Pajamas Media

122 Comments

1. rachel peepers:

Nice article.

Here’s a tip. Mark Lloyd, Obama’s FCC diversity chief, likely hates free speech more than Rush hates Communism.

Do some digging on Lloyd. There’s a great story there on another American-hating Obama unvetted employee.

Sep 9, 2009 - 12:56 am 2. Pragmatist:

Some hope asking the MSM to dig in to or investigate or expose or even do anything but arse lick the Obamanation and all his COMMUNIST buddies. They are all one and the same ‘libtard’ American values hating moonbats lefties who THINK that only they know whats good for the USA.

Sep 9, 2009 - 1:16 am 3. Wil:

Christian,

You are vastly too forgiving, and jaw-droppingly naive. The MSM knows perfectly well that they viciously lie on a daily basis. Sheesh, that is the whole point! They know they are unfair, hate-filled, irrational, and profoundly one-sided. American MSM journalism is absolutely dead, replaced by mindless, dishonest, cult-like liberal propaganda. It is literally not worth one minute of time to listen to, or to watch.

In this astonishingly naive article, it is as if you want to ask German concentration camp guards, just before they gas the next batch of Jews, to kindly consider the Jew’s point of view, so they can just get along. Unbelievable!

Sep 9, 2009 - 2:09 am 4. Richard Blaine:

Hey, kids don’t aspire to become journalists in order to report the news. They want to “make a difference” or “change the world”. Truthfulness is no way to achieve power!

Sep 9, 2009 - 2:44 am 5. elvis:

You’ve go to be kidding! This sounds like a list for the high school newspaper.
You also sound like part of the media problem!

Sep 9, 2009 - 3:23 am 6. Dreaming...:

Mr. Toto missed an item.

#13. Call it like it is!

Barrack Hussein Obama, the Senate’s most liberal Senator announced that he has decided that he deserves to be elected President of the United States.

Readers and listeners should be aware that Mr. Obama is a man who was raised a Muslim under the radical Islamic doctrines of hatred and overthrow of Western civilization; especially the United States of America and Israel.

He later converted to and eagerly embraced a bastardized version of Christianity called Black Liberation Theology which teaches black children to hate America, white people and Jews for hundreds of years of their evil suppression of the black race.

While an active member of this church for over 20 years Mr. Obama’s pastor Reverend Wright frequently screams, “God damn America!” for causing the September 11th 2001 terrorists attacks, among many other equally repugnant statements. Mr. Obama passionately praises this man in the writings of two of his memoirs.

There is more; much more, but it should be crystal clear to everyone by now that Mr. Obama would without any doubt whatsoever cause extremely serious damage to the United States of America if, God forbid he was ever elected President.

“Back to you Brad”, “Old Buddy!”

Sep 9, 2009 - 4:08 am 7. Ed Wallis:

To the critical posters above of Mr. Toto: tsk tsk tsk.

It’s not “naive” to point out the obvious…especially when such common sense is no longer “common.”

Mr. Toto writes, “So be different, before the last newspaper rolls off the presses.”

It made me think how “The Antique Media” belongs in a museum….

It is already there: it’s called The Newseum, and it’s in Washington, DC.
A true cesspool of the ossified industry which devolved from the Freedom Of The Press.

Sep 9, 2009 - 4:19 am 8. Spider79:

Young reporter to editor: I was hearing on Fox News and Rush some
interesting ideas on the health care debate.

Editor to young reporter: Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Sep 9, 2009 - 4:34 am 9. Dave:

Nice try, Mr. Toto.

But today’s journalists are committed to that one side of the story, to the ascendancy of ‘inspired progressivism’, to the stamping out and defeating of the evil conservative wherever he lives and breathes.

They are journalists because they already feel this way. The profession reinforces the feelings, as would any profession in which the office talk is all ‘one way’. But they arrive READY.

I remember journalism in high school. The question was always asked; ‘why do you want a career in journalism?’

and the answer was always the same. “I want to change the world for the better, make people understand, make them aware”. In other words, I am insecure and want to sooth my own ego by having lots of people LISTEN to me, and I’ll take what sounds like the wise and compassionate position in every issue to make myself look good.

And we all know the wise and compassionate side of every issue when you’re 17. Give everything to everyone, no war, a woman’s right to CHOOSE, yada yada yada. No REAL wisdom need apply. The world is comfortingly clear and simple to a young person.

And when they grow into their profession learning NOTHING from the ‘other side’ because they’re not EXPOSED to it, they begin to fester and rot in their juvenile world view. Like being locked in a room with a hundred people exactly like you. No maturity possible.

It’s the same all over the world. I lived in Europe for years, and the public there is far more conservative than their journalists. Belgium, France, England, it’s all the same. SO sad.

Sep 9, 2009 - 5:18 am 10. Dave:

So they won’t listen to your advice, because your advice runs contrary to the sense of mission and purpose which is pre-established in today’s journalists before they graduate high school.

Nice try, Christian.

Sep 9, 2009 - 5:20 am 11. Jack Olson:

It would help the ever-shrinking numbers of journos if they would get rid of their reverence for awards from other journos. Ask the NY Times how they know whether their newspaper is any good and they will answer, look at all our Pulitzer Prizes. Ask Dan Rather how he knows he and CBS News are any good and he will answer, look at all our Peabody Awards. Look at the bio blurb at the foot of a column by Maureen Dowd, George Will, or E.J. Dionne, and as likely as not it will cite a Pulitzer Prize. Even Toto couldn’t resist mentioning Bernard Goldberg’s Emmy Award. Unfortunately, awards given by one’s colleagues is a powerful way to enforce groupthink. This is why Goldberg won several Emmy Awards for exposing corruption in institutions like Major League Baseball, the Saudi government, and the horse racing industry. But, as soon as he exposed media bias in books like “Bias” and “Arrogance”, his journalistic colleagues called him a “no-talent hack.” Journalists do not give other journalists awards for pointing out their low and declining standards no matter how convincing non-journalists find that to be.

Sep 9, 2009 - 5:23 am 12. Still Bill:

Mr. Toto: The word “journalist” means something to me. It means a person who reports the news, the good, the bad, and the ugly, no matter whose ox is being gored. If the ox happens to be a Democrat, fine; if the ox happens to be a Republican, fine, if the ox happens to be an Independent, fine; if the ox happens to be a fascist white man or white woman, fine. If the ox happens to be a Marxist black man or black woman residing in the White House, fine. In my opinion, there are very few “journalists” in the main stream media. Most of the them are propagandists. Real journalists understand what the word “integrity” means. If you are searching for one of those men or women with integrity, don’t look in the direction of CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, the AP, the New York Times, the Washington Post, etc. If you look in that direction, you may find a few journalists – unfortunately very, very few.

Sep 9, 2009 - 5:23 am 13. Aureliano:

Just a small point about media bias.

I think that not only is the term inaccurate, but it has also lost all ability to sway people because they have heard it too often — most people just tune out when they hear the term because it’s just part of the partisan background noise, and has been for decades.

If a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed liberal Democrat kid just out of college goes to work as a political reporter and writes one story about a naughty politician who is Republican, he will be inclined to mention the politician’s party affiliation in the first or second paragraph. When he writes another story about a Democrat ne’er-do-well, he will be inclined not mention the politician’s affiliation, or he will mention it further down in the story.

This is bias. The kid is a liberal Democrat, so he naturally thinks Republicans are the source of all that is wrong with the world, and is inclined to cut the Democrat some slack.

But in the age of the Internet this bias should last all of ten minutes. It will take only that long for someone to email him after the stories are posted and hammer him for not mentioning the Democrat’s affiliation, while pointing out that he mentioned the Republican’s affiliation early on in another story. At that point the young reporter KNOWS that going forward he should either not mention the Republican’s affiliation, or mention the Democrat’s party label early on in the story. He knows what’s appropriate, and why.

