Media Disguised as Journalism

Veteran journalist Soledad O’Brien painted a damning portrait of the current media landscape in her prepared testimony for a February 24, 2021 hearing in the House Energy & Commerce Committee Communications Subcommittee on the role of traditional media in promoting disinformation and extremism.

O'Brien pointed out that she has been an anchor and reporter for more than three decades, and for local TV, national broadcast network TV and cable, for NBC, CNN, HBO. and currently hosts a weekly syndicated political magazine show for Hearst, Matter of Fact, and heads her own production company.

Saying she has her feet planted "firmly" on that media landscape, the view from her vantage is that "Media disguised as journalism has been spreading lies for years, elevating liars, and using the ensuing slugfest to chase ratings, hits, subscriptions and advertisers. Period. Fullstop."

She said the elevation of liars has accelerated on radio, broadcast and especially cable TV, "repeating and reenergizing lies that harm all of us," including by setting the stage for "an alarmingly xenophobic and racist narrative."

She said that was the result of what Michael Rich, CEO of Rand Corp., had called "truth decay," or the "diminishing role of facts and analysis in public life." She ascribed the beginning of that decay to the wounding, perhaps mortally, of local newspapers by emerging free social media and the decline of advertising support for traditional media.

Then there is the migration from reporter to entertainer on cable news with "conventional reporters and anchors, the so-called professionals, start[ing] to behave like conspiracy theorists." Her criticism was aimed at both right and left-leaning media. "When news organizations make decisions based on ratings rather than responsible reporting, disinformation flourishes," she wrote.

She also said the talking heads on the broadcast Sunday public affairs shows are not "in the least" representative of the public, nor are the media, "isolated in coastal cities, disconnected from poor and working class people of all colors, hosting newsrooms with scant diversity of anything -- race,

However, sge does not think the answer is government regulation. "Let me be clear. Congress can’t, and shouldn’t, regulate journalism in defiance of the First Amendment," she said, adding: "It’s enough that Congress underfunds and politicizes public media even as it strives to bring basic news to scores of communities big and small."

Her advice to the media:
1. Don't book liars
2. Get out of the office and interview people all over the country.
3. Stop suggesting each story has two sides when it might have many sides, and give history and context
4. But don't give every perspective a platform, i.e.: "Balance does not mean giving voice to liars, bigots and kooks."
5. Stop talking diversity and start hiring
6. Keep the opinion out of the "reportorial voice"
7. Objectivity is an open mind, not a lack of judgment

In closing, she said "America trusts us to deliver accurate, unbiased information, the grist of democracy, the stuff that enables us to have intelligent and accurate conversations with our neighbors, to cast an informed vote, and to make thoughtful decisions about everything, from the products we buy to whether we should vaccinate our children against a deadly plague. Bad information, wrong information, racist and crazy and cruel information hurts and even kills. But only if we let it."

SOURCE:nexttv.com/news/soledad-obrien-paints-damning-portrait-of-media-disguised-as-journalism

Soledad O'Brien Interview - Rolling Stone

Longform interview by Jamil Smith for Rolling Stone talking with Soledad O'Brien about race and gender in media, covering Trump, and the role of social media in journalism.

What’s Wrong and Right With the Media

In a wide-ranging and detailed interview, Soledad O'Brien spoke with nymag.com about the state of the media in America.

One Q&A exchange:

Just because you’re a black person in the newsroom doesn’t mean you want to single-handedly wage battle against white America’s preconceptions. So just hiring black people in itself isn’t even enough. There’s only so far you can push without risking your job.

And it’s also exhausting. By the way, you take your career in your hands every time you do it. I get it. I really understand why people don’t want to fight the narrative. Your career will end. I am telling you. You become a pain in the ass. Because you’re the one who says, “So, I just want to say …” And listen, I believe this happens in corporate America all the time. I’m sure there are a million executives who will tell you, right, you suck it up, and you suck it up, and then one day see something, and you’re like, “Okay, I’ve got to say something now,” and then you couch it very carefully. “So, I’m not criticizing anybody, and I’m sure this is just completely an oversight, I just might want to go back and maybe …” That’s what it’s about, and it’s exhausting to operate like that. And listen, the more that you have power — certainly I did when I was anchoring a show — you can say, “No, I’m not doing that. I’m not reading this.” But most people don’t have that opportunity. And even I don’t have that opportunity to a certain degree. I can do it to a certain level, but I certainly can’t do it all the time. You’re just always very careful. A person who pushes back against the narrative is a pain. That person is annoying. That person slows down the meeting. Even bosses who say, “I really want to make sure that there’s someone who’s comfortable telling me ‘No,’ ” they’re usually not. They usually do not like that person. Nobody likes that person. That person is a pain, I am telling you. So if you do that, you absolutely take your life and your career in your hands.

O'Brien Tells Students To Seek Truth in Media

Soledad O’Brien advised students at De Anza College in California to seek truth in media

“If you were in fact to drop dead tomorrow would there be people who talked about who you were? Not your title, but who you were as a human being? Real value cannot fit on a balance sheet. Real value is if you are creating something that’s meaningful.”

“I believe stories matter. I believe building trust with an audience matters. We can use the platform to tell real stories and have real debates and make people uncomfortable at times and give real information and do what we should do. Dig up those untold stories about who we are: as individuals, as people and as a nation.”

O’Brien left CNN in June2013 and created Starfish Media Group, a media company and distributor to fulfill her desire to focus on stories of people rather than what she calls "fluff" in much of TV news.

“Even though there’s tons to report on in poverty, education, prison reform, those stories don’t get on because there’s this beard story or this skating squirrel they think we should end with. That’s the reality of it.”

O’Brien also talked from the perspective of being the CEO of Starfish. “My biggest regret is that I never took an accounting class,” O’Brien said. “If you have any interest at all in doing anything independently, understand accounting and understand finance. Understand your value. Do great work. Charge people for your work.”

SOURCE: http://lavozdeanza.com

Soledad O'Brien interviews rapper and actress Eve for The XX Project,

From left: XX Project founder Michelle Edgar, Eve and Soledad O'Brien

Soledad O'Brien interviewed rapper/actress Eve as part of a monthly series hosted by The XX Project, an invitation-only group of professional women in various media industries. Soledad facilitated the discussion with rapper, songwriter and actress, Eve, who discussed her accomplishments in a male-dominated industry.

The XX Project was founded by Michelle Edgar, founder and executive director of Music Unites, an organization providing music educational opportunities to underprivileged, inner-city school students. Michelle is also the VP of business development for New Era Media & Marketing.

O'Brien is herself a role model and CEO of production company Starfish Media Group and a supporter of women's success in areas where they're otherwise underrepresented.

A Conversation with Soledad O'Brien & Callie Crossley

A conversation with Soledad O'Brien & Callie Crossley will occur on Thursday, May 02, 2013 at 6:00pm EDT at Harvard University.

Soledad O'Brien, Award-winning broadcast journalist and Harvard College ’88 and Callie Crossley, host of  Under the Radar on WGBH-FM and Institute of Harvard Politics Resident Fellow (2002) will discuss the media and African-American issues at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University.

You can also watch this event online at http://forum.iop.harvard.edu/content/conversation-soledad-obrien-callie-crossley at the scheduled date and time.

The John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Institute of Politics is Harvard University’s premier arena for political speech, discussion and debate. Located at the heart of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, the Forum regularly hosts heads of state; leaders in politics, government, business, labor and the media; academics; community organizers; and artists.