Mark Halperin: "The Mary Mapes’ of the world are ruining it for the rest of us, and they are the dominant majority."
1) Halperin admits to not ever voting for a President and that reporters "can’t have political views." In fact, "it’s a sacrifice that any sane and rational reporter should make."
HH: Before we press on to the specifics, we’ve got to get our plumb lines down, Mark Halperin. We’ve got to locate you on the political map somewhere, so the people will know how to adjust for the lie of the green. Did you vote for Kerry or Bush last time around?
MH: I believe that if you are a reporter covering politics, in America today, certainly, and probably I’d have the same view in the past, I think it’s important to try to restore credibility to the media, what we call the old media. And that requires doing what…the metaphor I used to use was we’ve got to be like Catholic priests and give up sex. But that metaphor’s lost some of its currency. We have to step away from politics. We can’t have political views. So I don’t discuss my political views. I don’t discuss…I will say, somewhat controversial in the minds of some, I don’t vote, because I think that just opens up the question of how can I say I’m being objective, and fighting for truth, if I’m making a decision about who to vote for in a presidential race.
HH: So you’ve never voted in a presidential race?
MH: No. I just don’t think...I think it’s a sacrifice. I urge everybody else to. I think it’s incredibly important. I think it’s a sacrifice that any sane and rational reporter should make.
HH: I think it’s silly. I mean, because after all, you still like one better than the other.
MH: No, I really don’t. I like everybody I cover, and I dislike everybody I cover, and I try to do it in equal proportion. Here’s…think of this logically. If I were voting in a presidential election, if I were doing it conscientiously, I would have to reach some hard conclusions about who I thought would be a better president. That…if I were running for president, and I was being interviewed by a reporter who was making a judgment about whether to vote for me or not, I would find it disconcerting. I would know…and if I were a Republican, I would suspect they would be voting Democratic. I just don’t think it’s appropriate, if you’re covering presidential politics, to put yourself in the position, in both actuality in your head, and in appearance, that you’re going to weigh in. Plenty of other people in America vote, everyone should vote. I think the country can survive if the 180 of us who cover presidential campaigns understand the objectivity we must get to, if we’re going to restore faith and trust in these news organizations.
2) He was a "slacker" in college and didn't vote then, either.
HH: We’ll come back to that vanity in a little bit. But first, let’s go back then before you were a reporter. 1984 is your first vote, if I’ve got this right. You were at Harvard at that time, so you were eligible to vote. Were you a Mondale guy or a Reagan guy?
MH: I didn’t vote.
HH: In 1984? This is before you were a reporter.
MH: I was unconscientious. A college student.
HH: You were a slacker?
MH: I was a slacker.
3) Halperin says that "many" of his colleagues at ABC are "liberal on a range of issues" and "the reality of how that affects media coverage, is outrageous." Furthermore, "I think having views and expressing them is a dangerous thing. I have opinions and thoughts, but I think talking about them is only bad for America."
HH: All right. Now let’s…then let’s put the plumb lines down on issues. Are you pro-choice?
MH: Hugh, it’s the same thing on issues as it is on candidates. I don’t think it’s appropriate, if you’re going to cover these things, to talk about views. I will say this, Hugh. I will say that many people I work with in ABC, and other old media organizations, are liberal on a range of issues. And I think the ability of that, the reality of how that affects media coverage, is outrageous, and that conservatives in this country for forty years have felt that, and that it’s something that must change. But what my views are, are not important, and just like I said on not voting, I think having views and expressing them is a dangerous thing. I have opinions and thoughts, but I think talking about them is only bad for America.
4) In response to a question about the "fever swamp" left -- Daily Kos, specifically -- Halperin says, "So the left criticisms, I think, don’t diminish the liberal bias, but they do make weak organizations, already under siege, more under siege, taking fire from a different direction."
HH: And so, given that we know that proportion is there, I don’t know the relevance that the fever swamp generates some antagonism towards you, that Daily Kos yells at you, doesn’t in any way, I think, not you personally, but media, doesn’t in any way change the basic underlying problem, which is that you’ve set up sort of castles full of liberal and hard left reporters, and that they’re criticized from the left doesn’t in any way diminish their left wing bias, does it?
