I ACTUALLY TOOK SOME JOURNALISM COURSES WHEN I
WAS IN COLLEGE, I DON'T LIKE TO BRAG ABOUT IT -- HAVE YOU EVER
HEARD THE SAYING?
THEY SAY THAT JOURNALISM IS PRINTING SOMETHING
THAT SOMEONE DOESN'T WANT PRINTED.
EVERYTHING ELSE IS
PUBLIC RELATIONS.
HAVE YOU HEARD THAT SAYING?
>>I'VE HEARD THAT.
>>IF YOU READ THE MAINSTREAM NEWS MEDIA, IT IS NOT THAT.
IT
IS THE OPPOSITE.
IT IS, HOW CAN I WRITE A STORY THAT DOESN'T
LOSE ME ACCESS?
THAT DOESN'T PISS SOMEONE OFF?
NANCY REAGAN
DIED A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO AND TOM BROKAW WAS ON MORNING
BLOWJOB AND HE BROUGHT A FRAMED PICTURE -- ONE TIME WHEN RONALD
REAGAN WAS IN THE WHITE HOUSE, HE WROTE AN ARTICLE ABOUT HOW
THEY KEPT TRYING TO PUSH THIS STORY THAT WHEN RONALD REAGAN
GOT OUT OF COLLEGE HE WAS POOR, AND BROKAW COUNTERED IT WITH
FACTS.
HE WAS ONE OF THE FEW GUYS TO GO TO COLLEGE IN THAT
DAY AND AGE, HE GOT A PAYING JOB OUT OF COLLEGE AND WENT ON TO AN
ACTING CAREER.
SO HE WROTE THIS, PUSHING BACK AGAINST THE WHITE
HOUSE NARRATIVE, AND HE GOT A PHONE CALL FROM THE CHIEF OF
STAFF SAYING, YOU BETTER STAY AWAY FROM THE WHITE HOUSE FOR A
WHILE BECAUSE NANCY IS REALLY PISSED OFF AT YOU SO YOU BETTER
NOT COME AROUND.
SO FOR TWO MONTHS HE DIDN'T GO TO THE WHITE
HOUSE, AND THEN WHEN HE GETS INVITED TO A STATE DINNER -- IS
THAT WHAT JOURNALISTS SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED?
THEY SHOULD BE
INVITED TO TUXEDO DINNERS?
-- AND THEY SAY, WHAT ARE YOU GOING
TO SAY TO NANCY ON THE RECEIVING LINE?
AND THIS WAS A CRISIS,
WHAT A JOURNALIST WAS GOING TO SAY TO THE FIRST LADY ABOUT A
STORY HE WROTE.
A TRUE STORY.
SO HE SAYS, NANCY, BACK TO SQUARE
ONE.
AND THERE WAS A PICTURE OF THAT, NANCY TOOK A PICTURE, HAD
HER ASSISTANT FRAME IT, SHE WROTE TOM, BACK TO SQUARE ONE.
HE BROUGHT IT ON MORNING JOE THE NEXT DAY TO SHOW, LOOK, ACCESS
MEANS MORE THAN ANYTHING TO BE.
I GOT THIS INSTEAD OF A REAL
JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY SPINE.
HE DIDN'T REALIZE THAT THAT WAS
WHAT HE WAS DOING, REVEALING THE SAD STATE OF JOURNALISM 30 YEARS
AGO.
IT IS ALMOST WORSE.
SO TOM BROKAW IS ONE OF THE CHAMPIONS,
HE WAS A PIONEER OF ACCESS JOURNALISM.
IF YOU WONDER HOW LUKE RUSSERT HAPPENED, IT IS BECAUSE TOM
BROKAW IS HIS REAL BAD.
>>ONE THING PEOPLE DON'T THINK OF.
I LIKE JAKE TAPPER, FOR
EXAMPLE, BUT IF I HAD THE LUXURY OF INTERVIEWING DONALD TRUMP ON
THE YOUNG TURKS AND I ASKED THE QUESTION OF THE KKK AND DONALD
TRUMP PLAYED DUMB, I WOULD END THE INTERVIEW.
AS A JOURNALIST,
THAT'S HOW YOU NORMALIZE RACISM, BY ASKING A QUESTION ABOUT THE
KKK, THE CANDIDATE SAYING I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE
KKK, YOU PUSH BACK TEPIDLY, AND THEN YOU MOVE ON.
THAT IS NOT
WHAT YOU DO.
>>YOU HAVE TO SAY -- YOU ARE RIGHT, JORDAN.
DONALD TRUMP, YOU
ARE TELLING ME YOU DON'T KNOW WHO THE KKK IS?