The second the young ‘reporter’ ignores this simple, indisputable point and writes another story where he does the exact same thing, he morphs from biased reporter to ACTIVIST reporter.

These people aren’t innocently ‘forgetting’ to mention party affiliation, and neither are they somehow unaware of any of the other myriad ways in which news stories are manipulated. They are fully aware of ALL the tricks and their own biases because they’ll hear about it continuously through email. In short, EVERYTHING they do re:framing a story is intentional — everything.

They are political activists. Period.

Please don’t refer to it as media bias. The term is ‘liberal activism in the media’, or ‘political activism’ or somesuch. Those terms are far more accurate, and don’t carry the time-worn baggage of the term ‘media bias’.

Sep 9, 2009 - 5:48 am 14. Scarecrow:

TOTO:

Apparently you’ve just returned from Oz. Your is certainly admirable. But you’re talking to yourself. Two decades of educational indoctrination is not easily overcome. Regards to Dorothy.

Sep 9, 2009 - 5:55 am 15. BackwardsBoy:

Here’s another missed point: Don’t be afraid to acknowledge that we live in the best country in the world, despite its warts. People from every corner of the earth long for the freedom we take for granted and want to become Americans.

Too many “journalists” merely whine that we aren’t a perfect society, as if one ever existed. Their constant criticism permeates every word like the snooty child who thinks he knows everything, but really knows very little and refuses to learn. Which brings me to the biggest and most important item missing from the list: Journalism’s purpose and sole reason for being is to accurately inform your fellow citizens. If you let any bias creep in, then you have failed yourself and your neighbors. Your job isn’t to “change the world” or “make a difference”, those are merely feel-good phrases that belong on the bumper sticker of the Prius in front of you in traffic. Truth and accuracy should be your holy grail. Anything less is not worth your time or effort.

Sep 9, 2009 - 6:01 am 16. Nobama 2012:

@- 6 Dreaming…

Readers and listeners should be aware that Mr. Obama is a man who was raised a Muslim.

Talking to a female Russian-American wanna be,
the other day and she mentioned that Obama didn’t show up for the Christian God and Country Rally.

First president to no show in 42 years.

But he goes to the Ramadan fast-goat dinner and tells a few jokes and praises the Muslims for their courage and pride in America.

This man is starting to piss me off.

We are having a march in Washington DC Saturday,
rain or shine,
put on your boots because it will be full of piss and vinegar.

Can’t wait to see how many democrats show up.

Sep 9, 2009 - 6:20 am 17. whyamInotsurprised?:

With so many sources of information available today, it is amazing how many sites regurgitate the same “data”. It seems everyone seems to get their “news” from just a few real sources.

What about the bosses, editors, the people responsible for the stories that go out? It isn’t just journalists that should be chastised. And why don’t journalists go the next step and ask a few more logical questions. After the ten second sound bite, I’m always left with a “logical” follow-up question and frustrated that because of format issues, the rest of the story never gets told.

It doesn’t matter if the story is on paper or the internet, it is about honest reporting of facts with as little bias as possible.

As for the quotes of people like Bill Maher, who the hell cares. I want news. I don’t give a rats ass what Maher thinks. He is no one to me. He doesn’t make news, he is a talking head to some, I guess. Give me news, facts, background and don’t waste space with filler. If papers are dying that is why. Not only is reporting biased, it is irrelevant to what readers want.

This story is naive.

My advice would be:

Report facts.
Do your background checks.
Don’t be afraid of anyone.
Be Independent.
Be creative. It is very tiresome to see the same headlines on fifty sites.

Don’t shit in your own backyard. If you are an American, support your country. If you want to support terrorist rights, go to France. If you are a liberal and can’t stand success that FOX News has, get a clue, don’t whine.

How about being more in touch with middle America and not just from one of the coasts? Get out of your office more.

Be Contrarian. Ask ‘Why?” Why the big deal with Global Warming now? What happened to the coming Ice Age? Why is it called Climate Change now? Who made the name change? Follow the money. Who is behind these scam monstrosities?

I am not a journalist but an engineer/businessman. My education is best summed up by the ability to ask good questions. I thought the gist of journalism was to get answers to questions and then report. Somehow it has devolved to “my side is better than your side!” For the most part, it is a joke. It is going to take a lot of work to fix this reputation.

Sep 9, 2009 - 6:29 am 18. misanthopicus:

Christian, it’s really nice to show people around how they can do things better – yet I can see any reason to give a hint about how to do a better job to the collection of liberal sleazebags that make for the American Media. Actually they should be (perversely) encouraged to do more of what they’re currently doing, this cannot but bring their end earlier.

Die, liberal scum bag, die! The free market is encroaching them, the monopoly that the democrats have on the information industry has gone away – die, liberal scum, die! America sure will be a better place without New York Times or ABC.
Adio and no parting sorrows!

Sep 9, 2009 - 6:46 am 19. AThinkingPerson:

Mr. Toto: I enjoyed this article very much but was also much dismayed knowing that following your simple outline to truthful reporting is too much to ask of the current MSM.

When THOUSANDS of Americans are currently organizing NATIONWIDE and not getting any attention or disregarded out of hand, the writing is on the wall. Not sure though if it’s complete idiocy or just unabashed bias that prevents the MSM from taking note of the revolt under their noses. The one thing I AM sure of is that there will come a day when they will have no choice but to report what is happening in the bergs and hamlets of this great country. I shudder to think about what will be the catalyst for that awakening.

God Bless the Patriots standing up for all of us right now in the face of this oppressive regime. God Bless the reporters who are shouting in the current Hurricane of MSM Obama worship. God Bless this great nation as she weathers this liberal Constitutional pillaging.

Sep 9, 2009 - 7:03 am 20. Now and Then:

17. whyamInotsurprised?:
” I thought the gist of journalism was to get answers to questions and then report.”

Obama’s a Muslim. Obama went to a madrassa. Obama was born in Kenya. Obama wants to kill babies. Obama wants to kill old people. Obama wants to destroy America.

Well, what can you say? Oh, here’s what you can say . . . what are the equivalent innacuracies that we’ve heard from the MSM?

Sep 9, 2009 - 7:32 am 21. Sandra:

I am old J-school grad and in the “olden days,” we were taught not to take a side, be straightforward and don’t include your own opinion. What a dinosaur I am – I truly believed that was what guided all news room editors. A few years ago, my daughter – who was a regular contributor to a local feature magazine, an English major and a gifted writer, applied for a part time job working on the editorial page of her local newspaper. She was a selected for an interview. Her resume in addition to her body of published work both on her college newspaper and the local magazine, excellent computer and desk top publishing skills and a willingness to work part time with no expectation for a full time position. At the end of the interview, the editor asked for her “political views’ – did she consider herself a liberal or a conservative. She was candid and said she would probably fall under conservative in some respects, but would not supportive of war in general because she had two young sons. I was shocked when she told me she had been asked for her political views. But not surprised when she did not get a call back. Conservative viewpoints: not welcome by today’s mainstream media.

Sep 9, 2009 - 7:41 am 22. Anonymous:

“Ultimately, the public wants something different.”

Yes, they want objectivity and journalistic integrity, and are obviously not getting such from the “State-Run Media. So, we go elsewhere for “real” news, which so far hasn’t seemed to bother or effect any degree of change in CNN, NBC, NYT, CBS, MSNBC, WP, or ABC reporting policies.

The question is why is the “Fake Media” so biased?

1. One possible answer is that network executives and the “newsmen” themselves are incurable ideologues who believe themselves to honest and objective. They believe their coverage (or non-coverage) of issues and events to be even-handed and/or in the best interests of the public. As such, they remind one of the DC insider who couldn’t believe Ronald Reagan had defeated Jimmy Carter in 1980, citing her belief that she didn’t know anyone who had voted for Reagan.

