Victim of the Press
Commentary
By Jeff Greenfield
I have just gone through an experience I heartily recommend to anyone who practices journalism for a living; I have been mauled by the media.
I was at the site of the O.J. Simpson trial, where I quickly felt as if I were witnessing the Chernobyl of American journalism - a wholesale abandonment of any sense of proportion. A team from a third-tier tabloid TV show approached, camera rolling, microphone outstretched, asking for comments. I declined; politely, I believe.
At that point, I became the target. The crew kept shooting, and another member of the team stuck a video camera inches from my face and began to yell at me, asking why I was afraid of answering questions.
Now put yourself in that situation: What would you do? In the first place, no one’s face looks good when photographed that close. As I once said 10 years ago, in criticizing ambush interviews, “You shoot Mother Teresa this way, and she looks guilty.”
Do you try to physically restrain your tormentor? Shows like this one live for such moments
Instead, I told the inquisitor that this behavior was rude and uncivil. And, I added, I feel sorry for you if you think this will help you get a career in journalism.
As I should have realized, all of this made its way onto the air. Moreover, The New York Post’s Page Six yesterday made it sound as if I had been warning my inquisitor not to expect help from me in getting a job! (Since The Post runs my column, I am chalking this up to a rare error.)
Many of you are no doubt saying: “Aha! Serves you media types right! Finally, you’re getting a taste of your own medicine!”
Actually, that’s exactly my point - or at least, one of them. I gradually came to the conclusion it would probably be a good idea if every one of us in the mass media became victimized in this way.
Even if you don’t practice this kind of journalism - and I don’t think I ever have - we need to understand just how invasive it is to have a camera track your every move. How it can make anyone look as if he is either hiding something or is on the verge of a temper tantrum. For shows like this, an appeal to civility or ethics is like getting into a philosophical argument with a ferret. It’s pointless; what “works,” what makes for publicity, for “neat TV,” is the act of provocation itself.
And where did these pretend journalists learn this? From “real” journalists, or at least those who have repeatedly bent the conventions of news gathering over the years for the sake of drama and ratings.
“We walk up to the line,” “60 Minutes” creator Don Hewitt has often said, “we touch that line, but we don’t cross it.”
Now, pretend journalists use the techniques of dramatic news shows, while putting aside any pretense of values. The line is not only touched, but completely erased.
So before we look with horror at these grotesque parodies of our business, we should understand clearly where this all began.