Truth first casualty of news

Barack Obama's credibility on security issues has been called into question. PHOTO/AP

A well-informed electorate is the cornerstone of democracy" (Thomas Jefferson). Hence the necessity for journalistic integrity, where the facts rule over political adherence. As most busy adults get their news from TV that standard is particularly pertinent when one of the most respected TV journals begins to systematically violate it. I'm referring to 60 Minutes, a US programme, locally seen on Prime.

The TV newsmagazine format was designed in 1968 to give greater depth to current news. 60 minutes has, over the years, deservedly won almost every honour for investigative journalism. Its popularity and longevity is unparalleled. Its journalists, among the most distinguished in TV, never flinched from speaking truth to power, taking on leaders such as Ariel Sharon and the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Recently, there has been a change. Instead of seeking the truth, however aggressively, its reporters seem to be driven by an agenda.

In the US, Republicans, eager to diminish the credibility of President Barack Obama and the political ambitions of Hilary Clinton, have focused on the security issues surrounding the September 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Bhengazi. The Republican version holds the attack was premeditated and organised by al-Qaeda; the administration originally claimed it was in protest of an anti-Muslim video.

Reporter Lara Logan's October 27, 2013, story on 60 Minutes claimed the attack was the planned work of al-Qaeda fighters. She relied exclusively on the account of a British security contractor named Dylan Davies, who said he witnessed the attack. In fact, Davies - who was promoting a book about the episode published by a CBS subsidiary - was nowhere near the American facility on the night of the attack. Logan herself was outed for her videotaped remarks to a political group in October 2012, arguing that al-Qaeda was responsible. While Logan and CBS apologised for the hoax, her bias was nowhere admitted.

A December 16 piece on NSA surveillance and Edward Snowden was widely criticised for being a one-sided puff. Worse, the reporter John Miller's objectivity is questionable as he not only worked as spokesman for the Intelligence Directorate but was then about to join the intelligence branch of the New York Police Department.

On January 5, 2014, Leslie Stahl reported on clean energy. Her report never mentioned climate change, the rationale for clean energy. Instead, she claimed that government funding of start-up clean energy companies was a disaster, costing US$15 billion ($18 billion). She cited seven failed companies. In fact, the US Department of Energy reports that of the US$150 billion in loans and grants only 3 per cent have led to failures. Moreover, the goal of the programme was to accelerate technology, making it cheaper. On that scale, the success has been phenomenal.

The cost of solar, wind and biofuel energy generation has dropped by 75-85 per cent in five years and the whole industry is booming.

These recent examples of seriously flawed journalism include falsehoods provided by sources, interviewers with vested interests, one-sided presentations which omit or effectively create a picture at complete odds with the available facts.

Critics point to the appointment in 2011 of David Rhodes as president of CBS news, the parent company of 60 Minutes.

Rhodes was formerly VP of news at Fox Broadcasting. Fox has a reputation for ideological reportage and is so cavalier with facts that comedians refer to it as Faux news.

They may have a point, and it's an important one for viewers here who may continue to rely on the accuracy of 60 Minutes' reporting.

Why should we care? Because this is part of a larger issue in which ideologically-driven information is presented as fact.

This, in turn, not only obscures what we may know to be true but causes us to doubt our very capacity to find out what is true.

Jay Kuten is an American-trained forensic psychiatrist who emigrated to New Zealand for the fly fishing. He spent 40 years comforting the afflicted and intends to spend the rest afflicting the comfortable.