Transition to post modern journalism

Mike Wallace passed away at nearly a week ago. He was a pioneer in the news interview business. He was arrogant, egomaniacal, aggressive, intelligent, assertive, and didn’t take no for an answer during his interviews. I bring Mike Wallace up because he represents a post modernist approach to the telling of the news. Wallace pioneered 60 Minutes in the nineteen sixties and it continues even today. Why is he post modernist? It is not really his doing. The fault lies within a predecessor’s actions - Edward R. Morrow. Morrow broke with the tradition of telling the news when he challenged the junior Senator from Wisconsin - Joe McCarthy. McCarthy accused many American of being communist infiltrators into the American government. This destroyed lives. Families. To even be accused of being a communist left a stigma which even the highest economic level of American in ruins. Murrow took the opportunity to break away from his colleagues and used his show to publicly challenge McCarthy and his accusations. Before this action, the news served as served solely as a reporting function for our society. Murrow’s challenge of McCarthy was the breaking moment where the news agencies transcended into the post modernist era of journalism. You have only to look at the current news agencies to find whether this has become the truth. Granted, there is still Frontline and other sorts of agencies conducting news in a reporter style fashion. However, Ted Koppel is a prime example of Murrow’s legacy. Nightline which Koppel helmed for over two decades was a forum used to interview people of the day. Mike Brown - the head of F.E.M.A. was considered a punching bag by pundits including Brian WIlliams of N.B.C. news. Brown didn’t have a reasonable answer as to why FEMA responded so poorly during the events directly after Hurricane Katrina passed through the gulf region. Koppel went to work. Relentless questions. Not taking “no” or “I don’t know” for a answer propelled the fact that Mike Brown was incompetent and more important - a crony in the Bush administration. Brown was subsequently “replaced.”

Was the transition a bad one? Interesting question. Yes and no. Is the news being told? Yes. However, It is being told from a subjective perspective. Fox News is the conservative view. MSNBC is the liberal view. Pundits have made a career out of stating their opinion (some of which lack quality and or education - see Tea Party). The news has become entertainment - with corporate sponsors. They still tell the truth but more than likely refrain from doing in depth stories of said sponsors due to the obvious conflict of interest.

Mike Wallace was the poster boy for this idea. He did tell the news through interviews. He also made himself part of the story with his candor and temper. In the modern age of  journalism - broadcasters would speak into a micro phone and relay facts to the public. Things have changed to the point where the news can be interpreted on the air by pundits with differing prospectives. You only need to watch to understand this process. It occurs daily. Murrow and Wallace were pioneers. They told the news, then became part of the news. That is the where the transition to post modernist journalism occurred. Was it a good one? Yes, and no.