Media Watch
New York- Newly unearthed records reveal that, in 2004, when Americans were in the midst of a brutal electoral battle over whether to reelect a president posing as a war hero, a commanding US reporter, Dan Rather, went AWOL.
Just three months before the election, Rather had a story that might have changed the outcome of that razor-close race. We now know that Dan cut a back-room deal to shut his mouth, grab his ankles, and let his network retract a story he knew to be absolutely true.
In September 2004 when Rather cowered, Bush was riding high in the polls. Now, with Bush's approval ratings are below smallpox, Rather has come out of hiding to shoot at the lame duck. Thanks, Dan.
It began on September 8, 2004, when Rather, on CBS, ran a story that Daddy Bush Senior had, in 1968, put in the fix to get his baby George out of the Vietnam War and into the Texas Air National Guard. Little George then rode out the war defending Houston from Viet Cong attack.
Just three months before the election, Rather had a story that might have changed the outcome of that razor-close race. We now know that Dan cut a back-room deal to shut his mouth, grab his ankles, and let his network retract a story he knew to be absolutely true.
In September 2004 when Rather cowered, Bush was riding high in the polls. Now, with Bush's approval ratings are below smallpox, Rather has come out of hiding to shoot at the lame duck. Thanks, Dan.
It began on September 8, 2004, when Rather, on CBS, ran a story that Daddy Bush Senior had, in 1968, put in the fix to get his baby George out of the Vietnam War and into the Texas Air National Guard. Little George then rode out the war defending Houston from Viet Cong attack.
"The other kids were all into black power," Oprah told the Tribune in the mid-1980s. But "I wasn’t a dashiki kind of woman … Excellence was the best deterrent to racism and that became my philosophy."
Excellence indeed. Few would deny that Oprah Winfrey has achieved an extraordinary degree of THAT, at least by our society’s warped standards. Witty, articulate, attractive, beloved by tens of millions, and fabulously wealthy, she is the "I pulled myself up by my bootstraps" queen of a vast media empire. Oprah is a living embodiment of the American Dream. What is perhaps most inspiring to her genuflecting disciples is that Oprah rose to her stratospheric position of wealth and influence from an impoverished start in a socioeconomic hierarchy still largely dominated by white males.
Oprah Winfrey ostensibly possesses the mythical Midas Touch, a generous spirit, deep spiritual wisdom, and, in the eyes of those blinded by their adoration, the credentials of a saint. Yet despite appearing destined for canonization, Oprah injects heavy doses of infectious pus into the already deeply abscessed wound of the American psyche.
Excellence indeed. Few would deny that Oprah Winfrey has achieved an extraordinary degree of THAT, at least by our society’s warped standards. Witty, articulate, attractive, beloved by tens of millions, and fabulously wealthy, she is the "I pulled myself up by my bootstraps" queen of a vast media empire. Oprah is a living embodiment of the American Dream. What is perhaps most inspiring to her genuflecting disciples is that Oprah rose to her stratospheric position of wealth and influence from an impoverished start in a socioeconomic hierarchy still largely dominated by white males.
Oprah Winfrey ostensibly possesses the mythical Midas Touch, a generous spirit, deep spiritual wisdom, and, in the eyes of those blinded by their adoration, the credentials of a saint. Yet despite appearing destined for canonization, Oprah injects heavy doses of infectious pus into the already deeply abscessed wound of the American psyche.
Former readers of Mad Magazine can remember a regular feature called “Scenes We’d Like to See.” It showed what might happen if candor replaced customary euphemisms and evasions. These days, what media scenes would we like to see?
One aspect of news media that needs a different paradigm is the correction ritual. Newspapers are sometimes willing to acknowledge faulty reporting, but the “correction box” is routinely inadequate -- the journalistic equivalent of self-flagellation for jaywalking in the course of serving as an accessory to deadly crimes.
Some daily papers are scrupulous about correcting the smallest factual errors that have made it into print. So, we learn that a first name was misspelled or a date was wrong or a person was misidentified in a photo caption. However, we rarely encounter a correction that addresses a fundamental flaw in what passes for ongoing journalism.
Here are some of the basic corrections that we’d really like to see:
One aspect of news media that needs a different paradigm is the correction ritual. Newspapers are sometimes willing to acknowledge faulty reporting, but the “correction box” is routinely inadequate -- the journalistic equivalent of self-flagellation for jaywalking in the course of serving as an accessory to deadly crimes.