MH: Not at all. It only adds to the current problems, or the previous problems of the left wing bias on a lot of issues. What it adds is, people feeling cowed from the other direction, and it adds to the general lack of respect, which we have brought on ourselves, because look, we are too weak, and we are too superficial, and we have failed to stand up to power, as we should, if we’re going to play a proper role in a democracy. So the left criticisms, I think, don’t diminish the liberal bias, but they do make weak organizations, already under siege, more under siege, taking fire from a different direction.
5) Halperin agrees that the media "hates the military," and has biases on "gays, guns [and] abortion."
HH: And these liberals…you know, Terry Moran on this program said…Terry Moran on this program from ABC, your colleague…said that the media hates the military, has a deep suspicion of it. Do you agree with that?
MH: I totally agree. It’s one of the huge biases, along with gays, guns, abortion, and many other things.
6) Halperin asks Hewitt an interesting question.
MH: Do you want to live in an America where there’s media that’s just all based on being pro-Bush or anti-Bush?
HH: No, I want to live in an America where there’s a media that I can understand, and understand where they’re coming from, so that I can correct for their deep-seated bias, which distorts the news, so that it drives the country in bad directions.
MH: So you reject the model which says that there can be a news organization staffed by people who aren’t biased?
HH: Yes, absolutely. I reject that model.
MH: All right. Well…
HH: I’ve rejected that model forever. I think most of America rejects that model. I think you guys in Manhattan and D.C. have persuaded yourselves that eventually, America will accept you back after shattering your credibility, and it’s just never going to happen, because we don’t believe you.
7) " I agree with you that the Mary Mapes’ of the world are ruining it for the rest of us, and they are the dominant majority," says Halperin.
HH: But Mark, was Mary Mapes fair?
MH: No.
HH: Okay. There are more Mary Mapes. Even if we believe for a second…
MH: Hugh, Hugh, Hugh. Stop going back…
HH: …and there’s no reason to believe you…
MH: Stop going back to the stuff we agree on, because we can talk less about the book if you do that. I agree with you that the Mary Mapes’ of the world are ruining it for the rest of us, and they are the dominant majority. We’ve got to fix it.
8) He doesn't watch Hardball.
HH: Is Chris Matthews liberally biased?
MH: I don’t watch enough of him to know.
HH: He’s Jimmy Carter’s speechwriter.
MH: I know what his resume is, but I also know that people should be evaluated as I said throughout the program, by the quality of the work. I will say this. The people in old media should stop hiring people from Democratic politics. It’s just…it is not conducive to moving us in the right direction.
9) ABC News was right to fire William Kristol.
HH: Why’d you fire Kristol?
MH: I’m not in senior enough management to give you the answer, but I don’t want people like Bill Kristol here, either. I want non-partisan, fair journalists.
10) David Gregory is not a "buffoon."
HH: Mark Halperin, is David Gregory a buffoon?
MH: Define buffoon for me.
HH: Oh, just use your own operational definition.
MH: I wouldn’t use that word, no.
HH: Is he a journalist?
MH: He’s definitely a journalist.
11) Halperin is funny!
HH: Does Fox News put out a good product?
MH: Define good.
12) He has interns from Bob Jones University.
HH: And so, I want you to finish off by telling me about your project…Nick Lemann’s got a project where he’s going to add another extra year of power skills, and it’s not going to work, because everyone who enters the place is a hard lefty. You’ve got an ambition, but you’re not transparent. The media keeps hiring from the Harvard Crimson. It keeps self-perpetuating from self-elected elites.
MH: Can I introduce you to my interns from Bob Jones University?
HH: I’m glad that you have one. They must feel like a stranger in a strange world.
MH: No, because within my unit, we’re all about being fair and non-partisan.
20 Comments:
Those sound awfully like political views to me.
I see his problems. Many people in the news media have certain views because they are just like most Americans who don't hate gays, or support gun control and Roe v. Wade just like real people do. But since Halperin has right-wing biases, he sees mainstream views as "political opinions".
Jackass.
