Michael and I are not on the same page politically and won't be anytime soon. It's probably accurate to say that he's as far to the right as I am to the left, although neither of us is part of the loony fringe. In this age when so many people define themselves through the political fads that speak to them, he has been invaluable in making me actually think about what I might otherwise assume.
Last week, he called my attention to an item on the Fox News website about the Daily News and Will Bunch, its opinionated Attytood blogger. The point of the story was that Bunch, while covering the Occupy Wall Street protests, was also filing for Media Matters, which the reporter describes as an "anti-Fox News media group." The story is calmly written and thorough, although it doesn't really deal with the complicated ethical issues it seems to.
My first knee-jerk reaction is to note that the thoroughly besooted Fox pot is calling a smaller pot black, and that Media Matters could be seen as a valuable watchdog of many of Fox's wilder moments. After all, is there a mention of who is paying speaking fees to Fox News stars on its website, or a notation of the source of their remarkably similar talking points? If Bunch is reporting favorably on Occupy Wall Street through his Twitter feed, is that comparable to Fox News' virtually creating the tea party and sometimes even hosting its events?
But then I stopped to think about what exactly constitutes disclosure and how journalism depends on trust, at least partially, because I knew I'd soon be discussing these ideas with Michael.
I'm not much on conspiracy theories, believing that they are a lazy way for people to explain the inexplicable without challenging their own assumptions. I'm also a believer that a journalist can have opinions and express them clearly and loudly, as long as there is relevant disclosure.
