GREENFIELD — In 1983, the late historian and Amherst College professor Henry Steele Commager spoke of “the general bankruptcy of politics, the bankruptcy of the presidency, the bankruptcy of Congress,” Greenfield Recorder Senior Reporter Richie Davis told an audience Wednesday at Greenfield Community College.
In his day, Commager railed against the McCarthyism of the 1950s, the Vietnam War, and called Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan “the two worst presidents in American history.” Referring to Nixon and Reagan, Commager added: “These are what television may give us as presidents of the future. … We tolerate the degradation and almost the humiliation of subjecting our leaders to trivia and we bombard them with trivia. … The candidates depend on television for their notoriety, depend on television for everything.”
Davis chose to talk about Commager during the “Commager Lecture Series” at GCC to “take stock of the state of our democracy at a time when it seems under serious threat — and the role the press can play in an age of ‘alternative facts,’ ‘fake news’ and what our current president … calls a dishonest news media.”
As Davis read President Donald Trump’s quotes about what he calls the dishonest news media, a projector flashed a headline from the early 1970s: “Nixon Blasts ‘False Charges.’” On June 17, 1972, police arrested five men trying to bug and steal documents from the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Gradually, the abuses of power by the Nixon administration emerged and, facing possible impeachment, Nixon resigned in 1974.
“And so, if the Watergate burglary were to take place in 2017, or 2016, what would it look like?” asked Davis. “What would Henry say?”
“I believe our democracy is being threatened … (by) the growing disparity of wealth, combined with the enormous influence of money on our political system,” said Davis, who has reported on Franklin County for about 40 years. “There is extreme social and political polarization and an anger-driven attempt … to dismantle programs set up for the common good.”
Davis said “billions of dollars” are now being spent to influence elections from “donors hidden from us.” In 2016, Davis said, $43 million in “dark money” was spent on the presidential election and another $40 million from unknown donors was spent in the top six Senate races, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Also, as the business model for publications founders, media outlets are being consolidated through buyouts. Davis said in the early 1980s, most media in the United States were owned by only 50 corporations. Now up to six corporations control 90 percent of the media, said Davis, citing the Free Press watchdog group.
He said more voices are being heard over cable channels, blogs and internet sources, but “confusion abounds over what’s news, opinion, ads or outright propaganda.”
“Here’s where I want to make clear my disdain for the term ‘media,’ because of a blurring of the lines between news, entertainment and social media,” Davis said. When we choose a reality-show celebrity for president, when we believe we’re getting the real news by reading a blog or listening to a talk-jock … we have problems.”
Davis said at least 45 percent of us get our news from Facebook. Where news content is traditionally determined by editors, social media news is often determined by algorithms. TV news content is also based on “what audiences want to see.”
“We’re also living at a time of an ego-driven president with a ‘reality-show’ resume who’s set up his own (Trump Tube online) network and has a Twitter following of 40 million — and has relentlessly assaulted the news media for its ‘fake news’ coverage,” said Davis.
Davis grew up in New York, studied journalism and political science at the State University of New York Brockport when “‘the credibility gap’ was how we summarized the discrepancy between what Washington was telling us about the Vietnam War and what we were seeing in press accounts,” said Davis.
After school, Davis reported for a chain of suburban weeklies for two years and came to Franklin County for a vacation on a Shelburne farm. When he started working at The Greenfield Recorder in 1976, it was only 10 years after the newspaper had stopped using lead type — and the reporters were typing their stories on manual typewriters and “cut and pasted our stories with real scissors and paste,” he told the audience.
In Franklin County, Davis found a thriving Greenfield downtown, busy factories and a place where “kids really did go fishing and skating nearby for fun … and many did farm chores. Everyone seemed to garden. This was heaven, I thought. And I got to write about it through fresh eyes and convey how special it was.”
“The beauty of a small newspaper, I found, was in giving voice to people who seemed to be passionate about what they were doing, whether they’re positive actions for the people around here, or simply in how they live life,” Davis said.
Davis said critical thinking is essential in this era of mixed messages. His advice for getting through these times is: “Don’t share misinformation.”
“We need, in this country, to support a free press, vocally and financially,” he said, “because the business model … is being severely challenged. And though this may also seem self-serving, we need to recognize the value of having a local news-gathering organization, which can strengthen community by building understanding of shared issues and bridging divides.”
Davis, who has worked 41 years at The Recorder, was called “a local hero” by GCC President Bob Pura. “I think we have a gem in the Recorder. They are an important part of why Franklin County comes together.”
Regina Curtis, GCC’s executive director of resource development, said Davis has received more than 30 journalism awards for his work and has covered in-depth “issues important to this college.”
Reach Diane Broncacco at: 413-772-0261, ext. 277 or dbroncaccio@recorder.com