Mark Lorando, editor of nola.com, wrote an editorial in the T.P. dated 3/11 titled, WHY COMMENTS ARE TOO IMPORTANT TO KILL, AND HOW WE'RE MAKING THEM MORE CIVIL. Tim Morris editorial the same day titled, WHY DO SO MANY AMERICANS DISTRUST THE NEWS MEDIA? Both editorials took up a lot of space but never addressed the real problem and both related in some respect.
Lorando's opening statement asked the question: Is it time to kill the comments on nola.com? Lorando does not think so even though he states the problem is that not all commenters are interested in a civil, constructive conversation. Of course, he is right on target there. Nola.com is not "facebook" but is still a social media outlet.
The problem that Lorando does not address concerning uncivil comments is the fact that many commentaries written by journalists are uncivil to begin with and so invite uncivil comments in return by the reader. In many cases the readers know the facts ab out a subject matter that was reported on and the comment may not be in diplomatic language. There are also commentaries that journalists try to pass off opinions as facts that invite uncivil remarks. The larger problem that exist appears to be the type of articles written which do not represent the story of the moment but instead, the sound bite that is making the rounds.
This writer believes there would be more productive comments on social media if the articles were more productive and challenging than usual. An example is the news media continues to report the false claims about Hillary Clinton committing crimes concerning her email and Benghazi. Both were investigated by three federal committees controlled by republicans and no crimes were found to be committed. But the news media continue to run the story line every time the republicans open their mouth. And of course they still run with Trump's story line of "Crooked Hillary." I wonder if some one commented "Crooked Trump" would Lorando consider that to be uncivil? There are many more stories just like Clintons carried on social media.
As for Tim Morris' commentary, the answer is easy. Part of the answer is the same as above. The news media is out of touch with the real issues most of the time because they have too much idle time to fill and do so with stories that have no real bearing on what really matters and makes a difference for the country and its people.
Morris, a Trump supporter tried to put former Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton in the same class with President Trump as being liars because they told lies about the Viet Nam War, Watergate and an affair. Not even close because only Trump is a serial liar in both his short political life and his corrupt private life. Morris is one of several journalists who like to link other people to Trump when Trump finds himself in trouble. In fact they like to use the words "alternate facts, exaggerations and fake news" when talking about Trump's lies. Morris' opinion column appeared in the March 4 issue of the T.P.
How can people trust the media when the NRA and many in congress take the most liberal view of the 2nd amendment and say all should be able to buy a firearm and that gun control does not work. There is much evidence to the contrary that the media could respond with but they go with the flow of the NRA and many elected officials.
A good example is a commentary in the T.P. of 3/11 which was written by a reporter from Bloomberg news. He reports that the state of Massachusetts is a leading state in gun manufacturing but the state has strict gun control laws including an assault weapons ban and the lowest shooting death rate. The Times Picayune should have reported that type of information after the Florida school shooting to balance out the facts compared to the status quo answers of the NRA and the gun lobby at the time of the shooting.
The bottom line is there are just so many stories out there where the news media could offer rebuttal for the people to digest but just go with one side of the story and that is all the public hears. And the Louisiana news media is the worse. They are still trying to sell the public that the republican party is the best on fiscal matters, even after the 8 year fiscal mess Jindal left the state that is still taking a toll on the people and state services.
Trust will come to the news media when they earn it.
Note: This writer is a subscriber to the Times Picayune paper and has been so for over 30 years. The paper is smaller and smaller with less news than ever before thanks to their promotion of the paper on line. Online is what the company is promoting and the news via the paper has been lost. The Picayune should be devoting time to making the paper a better publication for the news that really matters and makes a difference.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