2. The only other possibility is that the “Fake Media” has collectively chosen to be totally and incurably dishonest and corrupt and has no desire to cleanse itself.

And if I had a choice, I would believe (2).

Sep 9, 2009 - 8:12 am 23. Michael:

Give it up “Now and Then”, the MSM is unsupportable. I have seen liberals cringe at some of their “reporting”.

If you haven’t noticed this is about reporters, not commentators. I know that must be a difficult concept since reporters have been bastardized into commentators for decades. That and them lying about it for just as long.

Sep 9, 2009 - 8:23 am 24. NCBob:

I’ve long wondered why there are schools for journalism and none for prostitution; both crafts seem on a par. The captive media has turned into soviet style hacks, writing what they are told by the propagandists of the left wing.
Why? I gotta assume it was money. Some of the key guys were bribed to force an organizational shift (not too difficult when you realize that most captive media types were trained by commies after the war and during the “get McCarthy” era).
But, the key is that captive media types were allowed to develop celebrity. In effect, the “journalists” used to work just for their pimps. Now they work for the same pimps and for themselves, their agents, their publishers, their unions or their networks.

Sep 9, 2009 - 8:25 am 25. arhooley:

Now and Then, let’s drop the generalizing and the ongoing battle for a moment, and pick up one tiny piece of evidence.

Why did the New York Times never report a single word about the Van Jones controversy until he resigned?

Sep 9, 2009 - 8:42 am 26. mhr:

I’d been a liberal and a teacher all my life when out of curiosity I began tuning in to Rush Limbaugh. My initial reaction to whatever he said was rage. I’d utter an expletive and reach over and tune him out. The next day I would listen again. I realized eventually that my fury was caused by my inability to deal with his arguments. I had read a great deal about the history of communism and about the Soviet Union and about socialism so I was not a complete idiot of a liberal. Liberals generally avoid the subject of how marxism works in the real world. I am now a conservative. The world views of conservatism and liberalism are astonishingly different. Thomas Sowell’s A Conflict of Visions is the best book I have found on that subject.

Sep 9, 2009 - 8:44 am 27. Now and Then:

23. Michael:

Can’t think of any examples, eh?

Sep 9, 2009 - 8:46 am 28. Xe:

The lesson is boycott leftist media outlets that are trying to brainwash everyone and cover up anything that makes their agenda look bad.

Sep 9, 2009 - 8:48 am 29. David W. Lincoln:

As long as journalism is about delivering what it thinks its audience wants, the connection with the past will be maintained. But, as long as the only criteria of what ought to be delivered is, what makes sense to the gatekeeper, there will be people who refuse to learn the lessons in “Bias” and “Arrogance” by Bernie Goldberg.

Sep 9, 2009 - 8:54 am 30. goy:

Apparently there should have been at least one journalist at this event.

No one seems to know that it happened, and that a case is now on the California docket which, if not dismissed as the judge has indicated, will lead to discovery forcing BHO to publicly release probative documentation affirming his Article II eligibility to be elected POTUS.

Today California judge David Carter scheduled a tentative trial date for the case that is before the court, a case challenging Barack Obama’s qualifications to be president. The trial date has been set for January 26, 2010.

If the case does in fact go to trial it will be the first time that such a case has been argued in open court.

Today’s hearing was highly anticipated and long awaited by birthers. The hearing had several motions that were heard, including a resolution to long standing questions about whether Orly Taitz properly served notice to the defendants .

Sep 9, 2009 - 9:18 am 31. Christian Toto:

Thanks for all the comments … journalism today is in very sad shape, indeed. But if only a few journalists read this, or other critiques floating around the web, it will be a good thing. Couldn’t hurt.

I spoke to a former CNN anchor recently who said she only started to see the bias in her industry once she left it. Too many journalists live in a bubble impervious to criticism. What a shame.

Sep 9, 2009 - 9:42 am 32. Mike:

You forgot one.
13. Research, research, research. If you are going to slam conservatives for questioning BHO speech to kids, remind everyone of the Congressional investigations into George H.W. Bush’s speech to Alice Deal Junior HS in 1991. And they went significantly further in their efforts than just voicing concern. What goes around, comes around.

Sep 9, 2009 - 9:46 am 33. Moogie:

Mr. Toto:

Here’s the reason the media will never follow your sound advice (start with video 1 and keep watching all the way to the end of video 9):

Bezmenov: Soviet Subversion of the Free World Press

Sep 9, 2009 - 9:51 am 34. Paul from Hamburg:

#13 – Good point about the difference between bias and activism.

Here is a fun game to play when someone tries to claim the media doesn’t have any liberal inclinations: Ask the person how often they hear or see the phrase “religious right” as part of a “news” story. Then ask them what news organizations use as the equivalent term on the left? If you have a stopwatch, time the ensuing silence.

Sep 9, 2009 - 9:52 am 35. Michael:

#27, open a newspaper or turn on they TV news. There is your example.

Sep 9, 2009 - 9:53 am 36. XC:

I’ve read all of Bernard Goldberg’s books (I think), and it’s obvious me that when it comes to journalism, what he cares about is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. He’s one of the most eminently fair-minded media figures I’ve ever come across, or maybe THE most eminently fair-minded. What drives journalists nuts about him is that he wasn’t afraid to talk about all bias-related things they ignored or didn’t even notice, instead of following the party line that there’s no liberal bias in the media.

Sep 9, 2009 - 9:55 am 37. Moogie:

Toto: “I spoke to a former CNN anchor recently who said she only started to see the bias in her industry once she left it. Too many journalists live in a bubble impervious to criticism.”

I would add that our politicians are living in the same bubble. Witness the shock and surprise when they were confronted by angry Americans. They are insulated from real people, and are therefore completely disconnected with those they represent. They truly cannot understand why we aren’t slobbering over their fine, elitists selves.

Sep 9, 2009 - 9:56 am 38. bibio44:

“Give Rush a listen. Instead of demonizing Limbaugh, the most powerful radio talker on the right, why not tune him in for an hour or three?”

I’d have to score some pain-killers off him after 5 minutes. And as for Fox News, it’s the biggest journalistic disgrace since the Deerborn Independent.

Sep 9, 2009 - 10:08 am 39. Moogie:

#30 goy: “Today’s hearing was highly anticipated and long awaited by birthers.”

Just using the term “birthers” is a great example of the bias of the liberal media. I’ve seen conservative media use the same term, which is unfortunate, as it calls to mind loony conspiracy theorists. The same is true for the term “truthers.” They are biased labels that should be dropped.

Sep 9, 2009 - 10:10 am 40. goy:

@39. Moogie: – Just using the term “birthers” is a great example of the bias of the liberal media.

I’ve tried to make this point, but it’s like trying to point out how pointless it is to tell youngsters to stop using the term “gay” (or “ghey”) to mean “dumb”, “stupid” or “lame”. Explaining that homosexual men co-opted the definition of the term “gay” in the first place just seems to go over most folks’ heads. Same with calling leftists “liberals”, which they most certainly aren’t, and trying to explain that communism (international socialism) and fascism (national socialism) are ideologically joined at the hip as two forms of totalitarianism, not diametrically opposed.

The problem is that there are just as many people in conservative circles – like PJM’s Rick Moran, LGF’s Charles Johnson (not much of a conservative) and Ace O’ Spades’ entire management, to mention a few – who take this same attitude. They sling the “birther” trope as Appeal to Ridicule fallacy and apply sweeping generalizations to everyone interested in this issue. The motivation appears to be, simply, so they can avoid being tainted by what they fear will result in charges of “racism”. Or perhaps they just don’t want to be bothered with pursuing the facts because the legalistic cover they get from the letter of the law encourages them to ignore its spirit. I don’t know.