IF YOU REALLY,
WITH A STRAIGHT FACE, CAN SAY THAT, I HAVE TO END THE
INTERVIEW BECAUSE YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY LYING.
BUT THEY WOULD
NEVER SAY THAT BECAUSE THEY WOULD BE LIKE, THAT WOULD OFFEND
PEOPLE AND IT WOULD NOT BE NEUTRAL.
YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO
BE NEUTRAL, YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE OBJECTIVE.
AND ANY GROWN-UP,
LET ALONE SOMEONE WHO IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, WHO CLAIMS THEY
DON'T KNOW WHAT THE KKK IS IS OBVIOUSLY OBJECTIVELY LYING.
HAVE YOU DISQUALIFIED YOURSELF HERE BY ADMITTING THAT YOU KNOW
NOTHING ABOUT AMERICA, YOU WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT THE KU KLUX
KLAN IS?
BUT HE WON'T SAY THAT, BECAUSE THEN HE WILL COME BACK
ON.
LOOK WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW.
NPR, AS WE REPORTED, IS DOING
BASICALLY WAR TRAINING FOR THEIR REPORTERS IN ORDER TO GO TO
TRUMP RALLIES.
THAT IN A SENSE IS ALSO NORMALIZING IT TOO.
IF
REPORTERS ARE GETTING BEAT UP AT TRUMP RALLIES, LET'S JUST LEARN
TAE KWON DO AND GO BACK IN.
NO, LET'S NOT DO THAT.
LET'S FIGHT BACK.
NOT PHYSICALLY, BUT BY DOING
JOURNALISM.
>> WHAT I LEARNED IN JOURNALISM SCHOOL WAS ABOUT MUCKRAKERS,
THEY HELD THESE PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS.
THEN I GRADUATED AND I REALIZED, OH SHIT, THAT IS NOT WHAT
JOURNALISM IS ABOUT ANYMORE.
IS ABOUT ACCESS QUITE A BIT.
TO
SHARE A QUICK STORY, MY MANAGER IS AN AWESOME GUY.
HE WANTS
NOTHING BUT THE BEST FOR ME.
AND HE WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO
DEVELOP SOME SORT OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ME AND
HILLARY CLINTON BECAUSE HE WANTED ME TO DO A ONE-ON-ONE
INTERVIEW WITH HER.
HE SAT DOWN WITH ME AND TOLD ME I'M NEVER
GOING TO TELL YOU HOW TO REPORT YOUR STORIES WHAT YOU CAN AND
CAN'T DO, BUT IF YOU WANT THIS ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEW IT IS
UNLIKELY TO HAPPEN IF YOU ARE SO OPENLY CRITICAL OF HER.
I WAS
LIKE, OKAY, GREAT.
HE GOT ME INVITED TO ONE OF HER
FUNDRAISERS IN LOS ANGELES, I MET HER, SHOOK HER HAND, SHE WAS
NICE TO ME, AND THE NEXT DAY I PUBLISHED SOMETHING ON RAW STORY
THAT WAS SUPER CRITICAL OF HER.
AND OF COURSE I DIDN'T GET THE
INTERVIEW.
BUT TO ME, I DON'T THINK THAT MY VALUE OR
CREDIBILITY IS BASED ON HOW MANY BIG-NAME -- NAMES I INTERVIEW, I
THINK IT IS BASED ON WHETHER I CAN BRING TRUTH TO MY AUDIENCE.
I THINK IT WOULD SPEAK VOLUMES OF HILLARY CLINTON IF SHE SAT
DOWN AND IN AN INTERVIEW WITH ME, IT WOULD GIVE HER A CHANCE
TO DEFEND HERSELF.
BUT IF SHE IS NOT BRAVE ENOUGH TO DO THAT, THAT IS ON HER,
THAT IS NOT ON ME.
>>AT THIS POINT, GIVEN THE SIZE OF OUR AUDIENCE, AND HONESTLY
THEIR AGE, DUE TO THE FACT THAT NO OTHER NEWS ORGANIZATION
REACHES YOUNG PEOPLE ANYWHERE, ANYWHERE NEAR THE SCALE THAT WE
DO, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO REACH THEM, THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM, NOT
OUR PROBLEM.
YOU DON'T WANT TO COME ON THIS SHOW?
YOUR LOSS.
HOW ELSE ARE YOU GOING TO REACH 35-YEAR-OLDS AND BELOW?
BY GOING
ON TELEVISION?
THEY DON'T EVEN OWN A TV.
IF YOU WANT TO REACH
YOUNG VOTERS, YOU PLAY BY OUR RULES, AND OUR RULES ARE
OLD-SCHOOL JOURNALISM.
WE HOLD YOU TO ACCOUNT.
YOU DON'T LIKE
IT?
THAT IS A SAD DAY FOR YOU.