What I found most striking, yet largely unsurprising, about our guest speaker’s explanations of NY1 and the journalism industry was how politicians would call him up and try to curry his favor so that he would publicize them positively. His example of governor Cuomo asking to speak to him directly while he was working for the New York Post painted an empathetic picture: “What? The Governor wants to speak to me? Little old unimportant me? Well how could I refuse the Governor?!” Being swept up in the grandeur of it all, it seems easy to let the influence creep up on an unassuming journalist, and I can totally understand why politicians would try to win over press people on a one-to-one basis in certain outlets.

As for the Republican debate last Wednesday, I thought it was great! I (like most New Yorkers) find most of the current Republican candidates absolutely insufferable, and so watching them mud-wrestle one another is a comedic spectacle. Nevertheless, I felt that CNBC somewhat undermined the intended purpose of the debate by asking hostile questions. Whether or not debate moderators ought to be making the candidates look good or bad is a valid question, and I think both options have merit, but many of the questions were caricatured or exaggerated and the candidates have since called for debate reform. ( http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/11/01/exp-gop-wants-debate-reform.cnn)

Fair and unbiased reporting may be impossible in practice, but that doesn’t mean we ought give up on trying.

Written by Aaron Mayer