“And That Is The Way It Is” by Al Sikes

Many of you will know the title of this column from Celine Dion’s 1999 hit recording, “And That Is The Way It Is.” But, my intent is to recall the sign-off by Walter Cronkite each night as he finished his CBS newscast; he said: “And That Is The Way It Is”. (Note link) The final day of his newscast: March 6, 1981.

Cronkite made that bold claim on his early evening broadcast knowing that within hours newspapers would serve as the news of record. Newspapers were then thriving. Not bad, the American people had professional fact-checkers whose journalistic collaborations in print were only hours away.

Heated arguments preceded the tagline’s acceptance by the higher-ups at CBS. But these higher-ups existed only in corporate lingo, as Walter Cronkite’s news show drew a larger audience than all three networks combined do today. The newsmakers of Cronkite’s day knew that news was made when it appeared on his weekday show.

The battle in Cronkite’s time was to get the news right and deliver it with seriousness more than theatrics. His newscast was the baseline that informed both the elected and voters alike.

Today, there is no baseline; it is up to us; we choose from a smorgasbord of what is generally called cable news. Throw in various Internet news sites as well.  Too often we choose what to watch by pre-disposition—more conservative, more liberal. After the news shows, so-called “personalities” take over, in what is called primetime and seek to shape a spectrum of viewer outrage. Outrage sells because we buy it—often at our own expense. What if we didn’t?

Almost nobody disputes where we are in news consumption. Fox leads in audience count. MSNBC and CNN lag but have numbers that sustain their businesses. The Network news (CBS, NBC, ABC), as it is known, has been severely diminished.

The Network news is frequently referred to as the Mainstream news.  Mainstream news audiences are small, a shadow of their earlier importance, and supported by ads for older people. To claim they are an effective nefarious force in today’s politics is absurd. Propagandists who masquerade as conservatives use the term—its use is tactical not substantive.

Somehow we have become more attracted by slogans than content. Is  discernment possible? Or is anger more likely when news reporting is  often packaged as argument. Should we control our thinking or default to media personalities? Should we worry when propagandists create sharp dividing lines? Should we be concerned when it is most likely that a small sub-set of voters in a handful of States will decide the new President?

We, today’s Americans, are the beneficiaries of America’s strength. A strong constitution. Often strong leadership when it is most in need. A strong economy, much of the time, which allows businesses to flourish and tax revenue to support needed services. America in the messy world of human endeavors is good and sometimes great.

We need to be vigilant and, yes, discerning to remain the most successful country in the modern era. And let me add, one thing is certain, incendiary politics and related news coverage shows more weakness than strength.

Fox News

Fox News, the most popular cable news network, leverages anger or creates it, if they can sell their advertisements at a higher price. It has some good journalists and news readers but its most lucrative asset is created by propagandists. They specialize in scripting the news to satisfy audience prejudices. And yes, we all have them.

Fox’s most egregious sin was for management to allow many of its on-air personalities to claim that the 2020 election was stolen while acknowledging it wasn’t when talking among themselves. They actively corrupted their news coverage of the election outcome to please their audience. In a democracy there is no greater sin.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.