Snyder interview on channel 8 not an example of journalism holding power accountable
On Sunday, WOOD TV 8 aired an interview with Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on the weekly show To the Point. To the Point is hosted by former Pete Hoekstra aid Rick Albin.
The first question was about the Democrats urging the Governor to use surplus money for public education. Snyder did say he would consider investing State funds on education, but not without some “criterion.” However, the Governor only offered up a vague notion of “student growth,” growth that could be measured.
Albin followed up those comments by asking what Snyder would do to make sure schools were increasing the amount of high school graduate who were college ready. Snyder responded with rather vague commentary about how not all schools have come on board with adopting practices suggested by the state to receive funds based on performance.
The Michigan Governor then went on to compare school funding with local revenue sharing. He talked about how revenue sharing was based on “best practices,” which is code for downsizing & privatizing government, and then he said that the state also encouraged local governments to come up with innovative ideas that could also land them more funds. The example Snyder gave was the decision of Grand Rapids, Flint and Lansing to process tax returns collectively. What Snyder failed to mention was that this $550,00 state grant would be used to pay JP Morgan Chase Bank to process the tax returns instead of having City employees do it.
Snyder never really answered Albin’s question about education and instead of challenging the Governor on this issue Albin just goes along with Snyder’s desire to talk about “innovative ideas.” Again, the only thing that Snyder could say about more funding for education was for school districts to adopt an innovative approach in the same ways that municipalities have.
Albin does bring the conversation back to education and asks Snyder to respond to the Democrats proposal for funding higher education. Snyder admitted that he had not really looked at the Democrats proposal, but he did say he thinks that we have to figure out ways to make college tuition affordable. However, the Governor did not provide any specifics except to say that one way that students could save money was to allow more high school students to take college courses and get credit for them before they finish high school.
The discussion then shifted to the idea of Michigan trying to balance its budget and what kinds of things the state should be investing on. Snyder says he wants to think long term, but the only concrete investment he could offer was road repair in Michigan. He said that investing in Michigan roads would do two things. First, it would put more unemployed people back to work and secondly, it would support commerce, particularly with more emphasis on exporting to Canada via the bridge. Again, Albin did not challenge the Governor on such claims.
The next question that the WOOD TV reporter posed to Snyder had to do with reducing crime in the state of Michigan. Snyder said that Michigan has 4 of the top 10 most violent cities in the country; Flint, Saginaw, Pontiac and Detroit, based on FBI data. Snyder believes there are three things that Michigan can do to respond to this problem. First, the Governor thinks we need to put more police on the streets. Second, Michigan needs to reform its criminal justice system to make it more efficient and third, Snyder thinks we can stop crime by creating jobs. Once again, Rick Albin did not question the Governor on his responses. Albin did not talk about the racial reality of crime reporting and crimes statistic in Michigan and why a disproportionately high number of racial minorities were in the criminal justice system, particularly for drug related crimes. Albin also did not challenge the Governor around job creation and crime reduction, especially on the matter of job creation within the prison/jail expansion within the state. Here it seems that jobs are being created because of the criminal justice system.
The last question from the WOOD TV reporter had to do with personal property tax. Snyder said there were three areas of the personal property tax that are distinct, but the emphasis should be on reducing industrial property tax. Snyder believes that if businesses have less industrial property tax they will come to Michigan and create more jobs. As was the pattern, Rick Albin did not question the Governor on this question and the online interview ended there.
Essentially the interview was a version of the State of the State address, which may have been the agreement between Governor Snyder’s office and channel 8. Even if this wasn’t the case it omitted numerous issues that Rick Albin could have pressed the Governor on. For instance, Albin could have asked questions about the tax benefits for wealthy Michiganders, the further privatization of government services, the status of the Emergency Financial Management policy and many more critical areas that may have been equally relevant to Michigan residents.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 
To Jeff Smith (GRIID)
You are right, Rick Snyder was vague on answers … but yet majority of politicians are. On the other hand it is utterly ridiculous to say that Rick Albin is not “holding power accountable” for it is out of line for him to do so, plus he can’t force someone that doesn’t want to, to say something on an issue, especially politicians. It is not Albin’s or any reporters job to hold those they interview accountable … it is the responsibility of the people/voters to do so by contacting those in Lansing. The moment a reporter holds one accountable, they become one-sided – hence introducing their opinion and influencing others. It is the job of a reporter to report facts … not hold accountability. It is unethical for a reporter to influence citizens by injecting any of what could be mistaken as their opinion.
Yes, reporters can always ask more questions … so much so that it could take days to finish the interview. “To The Point” even though it starts at 10am and finishes at 10:30am Sunday’s, the show is not a total of thirty minutes (as if that is enough time) it is on average actually about fifteen minutes, give or take. So in order for Mr. Albin to dig deep into the first question to the degree to satisfy you it would of taken the whole fifteen minutes and then some to do so, which would of left no time to touch on other important topics like Michigan’s roads and the Bridge for an example – hence then you would of written and complained that Mr. Albin spent too much time on one topic and did not ask anything else.
Again, it is the job of a reporter to report on the facts and ask questions accordingly in the time frame given. It is the job of the people/voters to listen and pick up on things like … “well geeze Gov. Snyder sure was vague, I think I am going to give Lansing a call and talk to Representatives, Senators, and even maybe the governor himself and get answers.”