Some daily papers are scrupulous about correcting the smallest factual errors that have made it into print. So, we learn that a first name was misspelled or a date was wrong or a person was misidentified in a photo caption. However, we rarely encounter a correction that addresses a fundamental flaw in what passes for ongoing journalism.
Here are some of the basic corrections that we’d really like to see:
The U.S. media establishment is mainlining another fix for the Iraq war: It isn’t so bad after all, American military power could turn wrong into right, chronic misleaders now serve as truth-tellers. The hit is that the war must go on.
When the White House chief of staff Andrew Card said five years ago that “you don’t introduce new products in August,” he was explaining the need to defer an all-out PR campaign for invading Iraq until early fall. But this year, August isn’t a bad month to launch a sales pitch for a new and improved Iraq war. Bad products must be re-marketed to counteract buyers’ remorse.
“War critics” who have concentrated on decrying the lack of U.S. military progress in Iraq are now feeling the hoist from their own petards. But that’s to be expected. Those who complain that the war machine is ineffective are asking for more effective warfare even when they think they’re demanding peace.
When the White House chief of staff Andrew Card said five years ago that “you don’t introduce new products in August,” he was explaining the need to defer an all-out PR campaign for invading Iraq until early fall. But this year, August isn’t a bad month to launch a sales pitch for a new and improved Iraq war. Bad products must be re-marketed to counteract buyers’ remorse.
“War critics” who have concentrated on decrying the lack of U.S. military progress in Iraq are now feeling the hoist from their own petards. But that’s to be expected. Those who complain that the war machine is ineffective are asking for more effective warfare even when they think they’re demanding peace.
In mid-July, a media advisory from “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” announced a new series of interviews on the PBS show that will address “what Iraq might look like when the U.S. military leaves.”
A few days later, Time magazine published a cover story titled “Iraq: What will happen when we leave.”
But it turns out, what will happen when we leave is that we won’t leave.
Urging a course of action that’s now supported by “the best strategic minds in both parties,” the Time story calls for “an orderly withdrawal of about half the 160,000 troops currently in Iraq by the middle of 2008.” And: “A force of 50,000 to 100,000 troops would dig in for a longer stay to protect America’s most vital interests...”
On Iraq policy, in Washington, the differences between Republicans and Democrats -- and between the media’s war boosters and opponents -- are often significant. Yet they’re apt to mask the emergence of a general formula that could gain wide support from the political and media establishment.
A few days later, Time magazine published a cover story titled “Iraq: What will happen when we leave.”
But it turns out, what will happen when we leave is that we won’t leave.
Urging a course of action that’s now supported by “the best strategic minds in both parties,” the Time story calls for “an orderly withdrawal of about half the 160,000 troops currently in Iraq by the middle of 2008.” And: “A force of 50,000 to 100,000 troops would dig in for a longer stay to protect America’s most vital interests...”
On Iraq policy, in Washington, the differences between Republicans and Democrats -- and between the media’s war boosters and opponents -- are often significant. Yet they’re apt to mask the emergence of a general formula that could gain wide support from the political and media establishment.
CNN allowed the eight Democratic presidential campaigns to vote: Should CNN
continue to place its preferred candidates together in the center of the
stage in order to keep the candidates it ignores off camera at the edges, or
should it follow the model PBS used last week and choose candidate positions
on the stage by random drawing? Dodd, Gravel, and Kucinich were joined by
Hillary Clinton in opting for the random drawing. Edwards and Obama were
joined by Richardson and Biden in opting to stick Edwards, Clinton, and
Obama in the middle. The vote was four to four. What to do? Appeal to the
public? You're kidding, right? CNN cast the deciding vote itself and will
stick with the podium positioning that suits its stance of choosing our
elected officials for us.
Another Fourth on the North Fork. Time to pick the new Strawberry Queen, shine the fire trucks, put out the collection jar for the un-insured and beat up the bald guy from out of town.
I think it's only game to allow my critics their say on my home page.
This editorial is re-printed in my local penny-saver...
[Regarding] gonzo "journalist" - and I use that term lightly - Greg Palast.
Mr. Palast, as you may recall, is the former summer resident who reached The New York Times' non-fiction best-seller list with not one but two books, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" and "Armed Madhouse," which was published earlier this year.
