I came across this gem of a quote from Henry David Thoreau today:
…probably no country was ever ruled by so mean a class of tyrants as, with a few noble exceptions, are the editors of the periodical press in this country. And as they live and rule only by their servility, and appealing to the worse, and not the better, nature of man, the people who read them are in the condition of the dog that returns to his vomit.
– Henry David Thoreau, from “Slavery in Massachusetts,” an address delivered at the Anti-Slavery Convention at Framingham, Mass, July 4, 1854.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Neither the advent of radio, television, cable, nor the Internet could improve our nation’s press. What an apt way of thinking of ourselves when we read the NY Times, Washington Post, etc., or watch Fox, CNN, MS NBC, et. al. — “the dog that returns to his vomit.”
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When I was in college, I had a part time job at a commercial television station. I worked in the production department, usually during the 11:00 p.m. news. We had a motto at our station that was “for our ears only.” It was, “News when it happens, where it happens, even if we have to make it happen.” The news department was all about creating sensationalism that increased ratings and allowed the station to charge more for its advertising.
There is no such thing in our country — or the world — as honest, unbiased reporting. I’d never heard this quote before, but it certainly substantiates how little progress we have made. All the brilliant technology didn’t make it better, it just created more vomit for the dogs.