Closing of newspaper capital bureau a poor choice

In a recent column, Red Blue America writer Julie Ponzi discusses the recent revelation that ABC news anchor George Stephanopoulos contributed to the Clinton Foundation, and how it calls into question the notion of “objective journalism.”

She opines that the very concept of objective journalism is a myth, and we have been duped into believing in it. “It is laughable,” she writes,” to imagine such people writing for the papers.”

Well, Ms. Ponzi, in Montana there were, a very short time ago, two certifiable, unbiased, objective journalists who covered Montana politics for the Capital Bureau of Lee Newspapers.

In May, Lee Enterprises — a large media chain which owns five Montana daily papers — announced the closing of the Capital Bureau and the concomitant shelving of Montana’s two premiere journalists, Chuck Johnson and Mike Dennison. To say that these two objective journalists didn’t hold opinions would be “laughable”, but to say that their personal opinions came through in their news coverage would be grossly untrue.

In my 25 or so years in Montana politics I have had many conversations with each of them, sometimes on a professional basis, but mostly on a personal basis because, well, I just enjoyed the heck out of talking with them. It gave me perspective. 

But I also talked with plenty of people who thought Mike and Chuck were biased, which generally meant that they had written something with which the biased complainant disagreed. 

I listened to Democrats lambaste them for being Republicans, and Republicans slamming them for being liberals. In fact, they were neither; they were professional journalists with no known political party affiliation who knew that opinions were restricted to the editorial page and unbiased reportage was in the news section. I know that they went out of their way to be fair and evenhanded in their articles because they discussed it with me, usually when I was trying to get them to see things my way and write their articles accordingly.

The closing of the Capital Bureau puts two stalwarts out to pasture, but the loss is Montana’s, and what is lost is historical perspective, truth, and knowledge. There are certainly other Montana reporters who are good, objective journalists, but none of them has or will have the sense of perspective that Mike and Chuck obtained over decades of political reporting.

So, I think Ponzi has it backwards; there are plenty of objective journalists out there, but over the years newspapers have purposefully shifted the emphasis from educating the public to entertaining the public, and objective investigative reporting was one of the first things to go. That’s largely been an economic decision driven by what the media think sells papers. They may be right about that, but they are wrong to sacrifice an informed readership for an amused readership.

The closing of the Capital Bureau is just another step in the wrong direction.

Jim Elliott is a former Montana state legislator and Democratic Party Chairman from Trout Creek.