1 - Not very different in journalism, they are self enabled and hide behind constitutional protection even when they are very wrong.seamusTX wrote:I have two questions:- Jim
- How would you compare the current level of journalistic and police integrity to the situation that existed in 1890 to 1930?
- Do you have any achievable recommendations for improving the current situation?
- some different in police, but even today one can come up with examples of a lack of integrity that boggles the mind.
2 - No, but there are people much smarter than me who could contribute.
One of the problems is the "Blue Wall" - cops don't snitch on cops, reporters don't snitch on reporters. Self regulation is problematic, and that is what we trust the media and the police to do. When oversight is implemented, it is viewed as intrusive, spying, amateurs telling professionals what to do, and a variety of other things.
A small but relevant example from personal experience: I was a TSA "Agent" for several years and was there almost from the beginning. The whole thing was put together in a big hurry and organized along somewhat military lines. There was supposed to be an internal organization to investigate and correct abuses within the organization, but reports of superiors violating procedure, harassment, and even possible criminal activity, were often "investigated" by asking the parties involved if they were involved, and sometimes resulted in threats against the persons doing the reporting, whistle blower laws not withstanding.
A supervisor arrived at work late almost daily, and left work early; had a "clique" of buddies who were accorded special privileges, sometimes leaving the site for long lunches which probably involved consumption of alcohol; openly participated in questionable activities that some felt were sexual harassment, and more.
I, personally, objected to a situation and tried to get my direct supervisor to do something about it, but was rebuffed. So I filed a report skipping the chain of command, which was within our published policies.
I was summarily called up in front of a manager several levels above my pay grade, informed that I could be terminated for doing what I had, that he had "personally" investigated my "allegation" and had found it to be "vague" and "insubstantive" and uncorroborated by my listed witnesses. Conversations with some of those people later revealed that each had been told they were being investigated for mutiny and they had better be right or they were facing felony jail time, causing some to recant or at least reduce their part of the complaint.
TSA solved the issue about the supervisor arriving late, taking long lunches, and leaving early while falsifying the sign in log by: separating the supervisory sign in log to somewhere that the rest of us can't see it.
That's just one example, there are others, and there is no reason to think that the media or police fare much better.