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| Jim Lukaszewski |
I recently attended a couple of “Meet the Media” sessions nearby, featuring a panel of local editors and journalists. Each tended to focus on how local media were going to survive Trump, without mentioning his name.
When the longhand version of “Objectivity and Balance” came up as their strategies, I bit my lip. This was somebody else’s program.
After the presentation at one event, I spoke with the main panelist and asked him, “How could you imagine your local industry surviving Trump?”
He exploded at me. “Trump is a liar! He’s always been a liar! The people know!”
“Well, so are you,” I replied. “Tonight, you admitted to using two of the powerful lies con artists use.”
What’s balance? It’s taking a few truths and mixing them with equal parts—or more—of other stuff, hoping that the blending will stop the phone from ringing and keep people buying. But the clever balancing act really just produces whole lies. People notice. They’re going elsewhere in droves seeking the truth. Balancing never yields truth.
Balance is all of those boring panels that just jibber jabber. At the end, you have no guidance, no truth, no next steps.
According to Dictionary.com, Objectivity is a noun that means a lack of bias, judgment or prejudice, in other words, facts. String as many facts together as you care to, you still will never arrive at the truth. In fact, overload on facts and you get something else: resentment. Those who are the targets of your fact-filled stuff feel like you are telling and yelling at them that they’re too stupid or just unwilling to accept your facts. All the while, your customers continue to go elsewhere for truth.
Yes, objectivity can matter. But objectivity is in the eye and the ear of the beholder. Rarely persuasive. The survival plan for local media to outlast Trump is the struggle of the truth avoiders against the fake truth inventers. And the fake truth inventers are really, really good.
On top of that, just saying you’re a journalist no longer automatically makes you an emissary of truth. In fact, the opposite is demonstrated too frequently.
I deal in a world of victims and victim makers. It’s a very emotional world. I have learned that truth is something like 15 percent facts and data, and 85 percent acknowledging the emotion of events and points of reference—where the victims were and when and how they were victimized. The con artist learns to use fewer facts and, like the journalist, turns the rest into an emotionally satisfying story.
The problem here is that all stories are fabrications. There’s a template in journalism: smart headline, great opening lead, structured body copy often chronological or organized in some way and then a smart, memorable conclusion, a moral, a punch line, a self-evident truth. There’s a kind of rhythm to it ... Bada-Bada-Boom.
Here again, life never happens like the stories they describe. There’s no such thing as a true story. There’s always a letdown when the truth sought is still missing from the cleverest punchline.
Truth happens in pieces, often in random broken chunks. Television news strings these pieces, connected by that annoying, endlessly blinking—and lying—BREAKING NEWS sign.
BREAKING NEWS has come to be the biggest lie in every culture. BREAKING NEWS should be BREAKING TRUTHS, but that’s not possible. So, you should just shut up or think of ways to focus on the truth.
The crucial question for American journalism is: when are you going to stand up and do something about Trump and the truth? American journalism has made its own deathbed, and we’re watching it slowly die there. Likely well before Trump and Trumpism go away, which could be a generation or two … or longer.
When do you and we start telling the truth and stop dodging it?
Here’s some real BREAKING TRUTH: The good old days of local news will disappear, sooner rather than later, because it’s truthless and, therefore, worthless. Balance and objectivity are truth dodges. The truth is out there, but when you find it, you report everything but the truth part.
How do we know this? Because we’re living this truth tragedy every day, everywhere.
We need constructive guidance and opinions that contain simple, direct, doable directions to the future. Objectivity and balance trap us in yesterday.
Journalism seems to have stopped searching for the truth and has forgotten what truth looks like, sounds like, feels like, tastes like and smells like.
A future built on dead ends and truth dodging sounds, feels and tastes like what is killing our democracy.
Your truth manifesto
“To know the truth and speak of it is helpful, important and sometimes courageous. To know the truth but equivocate or speak about anything but that truth is willfully harmful, intentionally misleading and often unethical.”
—Unattributed proverb
The Truth Manifesto is a truth action plan. The manifesto is a public declaration of your intentions, opinions, objectives and motives. Truth always relies on simple, sensible, understandable words and deeds. That’s how you find the truth. Publicly commit to it and then prove your commitment.
The Truth Manifesto is something you can easily absorb, use and teach others.
- “When problems or opportunities occur, we’ll be prepared to talk openly about them and act quickly to respond operationally.”
- “If the public should know about an issue or problem which could affect them, we will voluntarily talk about it as quickly and as completely as we can.”
- “When problems or changes occur, we will keep the community and those affected posted regularly until the problem or changes have been thoroughly explained or resolved.”
- “We will answer any questions the community or victims may have and suggest and volunteer additional information on matters the community has yet to ask questions about.”
- “We will be cooperative with all interested news media, but our primary responsibility is to communicate directly with those most affected by our actions as soon and continuously as possible.”
- “We will respect and seek to work with our critics and those who oppose us.”
- “We will tell the truth with facts and proof, refraining from truth dodging and avoidance techniques.”
Finding the truth is your first priority. Stand on it, stand up for it, shout it out.
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James E. Lukaszewski, IABC, Fellow IABC; APR, Fellow PRSA; PRSA BEPS Emeritus, is an author, speaker, crisis management consultant and President of The Lukaszewski Group.
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