I just want to point out that Hewitt's use of the phrase "plumb lines" early in this post comes from the book of Amos, but no one really knows what "plum lines" means.
Criticisms of news organizations from the left "don’t diminish the liberal bias, but they do make weak organizations, already under siege, more under siege, taking fire from a different direction"
So what we're saying here is, bny kowtowing to the right's claims of "liberal media bias", Halperin acknowledges that news reportage has been undermined.
Good on him!
Love how it's okay to disclose the opinions of his co-workers, but not himself - because that would be wrongs.
Adam, no one knows what plumb lines are? are you serious? Not sure why you think it would come from the Bible, either, maybe cause Jesus was a carpenter? ;-)
It takes a rather weak character to not be able to separate your personal views from objectivity. To cop out that he doesn't have any political views while lambasting his collegues as lefties is just sad.
Who hired this guy?
Oh my -- could he be more arrogant? Him voting is bad for the country? Who cares if he votes? And it's better to enforce a pretense that he has no opinions than to acknowledge the truth that he does have opinions but works, as a professional, not to let those opinions color his work? This is a way for him to set himself above his colleagues -- ordinary mortals vote, he doesn't.
i believe this interview will be seen by our future cyborg overlords as the paradigm, the ne plus ultra of how our "old media" died, hoisted on its own petard. the levels of stupidity here, the can't-see-the-forest-for-the-treesness of it all, truly astounding. so, in all things, if i'm reading halperin correctly, there are two and only two possible knowledges modes: right and left. those two terms are immutable and have ontological meaning of some sort.
if i say to you "my cat is named bob" you can have a right or a left perspective on this fact. you can't just try to understand it as it is. and this, apparently, is something that is confusingly called "objective".
mark halperin may have gone to college, but he didn't take philosophy 101, or if he did, he didn't understand it. i used to think writing was a high level brain function, but i've had to change my mind. this man is too obtuse to be believed.
I don't talk about my enormous penis at work, but it doesn't mean I don't have one.
I don't fuck, because then people would question how I could claim I am a feminist.
I don't wipe my ass, so no one can imagine I don't stink.
I am the very model of a modern major journamil.
Halperin has a good point, instead of right wing and left wing biases on the news we hear, we need clear news so that anyone can listen. A right winger listening to MSNBC will either change the channel or drop the remote from all the heavy laughter inspired by their coverage. Flipside, a left winger watching Fox news is going to have the exact same reaction. If news is reported with bias, it excludes half the population. A recipe for the most successful news organization would ignore all biases, and let viewers determine where they stand on their own. This is the best idea pushed forth by a talking head journalist type in years. Real news, unbiased, its the only way to chip away at Fox news. MSNBC will be off the air within a year, two tops. If you can't beat 'em, pull a Switzerland so you don't have to join them.
LeGioN oF ZioN
Halperin must have been really confused as a conservative when Hewitt kept attacking him. Mary Mapes made a huge mistake -- all of the journalists who pushed the pro-war angle in the absence of facts made mistakes. The media has certain liberal biases (choice, gay rights) and certain conservative biases (free trade, pro-corporation) and certain non-ideological biases (for close political elections -- watch how many stories will say that Republicans are closing the gap over the next few days). It's an imperfect profession, but I think there's a lot of good reporters on all parts of the spectrum who are trying really hard.
Mark's commenting that he doesn't have political viewpoints reminded me of when I had an ice cream with a hardcore Southern Baptist. He was asked what kind of Christian he was, he said: "Oh no, I'm not particular type, I'm just a Christian."
Well, sorry guy, but I'm a Congregationalist Protestant and y'all ain't my type of Chrisitan!! My type is no better or worse than yours, but we both have a very highly specific "brand" or type.
When people say they're nondenominational and don't have a viewpoint, I think...hmm...what's the term? Oh yeah "He's so ful of it, his eyes are turning brown!"
I'm not sure what would make some people happy. If Halperin feels not voting helps him do his job, then fine. It is for him a valid perspective, one that should be respected for his desire to steer clear of problems and labels.
I don't necessarily agree with him that one can't separate a bias, but if it works for him, good.
