stories, something sources of instant news don't do. Editing significantly improves the quality of news. Accurate news presented later is better than erroneous, incomplete or misleading instantaneous "breaking news".
- PBS involves participation of journalists from other news sources, even if some are competitors

It's unfortunate many viewers prefer infotainment. It's also unfortunate that our schools fail miserably in educating children on the importance of history, geography, civics and other subjects so useful in understanding current events. Jay Walking is a painful reminder of such