The most significant inconvenient fact is that BHO has never publicly released probative documentation affirming his Article II eligibility to be elected POTUS. In this, he has fallen far below the precedent set by John McCain. No journalism outlet other than WND has ever openly acknowledged that fact, which is one that no one can dispute, since not even the State of Hawaii will accept a copy of a jpeg image of a facsimile of a document that does nothing but certify the existence of an original birth certificate. When someone provides something like that for, say, the Hawaiian Home Lands program, they are required to examine the petitioner’s original, vault copy Certificate.

There are some loony conspiracy theories floating around about BHO’s birth. Maybe they deserve the “birther” appellation. But there are also perfectly innocent, perfectly pedestrian scenarios that don’t portend any Omen-style conspiracy, which call the facts surrounding his birth into reasonable, considered question. The fact that BHO has gone to such unrealistic lengths to hide this aspect of his past, as well as everything else about his past (go read his very first Executive Order) lends those scenarios more credibility, it doesn’t detract from them.

Sep 9, 2009 - 10:45 am 41. Bozzio:

@ 38 “as for Fox News, it’s the biggest journalistic disgrace since the Deerborn Independent.”

Translation: “Since Fox News doesn’t adhere to the standards of left-wing bias that fit my ideological template, I therefore declare them to be objectively deficient as a journalistic organization.”

Gee, who’da thought?

Sep 9, 2009 - 10:51 am 42. Michael:

Aye, it’s a bitch when an organization bucks the left wing express. Hints of truth give the left digestive distress and cranial inflammation. This results in a form of Tourettes syndrome as they try desperately to alleviate their symptoms.

Sep 9, 2009 - 11:39 am 43. AThinkingPerson:

Funny how the liberal loons here keep trashing Fox News and Limbaugh and Beck when they are the ONLY MEDIA outlet that reported on the leadup to Van Jones’ resignation. I guess panting over Obama still counts as news in the liberal world? (sigh) Oh, to be one of the braindead liberals content with fawning and salivating over The One. Sometimes it truly is a burden to have to search out real news and commentary amidst all of the MSM rubbish. Thank you FOX news for still having a set among a long list of eunuch news outlets. I applaud your efforts!

Liberals just can’t take the heat and I for one will enjoy escorting them out of the kitchen.

Sep 9, 2009 - 11:40 am 44. Dale:

41. Bozzio:

No, it has nothing to do with left wing bias. It’s that Fox News has no journalistic standards whatsoever.

Don’t take my word for it; just take a look at this landmark case in which Fox News lobbied for and won the right to purposefully lie to its viewers:

http://ceasespin.org/ceasespin_blog/ceasespin_blogger_files/fox_news_gets_okay_to_misinform_public.html

Appellate Court Rules Media Can Legally Lie.
By Mike Gaddy. Published Feb. 28, 2003
On February 14, a Florida Appeals court ruled there is absolutely nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a major press organization. The court reversed the $425,000 jury verdict in favor of journalist Jane Akre who charged she was pressured by Fox Television management and lawyers to air what she knew and documented to be false information. The ruling basically declares it is technically not against any law, rule, or regulation to deliberately lie or distort the news on a television broadcast.

On August 18, 2000, a six-person jury was unanimous in its conclusion that Akre was indeed fired for threatening to report the station’s pressure to broadcast what jurors decided was “a false, distorted, or slanted” story about the widespread use of growth hormone in dairy cows.

The court did not dispute the heart of Akre’s claim, that Fox pressured her to broadcast a false story to protect the broadcaster from having to defend the truth in court, as well as suffer the ire of irate advertisers. Fox argued from the first, and failed on three separate occasions, in front of three different judges, to have the case tossed out on the grounds there is no hard, fast, and written rule against deliberate distortion of the news.

The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves.
———-

Also, take a look at any survey that asks participants to answer some basic political/historial/geographical questions, and sure enough, FOX News viewers are always at the bottom of the intellectual heap:

http://people-press.org/report/319/public-knowledge-of-current-affairs-little-changed-by-news-and-information-revolutions

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/714.html

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1319/death-panels-republicans-fox-viewers

Sep 9, 2009 - 11:42 am 45. Moogie:

#40 goy: All points well made and valid. News agencies and their “investigative” reporters are well trained in the use of subtle language manipulation.

For example, calling a person who is pro-life “anti-abortion” delivers the idea that the person is a negative: “anti.” Calling a person who supports abortion on demand “pro-choice” paints that person in the positive.

The viewer or reader of such “reporting” is clueless – for the most part – that they are being subtly manipulated towards a specific ideology.

Perhaps all news reporting should be preceeded with the warning to the viewer: “Warning: what you are about to see and hear is purposely and unapologetically skewed to the left/right. Those with opposing views are advised not to view this material.” I have a similar warning on my own blog: “Welcome to my blog! I am unabashedly and unapologetically pro-Constitution and anti-socialism of any kind.”

Sep 9, 2009 - 12:14 pm 46. Now and Then:

44 Dale . . . Slams the Fox harpies to the mat! Shut ‘em up! Shut ‘em down! Nice work.

Sep 9, 2009 - 12:14 pm 47. AThinkingPerson:

Re #41 Dale:
Do tell us all Dale, why didn’t your liberal media report on the leadup to Van Jones resignation? What can we read into their silence?

As for the survey’s you provided, I have one question…Did you actually READ them? Funny how you missed where it listed O’Reilly viewers with a 51% knowledge level, Limbaugh listeners with 50% knowledge level and CNN with a (wait for it, wait for it)…..paltry 41%.

Yeah Dale. Spin it some more for us bub.

Since you seem like someone interested in how news is spun, why not saunter on over to http://newsbusters.org/ and see what your liberal media has been spoonfeeding into your empty head? Until then I might suggest you watch O’Reilly. He seems to have really informed viewers!

Sep 9, 2009 - 12:18 pm 48. Poor Citzen:

Left wing press, right wing press… press without wings. I read them all. Then make up my own mind about things. Im an American.

Sep 9, 2009 - 12:33 pm 49. steveg:

Republicans never get a fair shake, thats a given. But moderates, libertarians, classic liberals are just as likely to be chewed up in the Bohemian Cult Triangle of Hollywood, academia and the entrenched media if they dare to cross paths with the leftist cultist.

Sep 9, 2009 - 12:45 pm 50. steveg:

No wonder Hugo Chavez is so admired by the american left. His closing down of any opposition media is normal procedure for the totalitarian left. Think of North Korea or Cuba for the media coverage you might expect from todays progressive fascist.

And the leftist cultist are upset about one traditional/ conservative news channel in America, while the left has NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSDNC and PBS propping up the democrat party 24/7. This is the same media that Obama stated at the news correspondents dinner, “you all voted for me” , and all the liberals giggled in harmony.

A pew poll after the election revealed that 62% of Dems, and 90% of Pubs thought the MSM was in the tank for Obama. Americans are aware of what is going on, and the so called MSM better wake up, and stop giggling.

Sep 9, 2009 - 1:15 pm 51. Saltherring:

#48 poor Citizen: Figure out yet who is lying? ….Wouldn’t take an objective person with half a brain very long….

But such a person would then have no excuse for watching/listening to the liars, would they?

So then what’s your excuse…short on brains, objectivity…or both?

Sep 9, 2009 - 1:31 pm 52. Saltherring:

bibio44 @ 38: What’s the problem? Too thick-skulled to grasp Limbaugh’s points or too biased to discern truth when you hear it?