And I quote (from "Armed Madhouse"):
- '[The North Fork], if you look at a map, is situated at the ass end of nowhere. We are known hereabouts for our Strawberry Festival and fire truck parade. According to the census, this tiny place is made up almost entirely of inbred farmers, real estate speculators and volunteer firemen.'
I think it's only game to allow my critics their say on my home page.
This editorial is re-printed in my local penny-saver...
[Regarding] gonzo "journalist" - and I use that term lightly - Greg Palast.
Mr. Palast, as you may recall, is the former summer resident who reached The New York Times' non-fiction best-seller list with not one but two books, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" and "Armed Madhouse," which was published earlier this year.
And I quote (from "Armed Madhouse"):
- '[The North Fork], if you look at a map, is situated at the ass end of nowhere. We are known hereabouts for our Strawberry Festival and fire truck parade. According to the census, this tiny place is made up almost entirely of inbred farmers, real estate speculators and volunteer firemen.'
Jonah Goldberg is the living, breathing embodiment of virtually all that is pernicious in the malignant socioeconomic and political structures collectively known as the Americ"an Empire. Yet tragically, this scheming sycophant to the cynical, privileged criminals of the US plutocracy reaches countless millions through myriad corporate media conduits as he weaves his sophistic arguments supporting nearly every morally repulsive aspect of United States foreign policy.
Rising to his position amongst the US mainstream punditry elite through vigorous and shameless self-promotion based on his mother’s involvement in the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, young Jonah quickly learned our culture’s ferocious appetite for the sordid, the lurid, and all that validates our collective pathological narcissism euphemistically called the American Dream. To this day, he skillfully crafts malevolent agitprop to convince and reassure us here in the United States that it is our unconditional right to murder, exploit, invade, and oppress as we preserve and advance the "American Way."
Rising to his position amongst the US mainstream punditry elite through vigorous and shameless self-promotion based on his mother’s involvement in the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, young Jonah quickly learned our culture’s ferocious appetite for the sordid, the lurid, and all that validates our collective pathological narcissism euphemistically called the American Dream. To this day, he skillfully crafts malevolent agitprop to convince and reassure us here in the United States that it is our unconditional right to murder, exploit, invade, and oppress as we preserve and advance the "American Way."
Larry Kudlow is CEO of Kudlow & Co., LLC, an economic and investment research firm. Kudlow is host of CNBC’s “Kudlow & Company” which airs weeknights at 5 p.m. He is the host of “The Larry Kudlow Show” on WABC Radio on Saturdays 10:00am. Kudlow is a nationally syndicated columnist and also hosts his own blog. He is a contributing editor of National Review magazine, as well as a columnist and economics editor for National Review Online. He is the author of “American Abundance: The New Economic and Moral Prosperity,” published by Forbes in January 1998. Kudlow is consistently ranked one of the nation’s premier and most accurate economic forecasters according to The Wall Street Journal’s semiannual forecasting survey.
Greetings all,
Last night I attended the first of two training/prep meetings for the FCC hearing scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, March 7 at the Broad Street Presbyterian Church, just east of the I-70 bridge on the north side (parking in rear; COTA #16). More details can be found at the website of one of the sponsors, the "other" Free Press: freepress.net
We received informative packets about the FCC and the issues involving media consolidation, the primary focus of this hearing. It is "informal" even though 3 of 5 FCC commissioners will be in attendance, the first for Commissioner McDowell, a Republican. The others have included only the Democrat appointees but because Columbus had a grandparented exception put in place (so that the Dispatch, TV, and radio could be owned by same people), we are a unique place to discuss the limited and limiting perspectives of limited, focused ownership. This coupled with issues of competition and advertising as well as pushing out local news, even in emergencies as some communities have reported.
Last night I attended the first of two training/prep meetings for the FCC hearing scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, March 7 at the Broad Street Presbyterian Church, just east of the I-70 bridge on the north side (parking in rear; COTA #16). More details can be found at the website of one of the sponsors, the "other" Free Press: freepress.net
We received informative packets about the FCC and the issues involving media consolidation, the primary focus of this hearing. It is "informal" even though 3 of 5 FCC commissioners will be in attendance, the first for Commissioner McDowell, a Republican. The others have included only the Democrat appointees but because Columbus had a grandparented exception put in place (so that the Dispatch, TV, and radio could be owned by same people), we are a unique place to discuss the limited and limiting perspectives of limited, focused ownership. This coupled with issues of competition and advertising as well as pushing out local news, even in emergencies as some communities have reported.