It's About the Money: The Insider Reveals a Dirty Little Secret About Journalism

The Springfield News-Leader's 2010 election coverage was a display of questionable journalism. With so many fallacies noted in their stories, most obvious was the red herring, there is no doubt what was driving the political headlines--advertising dollars. While executive editor David Stoeffler denies the paper was influenced by the big advertising dollars of Billy Long and his cronies, many have doubts.

A red herring technique that Billy Long used to face multiple allegations whether it was gambling or strippers was to take the attention off of the actual issue made in the allegations and switch focus on Billy Long claiming to be a family man. I am amazed at how the journalists at the News-Leader didn't recognize the red herring pattern or chose to ignore it knowing advertising dollars were at stake.

Last night, I sat through an amazing move called The Insider. The movie studied the actions of Jeffrey Wigand, a tobacco scientist for Brown and Williamson, a Louisville based tobacco company. The story evolves around 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman convincing Wigand to testify against big tobacco, despite death threats and other financial threats, to expose how big tobacco makes cigarettes more addictive.

While the testimony led to the $260 billion plus payout by the tobacco industry, it almost never aired on 60 Minutes. CBS was scared to run the story, knowing a slander case against big tobacco could turn over the ownership of CBS to Brown and Williamson. Bergman discovers that CBS is currently in the middle of Westinghouse purchasing the Tiffany Network, and the story is put on on hold in fears a case brought against CBS would not only mess up the deal, but may actually transfer ownership to big tobacco.

So you have really the second story of this big story, which leads to the question, how much of the news is controlled by money. If 60 Minutes fell victim, then I have a hard time believing the executive editor of the News-Leader considering their softball coverage of Billy Long and the fact they let so many fallacies go to print without a real examination.