Far too many "experts" are being critical here. Is it because he says that in his view to remain objective he can't vote, or it because he's not hanging onto either fringe.
There are others in journalism that don't vote and perhaps in that craft, that vow of political celibacy is one that is truly and deeply needed.
Hugh Hewitt is full of it, and so is Mark Halperin and the rest of the so-called liberal media (read Eric Alterman's excellent book).
Hewitt claims in the article not to want either biased news or non-biased news. Maybe he's too stupid to tell the difference. He seems to think that only uneducated people who live in the woods should be journalists.
Also, for Mark Halperin of ABC to accept interns from Bob Jones University shows a SERIOUS lack of judgment for two reasons.
First of all, by any objective measure (SATs, quality of faculty, etc.), it's a crappy school, so it's unlikely that you will find good candidates there.
Secondly, students attend it b/c they have an ideological bias and an ax to grind! So he's just guaranteeing that he gets rabidly partisan right-wing interns who want to move ABC to the right. Far cry from his ridiculous views on being totally non-biased. No one from Bob Jones U is going to live up to those standards. Do they believe in evolution? Interracial dating? Equality? Separation of church and state?
These are bedrock scientific facts and constitutional values at issue here. If you don't believe in them, you aren't qualified to work at ABC or any other serious news organization. PERIOD, FULL STOP.
That's what happens when you throw your lot in with the idiot horde on media bias. You become an idiot appeaser like Mark Halperin.
I think we should go with the British system of clearly biased media so that we can be spared the ridiculous and unearned sanctimony of Mark Halperin.
Like in the blog world.
Also, A.J. Simon, the bias toward close political elections is already in full effect -- that's why the MSM is covering John Kerry's miffed joke about George Bush being an idiot. Bush and others are intentionally saying it was an attack on the troops, which is an obviously false claim. John Kerry just doesn't think that AND he said that that's not what he meant. Still, he gets the full-court press, rather than, say, the disastrous war in Iraq. Just like Al Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004.
MSNBC, Fox, CNN, and the rest of the TV journalism is just so incredibly bad these days it's ridiculous. Do the reporters there even read the newspapers? They are just so clueless it's unbelieveable.
I'm going to go vomit now.
Mark Halperin is the buffoon. Gutless buffoon at that, who goes crying to right wing hate merchants about the so called 'Liberal bias' in the media. If I hear one more time about "Main stream media" having a "liberal" bias, I am going to lost it. What a pathetic, sick joke. You turn on the radio and all you hear is smear, garbage, hate, distortions, cheer-leading for the republicans, lies from the hate merchants. And jokers like Halperin go whining to them, kiss their ass and agree to their lies.
Honestly, why is this guy still not fired from ABC? If he is the political news director, you can imagine the slant the news from ABC will take. Pretty soon, Fox will be on the left of ABC !!!
What does he expect the hate merchants to do now, to love him and praise him that he is "fair and balanced"? Yeah, right.... What a pathetic joker..
Someone who works in the big, bad mainstream media here. Just want to check in and say that the whole notion a journalist shouldn't vote is a load of self-righteous horses---. We don't get paid nearly enough to make it worth sacrificing our basic constitutional rights.
The whole canard about a "liberal" media ought to be put to bed pretty quickly after the midterm elections, I suspect.
When the corporate overlords of GE, Disney, and Viacom realize that their message of "vote right or die" got wholly lost on the populace, when Keith Olbermann starts to regularly pass both O'Reilly and Hannity in the ratings, then we'll finally start to see the masks ripped off the eyes of Americans, as if they woke up and found that their houses had been moved overnight.
David Warner:"If I hear one more time about "Main stream media" having a "liberal" bias, I am going to lost it." Go "lost it," you illiterate, cuz the MSM is ultra-liberal! Boo!
Hey Carl, when the failed sportsboy KO passes BOR & Hannity, ectomorph stick-insect Keith will be 101 years-old.
Dear Saltimboca,
Interesting how editorial decisions at all the major news media are made by the corporate capitalists that contribute almost solely to the Republicunts, isn't it?
Sure you want to place a bet on any of this?
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