Matthews on Obama: A Troubling VIew of Journalistic Responsibility

While watching November 7’s Political Grapevine with Brit Hume, I heard about the following exchange between Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough on the previous day’s Morning Joe.

Chris Matthews “I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work.”

Joe Scarborough “Is that your job? You just talked about being a journalist.”

Chris Matthews: “Yeah, that is my job, my job is to help this country… to make this work successfully because this country needs a successful presidency more than anything right now,”

Ignoring the hypocrisy evident of Brit Hume pointing out that Matthews believes “objectivity is no longer part of his job as a journalist,” I find Matthews’ sentiments poorly thought out and having troubling implications. His saying this so openly showed a lack of thought on his part, as it sent the message that he put his loyalty to Obama over what is good for viewers. Obama could potentially take advantage of this sentiment and use the program as a sounding board for his messages, knowing that Matthews will not give him any scrutiny except what he believes is for his own good.

Additionally, this shows a lack of understanding of what journalists can do for their countries. Matthews makes the unspoken assumption that what Obama is doing for America is what’s best for America, and does not consider that Obama may be mistaken on some issues. If he reported with the intention of providing a comprehensive examination of Obama’s policies, he would help people see whether his policies were working, and if they were not, publicize their opinion, potentially making Obama understand that his plans were ineffective. There would be no guarantee of this working so effectively, but if Matthews produces reports that are “helpful” to Obama as he says, the people viewing his reports are more likely to internalize his opinion and less likely to protest or even realize that they disagree with his policies.

Journalists cannot be completely "objective," but they can strive to be fair in not giving anyone more or less scrutiny than is warranted, and should strive to avoid any conflicts of interest. Matthews, however, is not making this effort, as he should be saying that he will be evaluating Obama's plans and giving the American people- most notably the voters- the information they need to decide whether he succeeded. The news may not favor the politicians they support, but journalists have a duty to report for the benefit of the American people, not any specific politician, party or ideology.