BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Marty Baron, one of the nation’s most celebrated news editors, lamented the fracturing of American media and its ill effects on democracy during a return visit to Lehigh University on Thursday night.
Baron, the 1976 alumnus who led the Miami Herald, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post to 18 Pulitzer Prizes over 21 years, described an industry that has lost its way during a 75-minute conversation at Packard Laboratory. Many online and cable outlets have abandoned the standard of objective news coverage, finding that many consumers prefer to seek out opinions that confirm their own biases, he said.
"We don't share a common set of facts any longer. People say, 'You have your facts, I have my facts. You have your truth, I have my truth.' That is a really difficult place to be,"Marty Baron
"We don't share a common set of facts any longer. People say, 'You have your facts, I have my facts. You have your truth, I have my truth.' That is a really difficult place to be," Baron said.
Those divides have wormed their way across the country and led to a loss of trust in the media along with other American institutions, Baron said. A significant portion of the population feels like their concerns over the economy, the border and moral issues are being ignored by both those in the halls of power and the journalists who are supposed to hold those people accountable, he said.
By the time presidential candidates began launching their campaigns in 2015, journalists in major outlets across the country had failed to recognize the tenor and desires of the American public.
"People were talking about Jeb Bush being the frontrunner for that, as you may recall. And he's exactly what people didn't want. Certainly Republicans didn't want him," Baron said.
That lack of awareness helped President-elect Donald Trump in his rise to power, Baron said. Trump has incited hostility toward journalists in ways historically associated with authoritarian governments who don't tolerate a free press, he said. Baron predicted that Trump would lean further into that rhetoric in his second term.
"I think that Trump is salivating for the opportunity to put a journalist in jail," said Baron, who oversaw Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Trump's scandalous Access Hollywood Tape and questions over his charitable giving.
Trump said at a Texas political rally that reporters would reveal their sources once confronted with prison rape, Baron noted; rally goers reacted with applause.
Part of what's fueled the disconnect between news reporters and the public is the slow demise of local newspapers, Baron said. As newsrooms have shrunk and disappeared, fewer people recognize the role local journalists are supposed to fill in the local democratic process.
"It's contributing to the lack of trust because people in so many communities have never ever seen a journalist," Baron said.
Baron said that newsrooms need to make a greater commitment to being objective if they hope to reverse the tide. Too often, journalists approach stories assuming they know the answer, he said. Instead, they need to approach stories as if they were scientists and follow where the facts take them. Humility and an open mind are the key, he said.
That approach led Baron's team of investigative journalists to one of the biggest stories of the 21st century. On his first day at the Boston Globe, he instructed his new team to dig further into sexual abuse charges that had been filed against a Catholic priest. A column in the paper said the full extent of the scandal may never be known thanks to a records being under a court seal.
"When a journalist hears, 'The truth may never be known,' that should be like chum. You're not a journalist if you don't respond to that," he said.
Their investigation into charges against four priests uncovered a pattern of cover-ups within the church that allowed offenders to be passed off to parish after parish, where they abused more victims. The paper's findings inspired other outlets to conduct their own investigations, which discovered similar abuse and cover-ups across the world.
The Globe's reporting inspired the 2015 film "Spotlight," which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Baron, who was portrayed by actor Liev Schreiber, said he would never complain that he was depicted by someone four inches taller and more attractive than himself. But he was more proud of the film's impact on journalism.
"It gave voice to people who hadn't had a voice, and it reminded journalists that we need to listen to people who don't have power because they often have very powerful things to say,"Marty Baron
"It gave voice to people who hadn't had a voice, and it reminded journalists that we need to listen to people who don't have power because they often have very powerful things to say," Baron said.
Baron was the latest speaker in the university's Compelling Perspective program. This academic year, the series is exploring the role of media in society. Katie Couric, the former anchor of "CBS Evening News" and former correspondent for "60 Minutes," visited campus in September as the series' first speaker. Speakers last year included former United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May and former CIA Director Leon Panetta.