Sep 9, 2009 - 1:37 pm 53. Dale:

47. AThinkingPerson: “Do tell us all Dale, why didn’t your liberal media report on the leadup to Van Jones resignation?”

Probably for the same reason that they didn’t report on the fact that VP Dick Cheney, a once and former energy executive, wrote American’s energy policy for the last 8 years behind closed doors with his energy executive buddies.

Probably for the same reason that they never bothered to do a thorough investigation into whether there actually were any WMDs in Iraq.

Probably for the same reason that they never investigated why it was that no one in the Bush administration paid attention to the “Bin Laden Determind to attack inside US” memo, or that they never investigated why the Federal Government was asleep at the wheel during Katrina despite the warnings of the Deputy Director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center.

“What can we read into their silence?”

That establishment journalists of every political ideology, left or right wing, are more keen on keeping their cushy, high-paying careers than they are on doing their jobs correctly and asking tough questions, because asking the tough questions will often result in losing access to the newsmakers and therefore will end your career. This is nothing new. You act as if FOX News wasn’t giving out hand jobs left and right for the past eight years to everyone with an (R) after their name.

Sep 9, 2009 - 1:41 pm 54. karlinsync:

very well written and I could not agree more. I want an ubbias report of the news both good, bad, and investigative. I will make up my own mind on choices I want for me and my family. The government has NEVER come into my living room and taken care of me. I have worked hard to make a living. When MSM fails to report news, makes a mockery of the other side of the debaters, and protects corrupt elected leaders then I cannot ever trust what crap they put over the airways or print media. (Hint: see Fox News ratings…hum )

Sep 9, 2009 - 1:46 pm 55. malclave:

@12
“The word “journalist” means something to me. It means a person who reports the news, the good, the bad, and the ugly, no matter whose ox is being gored.”

Now, to me, that’s a “reporter”. A “journalist” is someone who wants to create a narrative and will cherry-pick (or create out of whole cloth) “facts” to that end.

We need fewer journalists and more reporters.

Sep 9, 2009 - 2:03 pm 56. malclave:

@20
“Oh, here’s what you can say . . . what are the equivalent innacuracies that we’ve heard from the MSM?”

How about the video MSNBC doctored to fit their narrative about 2nd Amendment supporters?

Sep 9, 2009 - 2:06 pm 57. AThinkingPerson:

Dale: Typical liberal nonsense. Of course, as usual, you deliberately DIDN’T answer my simple question. WHY DIDN’T THE LIBERAL MEDIA REPORT ON VAN JONES BEFORE HE RESIGNED?

Love how you brought up a litany of BS. What was it? Oh yes, weapons of mass destruction, Cheney, Bush. WTF? No Palin? C’mon Dale. You’re going to get your liberal loony pin revoked.

You can keep on believing whatever is spoonfed into you Dale. The rest of us will dig a little deeper than what Obama looks like without his shirt or how toned Michelle’s arms are or how that dog is fitting in at the White House or even cocktail Wednesdays with Stevie Wonder. I know, I know, Ariana Huffington calls that news right Dale? Sorry. It ain’t.

Nope Dale, the rest of us will remain vigilante to the maintaining of the Constitution, the threat of a socialized USA and the continued sweeping under the rug of freedoms we used to enjoy being checked off by this oppressive regime. Since the liberals are too busy with their hands out wanting their government freebies at the expense of jobs, the conservatives, independents and moderate dems will have to keep a watchful eye.

Go back to sleep now Dale.

Sep 9, 2009 - 2:18 pm 58. AThinkingPerson:

re malclave:

MSNBC doctored a video? Liberals doctored a video? Oh DALE…?????? Oh Now and Then??????

Let’s have a peek shall we? http://polijamblog.polijam.com/?p=5297

Sep 9, 2009 - 2:20 pm 59. AThinkingPerson:

My, my, my…

CNN using thug tactics to have their embarrassing videos removed from YouTube? Hmmm……

Dale? Now and Then? Do we high five this one too guys?

http://patterico.com/2009/04/18/cnn-the-latest-corporate-thug-to-use-copyright-as-a-weapon-to-eliminate-embarrassing-clips-from-youtube/

Sep 9, 2009 - 2:23 pm 60. Ruebacca:

13. Walk in traffic at sunset.

Sep 9, 2009 - 2:33 pm 61. Cybergeezer:

Christian;
Man! You have the material for a text book as well as a best selling novel. Take advantage of it, before you lose it, or some one steals it from you! I’d pay good money to take one of your classes:
Looking for more from you, sir!

Sep 9, 2009 - 2:54 pm 62. Saltherring:

Earth to Dale: You’re not on HuffPo now. If you want to dispense your leftist gibberish, don’t do it here. Who was asleep at the wheel during Katrina….try Democrat mayor of NO and Democrat governor, who failed to use available resources to evacuate their citizenry. Or the stupid welfare recipient population, who either waited for the government to evacuate/feed/house them or stayed around to loot their neighbors’ homes and businesses. Even after the hurricane it took the federal government 3 or 4 days to convince local Democrats that they needed federal assistance. My ER nurse neice spent two weeks at a triage center in NO right after the hurricane. They had to bring in the 82nd Airborne not only for their helicopters, but to protect the doctors and nurses from armed bands of criminals roaming the streets killing unarmed, innocent people. And NO is just another typical Democrat controlled city, no different than NYC, Det, Philly, LA, Chi or DC.

And didn’t bin Laden attack American embassies, ships and military outposts for years while Clinton launched cruise missiles at aspirin factories and abandoned terrorist training camps? When GWB took the reins our military and intelligence gathering services had been so compromised and gutted it took Bush’s entire first term to begin to rearm. I know, I worked for the Dept of Defense, directly with the uniformed military during the 90’s and beyond. Little training, no spare parts, horrible morale, poorly manned ships and bases. Go back and tell your lies to your dimwit leftist buddies, we’re not buying them here.

Sep 9, 2009 - 3:06 pm 63. Samizdat:

Commentators,

I see response and engagement with troll/pigs. Read about relativism and the dialectic then explain to me why it makes sense to acknowledge the existence of these marxist contrarians. They are advocates for a demonstrably failed ideology. It is a waste of time to deal with their collectivist delusion. Goy actually published some info on the psychological analysis of their terminal adolescence in a recent post. Maybe if he reads this he can republish that info.

It took me some time, but eventually I learned.

Don’t wrestle in the mud with the troll/pigs; you get dirty and the troll/pigs like it.

Sep 9, 2009 - 3:08 pm 64. billslayer:

Samizdat:
I thoroughly enjoy abusing the trolls. They are fun. Watch this: Hey NOW AND THEN! Did you know your messiah, the SWEET LITTLE BARRY got his start turning tricks for a slumlord. His name is Tony Rezko. And at the rate Sweet Little Barry is going, they can be cellmates and Barry can go from street trick to jail punk!

Sep 9, 2009 - 3:54 pm 65. Saltherring:

Samizdat, I go from totally ignoring trolls’ inane rants to shoving them down their throats. You are correct in that most are incorrigible scum and seemingly victims of terminal adolescence, much like the majority of academia and the “mainstream” news media.

Sep 9, 2009 - 4:38 pm 66. Samizdat:

Billslayer at 64,

I appreciate your spunk. I would rather hear your thoughts on the issues, than have you needlessly wasting your time debating and fueling the trollkins.

Some have suggested that the troll/pigs are bought and paid for by Media Matters or other lefty organizations. Whatever their motivation to visit, their demonstrated ideology disqualifies them from dialogue,in my opinion. You can’t simultaneously believe in the rights guaranteed under the Constitution and marxcist/facist ideology.

Sep 9, 2009 - 4:44 pm 67. Now and Then:

63. Samizdat:
“Goy actually published some info on the psychological analysis of their terminal adolescence …”

“Don’t wrestle in the mud with the troll/pigs; you get dirty and the troll/pigs like it.”
“Did you know your messiah, the SWEET LITTLE BARRY got his start turning tricks for a slumlord”

There you go.

