My political leanings? I think it's best that I quote Jackson Browne, a musician whose music I don't cotton to but seemed to hit where I stand on the political spectrum when he said (I think): "I'm not a Democratic/Ain't no Republican."
Ultimately, however, when it comes to media-bashing, which the right does a lot more than the left even though (and forgive me for the cliche) both sides do it, I am on the side of the media. As long as they do an honest of covering the stories of our time, and reporting the facts, I don't care if the people who get embarrassed are conservatives or liberals. They need to pay for what they did, and it's the job of journalists to expose the truth for all of us to see.
I would -- and should -- highlights instances where reporters report on Republican malfeasance -- which, God knows, is a lot. But I have to admit that when it's a left-leaning side that's shutting down the calling of journalism, I really take it personally. That's the case on Monday at the University of Missouri, where increasingly vocal dissent from African-American students over the handling (more like non-handling) of several racial incidents over the fall semester -- including a possible walk-out by the Missouri football team from Saturday's very big game against BYU, which is being held not at their Faurot Field by at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City -- resulted in the ouster of both the Mizzou President and the University of Missouri school systems Chancellor.
On its face that seems to be a victory for the power of the people. What happened next, however, really pisses me off. Apparently in the wake of the news of these two ousters, an organization that was one of the leaders of the student dissent, Concerned Students 1950, gathered at the school quad. A student reporter was there to cover it. Allegedly Concerned Students 1950 did not want him there. They were chanting, "Hey hey, ho ho, (these) reporters have got to go."
Then, a communications professor by the name of Melissa Click got in the face of this student reporter, who had a camera recording this gathering, and then asked for "muscle" to get him out of there. This is the same prof who, a few days ago, tweeted that they wanted the media at Mizzou to publicize what was going on there and what the movement she is helping was planning to do force the resignation of the President.
There appears to be a long-simmering atmosphere of racial tension at Missouri; incidents this semester, including the drawing of a swastika in feces on a dorm, appeared to be the final straw. That is what the media is covering, and should be covering. So for Concerned Students 1950 and for this Professor Click to tell this reporter that he can't do this and getting someone to physically shove him away, when 1) this professor demanding media coverage and 2) this cub journalist had a right to be there, is revolting. We, the people, have a right to know just what the hell is going on, and they have no right to censor and distort coverage to fit their means. Physical abuse, of course, is a low blow.
Charlie Pierce is a person I look to for this, even though he is a tad too liberal for me. He was very level-headed in his opinion piece, even though I think he misses the mark on this one because I do not want to be level-headed on this. People whose line of thinking I'm more tuned in with are in, of all things, an Internet comments section, the one below Pierce's essay. Thanks specifically go to Greg Hilliard, Patrice Connelly, Joshua Gutoff and Steve Jones. They all laud the ability of these students to force such powerful change while haranguing and ridiculing their censorship of the media. And they, above all, support the role of journalism in covering our world and reporting on the facts, and understand that it does not matter who those facts may make look bad.
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