TODAY'S LESSON: MONEY GOOD, TRUTH BAD
April 19, 2023I'm sorry.
I've tried, and I've tried, and I've tried, and then I tried some more. And the more I tried, the more I realized that I just couldn't do it.
I simply cannot see the Fox-Dominion settlement as any kind of real "victory." Okay, sure, Dominion's pocket book will be a little thicker and Fox's a little leaner - but other than that, what was accomplished?
Nothing.
That became obvious the moment Fox released that ridiculous statement about their "continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards."
Yeah, sure. If they got their degrees at the Paul Joseph Goebbels School of Journalism.
Good grief, Jake Tapper couldn't keep a straight face reading that statement on the air...
That Dominion lawyer can thump his chest and bellow until the cows come home about "consequences." The only consequence we see here is that Fox doesn't have to admit it did anything wrong, and thus gets to keep operating in its capacity as America's self-appointed Ministry of Propaganda.
The only moral to the story is that if you have enough money, you'll get a slap on the wrist and be sent back out onto the playground to misbehave again.
That's not the way I remember my parents teaching it, but then Mom and Dad suffered at times from a nasty strain of idealism.
Yesterday's settlement was a great day for Dominion's bank account and Fox's hubris. But it was a sad, sad day for American democracy.
Of course, as that legal expert interviewed on CBS Mornings said today, this was never about democracy.
And that's precisely the problem. It should have been.
So there's our lesson for today, kids: Money Good, Truth Bad.
I've tried, and I've tried, and I've tried, and then I tried some more. And the more I tried, the more I realized that I just couldn't do it.
I simply cannot see the Fox-Dominion settlement as any kind of real "victory." Okay, sure, Dominion's pocket book will be a little thicker and Fox's a little leaner - but other than that, what was accomplished?
Nothing.
That became obvious the moment Fox released that ridiculous statement about their "continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards."
Yeah, sure. If they got their degrees at the Paul Joseph Goebbels School of Journalism.
Good grief, Jake Tapper couldn't keep a straight face reading that statement on the air...
That Dominion lawyer can thump his chest and bellow until the cows come home about "consequences." The only consequence we see here is that Fox doesn't have to admit it did anything wrong, and thus gets to keep operating in its capacity as America's self-appointed Ministry of Propaganda.
The only moral to the story is that if you have enough money, you'll get a slap on the wrist and be sent back out onto the playground to misbehave again.
That's not the way I remember my parents teaching it, but then Mom and Dad suffered at times from a nasty strain of idealism.
Yesterday's settlement was a great day for Dominion's bank account and Fox's hubris. But it was a sad, sad day for American democracy.
Of course, as that legal expert interviewed on CBS Mornings said today, this was never about democracy.
And that's precisely the problem. It should have been.
So there's our lesson for today, kids: Money Good, Truth Bad.
Posted by John Allen Small. Posted In : Opinion
John A. Small is an award-winning newspaper journalist, columnist and broadcaster whose work has been honored by the Oklahoma Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press, the National Newspaper Association, and the Oklahoma Education Association. He and his wife Melissa were married in 1986; they have two sons, Joshua Orrin (born 1991) and William Ian (born 1996).
Mr. Small is the News Editor and columnist for the Johnston County Capital-Democrat, a weekly newspaper headquartered in Tishomingo, OK. He obtained his nickname, "Bard of the Lesser Boulevards," from a journalism colleague - the late Phil Byrum - in recognition of the success of his popular newspaper column, "Small Talk." (In addition to the many awards the column itself has received over the years, a radio version of "Small Talk" earned an award for "Best Small Market Commentary" from the Society of Professional Journalists in 1998.)
John was born in Oklahoma City in 1963; lived in the Bradley-Bourbonnais-Kankakee area of Illinois for most of the next 28 years (with brief sojourns in Texas and Athens, Greece, thrown in to break up the monotony); then returned to his native state in 1991, where he currently resides in the Tishomingo/Ravia area. He graduated from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School in 1981, and received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais in 1991. The years between high school and college were a period frought with numerous exploits and misadventures, some of which have become the stuff of legend; nobody was hurt along the way, however, which should count for something.
In addition to his professional career as a journalist he has published two short story collections: "Days Gone By: Legends And Tales Of Sipokni West" (2007), a collection of western stories; and "Something In The Air" (2011), a more eclectic collection. He was also a contributor to the 2005 Locus Award-nominated science fiction anthology "Myths For The Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe," edited by Win Scott Eckert. In additon he has written a stage play and a self-published cookbook; served as project editor for a book about the JFK assassination entitled "The Men On The Sixth Floor"; and has either published or posted on the Internet a number of essays, stories and poems.
He has also won writing awards from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National Library of Poetry. He is a past president of the Johnston County Chamber of Commerce in Tishomingo; was a charter member and past president of the Johnston County Reading Council, the local literacy advocacy and "friends of the library" organization; served as Johnston County's first-ever Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator in 1994-95; served two terms as chairman of the Johnston County (OK) Democratic Party; and has taught journalism classes for local Boy Scout Merit Badge Fairs. He is a member of the New Wold Newton Meteorics Society.