Sep 9, 2009 - 4:49 pm 68. Now and Then:

58. AThinkingPerson:

Keep em coming, You got a loooooong way to go before you catch up to the shenanigans of Andrea Mackris’ paramour and crew.

Sep 9, 2009 - 4:50 pm 69. AST:

I’ve thought for some time that there is no need for journalism schools, unless you think that reporters need to be indoctrinated in left wing politics in order to do the job.

I’m not sure you can teach good writing beyond what you get in a few undergrad classes in composition and reading a lot of good writers, but you can teach critical thinking, and I don’t think any J schools include that in the curriculum.

There are probably some techniques for how to dig up news, but I think they can be learned just as well, if not better, by working with good reporters than by attending lectures. If Washington’s current crop of “journalists,” a pretentious term if ever there was one, demonstrate any common characteristic it’s laziness. They seem to build a list of contacts, and then rely on leaks. That isn’t to say that there aren’t good reporters working in Washington, but those who get cushy jobs with the WaPo and NYTimes don’t impress me much.

I think printing this post out and sticking in on your office wall would benefit most of them far more than attending lectures by Al Gore at Columbia.

Sep 9, 2009 - 4:52 pm 70. Samizdat:

Saltherring,

I know about that quandry. I also strongly agree with your accurate characterization of the relative aptitude of the media and academia.

Sep 9, 2009 - 4:52 pm 71. AST:

P. S. I feel the same way about education majors. Teaching is not that hard. Knowing your subject is far more important, and we don’t have enough of that.

Education degrees, especially advanced ones, tend to take ambitious and bright teachers out of the classroom and put them in administration of which we already have a surfeit in most school districts. They also create fads in teaching, because each generation of new PhDs have to write dissertations either reinventing the wheel or debunking existing methods. You make your bones in the world of academia by being a debunker and an innovator, no matter how cockamamie your ideas are.

Sep 9, 2009 - 4:59 pm 72. McBride:

MHS is a perfect example of a mature mind capable of discerning the truth through logical thought progression.This process will not be easy for victims of liberal brain washing,with all the emotional investment at stake.However once a person is capable of using logical reason,instead of prejudiced emotion to reach an informed conclusion,the mind will free itself from the indoctrination that has been forced upon it.

Sep 9, 2009 - 5:01 pm 73. McBride:

Actually that was mhr at #26.

Sep 9, 2009 - 5:16 pm 74. Mr Lucky:

53. Dale.

”That establishment journalists of every political ideology, left or right wing, are more keen on keeping their cushy, high-paying careers than they are on doing their jobs correctly and asking tough questions, because asking the tough questions will often result in losing access to the newsmakers and therefore will end your career. This is nothing new.”

Within the context of the above statement, does your post 44. Dale ” No, it has nothing to do with left wing bias. It’s that Fox News has no journalistic standards whatsoever” have any meaning? Doesn’t the above statement negate any journalist? Any journalist… Therefore any news disseminated by any journalist is a lie?

Where do you get your news?

Sep 9, 2009 - 5:46 pm 75. malclave:

@68
“Keep em coming, You got a loooooong way to go before you catch up to the shenanigans of Andrea Mackris’ paramour and crew.”

Well, since you’re unilaterally declaring yourself the sole voice of when that is done, please enlighten us as to the requirements to “catch up”.

Sep 9, 2009 - 6:06 pm 76. goy:

63. Samizdat: – Read about relativism and the dialectic then explain to me why it makes sense to acknowledge the existence of these marxist contrarians. … Goy actually published some info on the psychological analysis of their terminal adolescence in a recent post. Maybe if he reads this he can republish that info.

Moral adolescence. Although your freudian sixth sense is correct – if allowed to flourish, the socially suicidal policies that flow from moral adolescence are indeed terminal – as history shows.

Sep 9, 2009 - 6:12 pm 77. WhyThereisStillBullshit?:

“Don’t shit in your own backyard. If you are an American, support your country. If you want to support terrorist rights, go to France”

Oh yes, you read that in your objective sources

Whyitwouldbewiseforyoutoreversethisversion ?

Becuz, precisely, that is WhatIcanreadthatishappeninginyourcountry

An advice ?

GttheheadoutofyourA**Imeanoutofyourbar

So you’re not a journalist ? But you can’t read articles too!

d’ya want some links that can easyly enlight you ?

Sep 9, 2009 - 6:27 pm 78. SteveOfTheNorth:

Hearst.

The more things change,the more they stay the same.

Citizen Kane.

Rosebud.

The truth doesn’t sell newspapers, lies and innuendo do.

Sep 9, 2009 - 7:18 pm 79. Gary P:

Sarcasm on:
Please Mr/Mrs. newspaper journalist. Please continue to print every green-peace press release as gospel. Cover every protest about some trees being cut down from the trees point of view. I love your stories about landfills being such a problem. Your stories about the rain forests are just so true. Please print every story that makes your thinking customers feel bad about how newspapers are the largest, single company source of residential trash. A grocery bag full every single week. Never stop the global warming activism until there is a five dollar a copy carbon tax on every newspaper sold for the trees destroyed and another five dollar a copy fee for the CO2 and methane released when the old newspapers are thrown in a landfill or burned.
Sarcasm off.

Really, is there a more polluting industry than newspapers? Trees destroyed, rivers polluted by runoff and the paper mills. Exhaust from the delivery vehicles. And all this for a product that’s used for a half hour and then thrown away.

I know all this is true because I read it in the newspaper.

Sep 9, 2009 - 7:57 pm 80. Bohemond:

“what are the equivalent innacuracies that we’ve heard from the MSM?”

Lessee….

Obama is well-educated
Obama is bipartisan
Obama is post-racial
Obama is transparent
Obama is fiscally responsible

Sep 9, 2009 - 9:19 pm 81. Oakley:

“Aren’t reporters supposed to be grumpy when they’re beat to a story?”

NOT if they have an agenda! Ignoring a story that doesn’t push that agenda would then be SOP.

Sep 9, 2009 - 11:27 pm 82. Moogie:

goy: Thanks for the links above. That second one, to the Communist Body Count, is a doozie.

Sep 9, 2009 - 11:31 pm 83. whyamInotsurprised?:

#77 – WTF? I have no idea what you are trying to say but it is clear you are an idiot.

Rephrasing what I said is “You can still report the news and be patriotic.”

How about this one? “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you!” You know, First Amendment rights, employment, living in the BEST country on God’s earth.

Oops, sorry. I may be going over your head by now. I know you hate this great land, despise its
economic power, history, and only want to help Barry bring it all to an end. Maybe you should go back
TO the bar and just keep your head down.

Sep 10, 2009 - 5:23 am 84. Marie Claude:

83 ah you’re awake, good, at least you could read, what Iwrote you,
but nonentheless, you’re still quite permeable to the noise and rumors

But, I’m sorry, the idiot is you, cuz I’m not one of your fellahs,

and, you’d better hurry up to check some tuths on “jihadwatch”, and decipherate which one of our both countries is the most f** up

your humble servitor that has never been your surrender monkey

Sep 10, 2009 - 6:16 am 85. Jack:

I doubt any ‘journalist’ will read this comment but:

When surfing the web I look to the parent organization after I click on a link. If the parent organization is the NY Times, BBC, Newsweek, MSNBC, etc. I heavily discount what the reporter is saying. Often, once I know who the parent organization is, I won’t even bother reading or watching. A faulty, biased report isn’t worth my time.

There is little point in reading the above mentioned MSM parent organizations because the either lie outright, omit important facts, or slant the article towards their point of view.