Jeff, my opinion on your piece here, is that you have encouraged the people/voters not to think for themselves, basically told people let the media think for you. The fact is, politicians do and if they don’t, should listen to the people/voters and use the media to show they are listening and to inform. Politicians should use settings like “To The Point” as an opportunity to inform the people/voters … that is what I believe Rick Albin has done, given politicians a way to inform people/voters of where they stand and if the politicians choose to waste that by being vague with answers or beating around the bush then they have wasted a great opportunity to reach the people/voters. Therefore, I believe that Mr. Albin has faith in the people/voters that they will see right through the politicians he interviews for who they really are and hold politicians accountable for what they say and do … or don’t say and don’t do.
I thank Mr. Albin for reporting as much facts as possible in a short amount of time … actually there are times that I already know what is going on before I watch the show, because I do my homework and at those times I am listening for inconsistencies. Times I don’t know what is going on before the show I have learned enough in those fifteen minutes to do research on my own.
Nancy, it is clear that we disagree on the function of journalism. It is a basic principle of journalism for reporters to hold power accountable, meaning they ask questions that are relevant to the public, call out politicians when they are not be honest, provide background & context to stories and verify the claims of those in power. See the principles of journalism http://www.journalism.org/resources/principles
In the interview with Gov. Snyder, Rick Albin does none of those things. He did not verify any claims made, he did not challenge the Gov. on funding issues nor did he asks questions that framed Michigan politics outside of Republicans and Democrats.
I agree that citizens need to think for themselves and do as much of their own investigation as possible, but this does not relieve journalists of their duty to do the same. We need journalists in this society to be a watchdog against power, both political and economic and not just act as stenographers recording what those in power say.
The link you gave to the nine core principles, you refer to number five, which is; IT MUST SERVE AS AN INDEPENDENT MONITOR OF POWER.
To monitor is not the same as accountability. Reporting is a form of checks and balances … and then bring forth what is found to the citizens, and then the citizens decide to hold our politicians accountable my majority. You one has held someone accountable they have in sense been judge and jury.
People need to understand that reporters are to monitor and inform, but most important the power to hold politicians accountable is within the people/voters.
Again, we disagree. Asking hard questions is holding power accountable. If a politicians makes a claim it is the duty of journalists to verify the claim. If politicians receive money from corporations or unions it is the job of journalists to report that, with details. If a politician claims to support public education it is the job of journalists to look at their voting record to see if they indeed do support public education. I have been monitoring the local media for more than 10 years and they rarely practice serious journalism.
Reporters yes verify claims and to report, but that is not accountability. It boils down to the people/voters to hold them accountable by what is reported and more importantly their own research and let their disapproval or approval be heard through their votes.
Let me ask you this. Before writing this did you talk to Mr. Albin to verify your claims against him or to question why he does things the way he does … after all reporting is to be fair?
Another thing you have to keep in mind that there is all kinds of ways now days to report the news, TV, Radio, Papers, and Internet and with many avenues comes different restrains on time and room given the medium that is used, which is also a point I made in my first post … there is so much to cover in fifteen minutes, and if you were truly watching Mr. Albin you would see that his reporting is complete for he has always from what I have seen followed up and reported accordingly … Lansing as he has told the viewers many times is his second home, so what is not covered on To The Point is covered through out the week on WOODTV8 news at 5, 6, and 11.
Let me ask you Nancy, why are you such an apologist for WOOD TV 8 and Rick Albin? Channel 8 is owned by LIN TV, which is a major player in the broadcast industry. As we have documented for over 10 years, during election cycles TV 8 will make millions of dollars from paid political advertising, but fail the public when it comes to investigative reporting on politicians and candidates. Rick Albin might call Lansing his second home, but he never reports outside of the accepted framework of partisan politics and rarely uses independent sources when reporting. As was mentioned in the original analysis, when Snyder said Grand Rapids, Flint and Lansing was given $500,000 (taxpayer money) for a collaborative project Albin failed to mention that this money went to JP Morgan Chase Bank……which seems like useful information that viewers should know, especially considering the lack of trust the public seems to have with the financial sector these days.
Nancy has some interesting views on journalism and other topics which she posts on WOOD-TV’s blog site. Here are some quotes:
“I believe we should totally do away with unions. All unions do is help people find loopholes to say it is okay to be lazy. I have never had a good experience with a union.”
Cherbeyla liked the news story “Bills would allow ‘right to work’ zones”
“Thank you Rep. Joe Haveman!” on an article about Haverman’s support of dismantling union power by overturning the 1969 laws on arbitration.
On Snyder’s 2011 budget: “”Living off the legacy of a broken system” … it is time to fix what is broken and create a new legacy and not just any legacy but one that all of Michigan can be proud of, one that our children can thrive in and pass on to generations to come.”
So she’s not only a big fan of News 8, she’s a big fan of Czar Snyder and his draconian policies to dismantle Michigan and divide it among his corporate owners. Anyone questioning that, or speaking truth to power, or attempting to uncover Snyder’s Mackinac-Policy-Center-driven agenda, would be offensive to her–or so I would guess from her other comments online.