Example: Before the Nov. election there were lots of human interest stories about foreclosures. Now, not so much.

When unemployment was at 6% under Bush, it was disaster. When it is 9.5% under Obama, it isn’t a big deal.

Sep 10, 2009 - 7:39 am 86. Xanthippe:

Excellent article – why I’ve continued reading PJ Media since its inception.

Sadly, the comments section has become a real cesspit as PJ Media is more widely read.

Sep 10, 2009 - 7:42 am 87. Bill:

You do realize that in a piece criticizing mainstream journalists for somehow not doing their jobs, the very first example you linked to was an article that appeared in a news publication called BusinessWeek? Perhaps your feelings of inadequacy are well-founded.

Sep 10, 2009 - 7:46 am 88. faxhorn:

It is no longer journalism.

Now it’s just Jerna-Lizzum.

So it goes.

Sep 10, 2009 - 7:52 am 89. Patrik:

Spot on, Christian. Glad you stopped worrying about not having a j-school degree. In most regards, those programs are teaching to the past, not the future. Street wisdom and basic respect for opposing views is far more valuable when trying to dig out the stories that are really important — and interesting — to readers.

Sep 10, 2009 - 8:01 am 90. Michael:

Christian,

Yours was a welcome post and we certainly need more advocacy for serious, objective journalism. However, what we really need is for journalists like yourself to learn the correct definition of hypocrisy. Let me illustrate: When a Christian pastor gets caught in an adulterous affair, hypocrisy only arises when the pastor claims that “it’s alright for me, but not for thee”. If the pastor admits that he’s done wrong, then he’s only guilty of violating his marital and chastity vows. His is character failure to be sure, but is not hypocrisy. OK?

True hypocrisy is rare in America. Failure is not.

Cheers,

Sep 10, 2009 - 8:19 am 91. Jacknut:

Basic math would also be a good start.

Sep 10, 2009 - 8:21 am 92. NC Mountain Girl:

My #1 rule: Gather the facts first and only then write the story. To ingore information that doesn’t fit a preconceived notion of the story is never acceptable.

I learned back in the mid 1960s that too many times the story was written first before the reporter ever made his second phone call. Then only the facts that fit that story got printed. Back then this was called sensationalism and the aim was mostly to sell a lot more newspapers. Today it has morphed into group think and the aim is to promote ‘narratives’ that influence political results, though sensationalism still pops up from time to time.

Sep 10, 2009 - 8:23 am 93. lobsterman:

Degrees?

Anal thermometers have them, too.

When in doubt, ask “What would Orwell do?”

Act accordingly and you’re a journalist.

-30-

Sep 10, 2009 - 8:26 am 94. J:

“why don’t Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, and Bill Maher get plastered with the “liberal“ label?”

Because journalists for the most part live in an echo chamber and have no idea where the political center is. They don’t label these guys “liberal” because they don’t think they are.

Sep 10, 2009 - 8:44 am 95. Dale:

57. AThinkingPerson: “Nope Dale, the rest of us will remain vigilante to the maintaining of the Constitution, the threat of a socialized USA and the continued sweeping under the rug of freedoms we used to enjoy being checked off by this oppressive regime. Since the liberals are too busy with their hands out wanting their government freebies at the expense of jobs, the conservatives, independents and moderate dems will have to keep a watchful eye.”

You’re a joke.

The PATRIOT Act of 2001 gives the President of the United States the power to declare anyone suspected of connection to terrorists or terrorism, as an Enemy combatant. Even a US citizen. As an Enemy combatant that person can be held without charges being filed against him/her. Enemy combatants can be held indefinitely without charges or a court hearing and are not even entitled to legal counsel.

That is a direct violation of habeas corpus and the Constitution, and one of the worst infringemnts on your freedom since the Civil War, but clearly you had no problem with it, because a) it was signed by a Republican president, and b) you’re a hypocrite.

I hope that someday President Obama uses Bush’s PATRIOT Act to declare unpatriotic, treasonous morons like you as enemy combatants. That way, when you get locked up without any right to an attorney, without any way to challenge your detainment, and without any way to contact your friends or loved ones (big assumption that you have any), you can write a letter to President Bush from your cell to thank him for defending your freedoms.

Sep 10, 2009 - 8:52 am 96. Eowyn:

Mr. Toto, don’t worry about your “lack” of “qualifications” to be a journalist by virtue of not graduating from an expensive, and ultimately worthless, degree-granting program.

I learned everything I know from an intensive three-month course at the Defense Information School in Indianapolis — how to write concisely, how to write effective headlines, page design, photography, etc. One of the very first lessons given was “Force yourself, if necessary, to present the opposing view as if it were your own.”

Today’s “reporting” is sheer, unapologetic editorializing. As the wire editor, I remember revising AP ledes back in the Bush administration because regardless of the nature of the story, they invariably began with something like this: “In a stunning blow to President Bush’s X policy, the City of Y has mandated that pigeons have become a health hazard.” Sadly, revisions became too time-consuming, so I gave it up. (Incidentally, can you believe a small-town newspaper with a circulation of about 13,000 was paying $5,000 a MONTH to the (Dis)Associated Press?!)

Also: the number of J-grads I see misusing the English language — possessives and contractions, as an example — is nothing short of amazing (it’s vs. its, e.g.).

You’re doing just fine. Keep on saying what journo-idiots need to hear. Eventually, the squeaky wheel DOES get the grease.

Sep 10, 2009 - 9:01 am 97. Stephen:

http://doggerelpundit.blogspot.com/2003_07_06_doggerelpundit_archive.html#105756054213712256

Sep 10, 2009 - 9:21 am 98. John:

You make the mistake of thinking that journalists care about the truth.

They do not.

They care about advancing their political agenda.

Sep 10, 2009 - 9:33 am 99. Bohemond:

Dale the lefty liar:

“The PATRIOT Act of 2001 gives the President of the United States the power to declare anyone suspected of connection to terrorists or terrorism, as an Enemy combatant. Even a US citizen. As an Enemy combatant that person can be held without charges being filed against him/her. Enemy combatants can be held indefinitely without charges or a court hearing and are not even entitled to legal counsel.”

That is absolute and complete bullshit.

I defy you to find the passage in the Patriot Act which says any such thing. You can’t, because it’s not there. But of course, you’ve never read the Patriot Act; you just believe whatever the lefty propaganda network claims is in it. (I also advise you to look up the SCOTUS decision in US v. Padilla).

Hint, little troll: HuffPo and Kos are not good sources for, you know, the truth.

Sep 10, 2009 - 9:46 am 100. Bohemond:

Dale:

“I hope that someday President Obama uses Bush’s PATRIOT Act to declare unpatriotic, treasonous morons like you as enemy combatants.”

Behold the slavering hate and fascism that lurk in the bestial leftist breast!

Sep 10, 2009 - 10:17 am 101. Papertiger:

It wouldn’t take a whole lot to convince me that SEIU thugs are holding the first born children, or something the editors of America hold in equal value, in Jaycee Lee Dugard fashion, their continued health depending upon a certain editorial slant.

Sep 10, 2009 - 10:36 am 102. Trouble:

Back in the early ’80s when I was deciding on a major prior to entering college, I met with a journalism prof and several students. The meeting started with smiles, handshakes, pleasant chitchat, etc. Then the question came up: “Why do you want to be a journalist?” My honest if naiive answer: “To be a witness to history.” The blank, deer-in-the-headlights looks on the faces of the ‘reception committee’ were priceless. The prof suggested I read Malcolm Muggeridge and then decide if journalism should be my career track.

I read.

I majored in clinical pharmacy, in which I now have a doctorate.

Cheers –
T

PS: goy – thanks for the interesting links. I consider myself a classical Jeffersonian liberal, and I rated 4 out of the 5 moral criteria as equally important – the ‘Purity’ thing just isn’t my bag, if only because (IMHO) there is no such thing in this world.

$0.02

Sep 10, 2009 - 10:41 am 103. jum1801:

Huzzah! You have looked into my heart and pulled out my wish list for the healing of the news industry. You get it perfectly.

What amazes me is that the news media types who would most benefit from your suggestions are completely blind – or in complete denial – about the reason “traditional news media” is in such a nosedive. First of all they don’t even grasp that the news industry as they know it is on the verge of death, not merely reorganization. More than that, they ignore that one of the major reasons for the collapse of the traditional news media as it has existed since Watergate – perhaps the main reason – is the profound degree of left-leaning partisanship and intellectual dishonesty, as well as the grotesque arrogance and ignorance, which have come to define the traditional news media as a whole.

I think the news media as we have known it might have survived if, before the last election, it had made a sincere effort to reform, and had not become life members of the Obama-for-Messiah cheer squad. Now, I think it’s too late. Too many historically solid readers and viewers have stopped trying and moved irrevocably to the internet. Even if the newsies wanted to change…which they don’t…it’s gone forever.

As a result, I think in the next three to five years we’ll see the death…not the change, not the makeover…but the death of the New York Times and the L.A Times, as well as the network news divisions. Their credibility is so broken in that part of the public which still reads newspapers and watches tv news that it cannot be saved. One day soon the boards of directors and owners will finally pierce the smokescreen that news management has long put out to hide the true financial state of these outfits. When the people whose money is actually being lost finally sees how much audience (and money) has really been lost, it will all end. There is no alternative when there is no money. (Unless Obama is willing to just finally do away with all pretense that he respects the Constitution, and give one of his friendly bailouts to the news industry. That such a gross insult to our Bill of Rights has already been seriously suggested by various commentators is to me one of the many signs that our nation’s life as a representative democracy is truly in jeopardy.)

For me, who long ago lost hope of the traditional media’s ability and inclination to produce straight reports of current political and world events without injection of personal and/or corporate bias, it can’t be too soon. A new media, which does not claim to be objective, but which will be transparent about its biases and interests, is already emerging to fill the vacuum.

I prefer the world of Huntley and Brinkley, but it is gone. Their smug, self-righteous grandchildren destroyed their kind of dry but trustworthy just-the-facts reporting. So instead I’ll take the world of Daily Kos, Instapundit and Drudge. Of necessity I’ll become my own gatekeeper, news filter and bias detector. In the end I will have marshaled far more unvarnished and reliable news than was ever possible in the age when the news was just opinion masquerading as fact.

Sep 10, 2009 - 11:35 am 104. goy:

@102. Trouble: – goy – thanks for the interesting links. I consider myself a classical Jeffersonian liberal, and I rated 4 out of the 5 moral criteria as equally important – the ‘Purity’ thing just isn’t my bag…

You’re welcome. And my profile was similar, FWIW.

I find the whole thing fascinating. It’s very hard to argue with such repeatable, consistent data like this. And the data showing the results of morally adolescent policy has also demonstrated very consistently which mindset is better-tuned to improving the quality of life overall.

Sep 10, 2009 - 12:20 pm 105. malclave:

@95
“I hope that someday President Obama uses Bush’s PATRIOT Act to declare unpatriotic, treasonous morons like you as enemy combatants.”

No doubt.

It’s like the whole waterboarding argument. Some people believe that there are situations where it might be accpetable to resort to it (the “ticking time bomb” scenario).

Others, who seem to be lefties like Dale, feel that saving lives is not a sufficient reason, and such extreme measures should only be used against people who don’t think like good little lefties… and then only for fun, not for any real purpose.

Sep 10, 2009 - 12:26 pm 106. GDLL:

I still want to know what happened with Sandy Berger at the National Archives. The guy chose to lose his law license rather than explain to the ABA what he was caught doing. The former secretary ruined his reputation and blew his chances of serving in future administrations so he could steal documents that the 9/11 commission was looking at. There’s a great story there… if any reporters were willing to drag a Democrat through the ringer.

Sep 10, 2009 - 12:38 pm 107. Dale:

@ 99. Bohemond: Read it and weep, wingnut:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5049867

Mom says Patriot Act stripped son of due process

Posted: Apr. 29, 2009

Oxford, N.C. — Sixteen-year-old Ashton Lundeby’s bedroom in his mother’s Granville County home is nothing, if not patriotic. Images of American flags are everywhere – on the bed, on the floor, on the wall.

But according to the United States government, the tenth-grade home-schooler is being held on a criminal complaint that he made a bomb threat from his home on the night of Feb. 15.

The family was at a church function that night, his mother, Annette Lundeby, said.

“Undoubtedly, they were given false information, or they would not have had 12 agents in my house with a widow and two children and three cats,” Lundeby said.

Around 10 p.m. on March 5, Lundeby said, armed FBI agents along with three local law enforcement officers stormed her home looking for her son. They handcuffed him and presented her with a search warrant.

“I was terrified,” Lundeby’s mother said. “There were guns, and I don’t allow guns around my children. I don’t believe in guns.”

Lundeby told the officers that someone had hacked into her son’s IP address and was using it to make crank calls connected through the Internet, making it look like the calls had originated from her home when they did not.

Her argument was ignored, she said. Agents seized a computer, a cell phone, gaming console, routers, bank statements and school records, according to federal search warrants.

“There were no bomb-making materials, not even a blasting cap, not even a wire,” Lundeby said.

Ashton now sits in a juvenile facility in South Bend, Ind. His mother has had little access to him since his arrest. She has gone to her state representatives as well as attorneys, seeking assistance, but, she said, there is nothing she can do.

Lundeby said the USA Patriot Act stripped her son of his due process rights.

“We have no rights under the Patriot Act to even defend them, because the Patriot Act basically supersedes the Constitution,” she said. “It wasn’t intended to drag your barely 16-year-old, 120-pound son out in the middle of the night on a charge that we can’t even defend.”

Passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., the Patriot Act allows federal agents to investigate suspected cases of terrorism swiftly to better protect the country. In part, it gives the federal government more latitude to search telephone records, e-mails and other records.

“They’re saying that ‘We feel this individual is a terrorist or an enemy combatant against the United States, and we’re going to suspend all of those due process rights because this person is an enemy of the United States,” said Dan Boyce, a defense attorney and former U.S. attorney not connected to the Lundeby case.

Critics of the statute say it threatens the most basic of liberties.

“There’s nothing a matter of public record,” Boyce said “All those normal rights are just suspended in the air.”

Sep 10, 2009 - 1:12 pm 108. jodetoad:

The good news is this: many of us have been forced to learn how to discover information on our own, and to learn to consider it critically. The decline of the news industry has empowered us, however little we liked it, and this is irreversible.

But something else is very pertinent.

News media are businesses, and would logically have an interest in profits, bottom line, reputation, and so forth. Editors run newsrooms, content, hiring, etc. But editors are usually employees themselves.

Bias is so well-documented that any sensible business manager would have to ask himself, when considering his falling bottom line, “Is my business losing money due to bias?”.

The owners and boards of news media could control the bias if they wished to do so. Regardless of your personal ideology, how much money would you have to lose before you decided objectivity might save your business? A large operation has capital investments, real estate, overhead, etc. Look up the price of a web press.

So the question is, why does it make sense to GE and other owners of news media to have their businesses lose money and credibility? Why is operating in the red acceptable to the owners of the NYT? The answer, it seems to me, must include money and/or guarantees that are not visible to us.

Otherwise the answer is that these business owners are just blinded by ideology, and willing to prune their markets to useful idiots, accepting the financial loss for the glory of the cause. A few, perhaps, but I have trouble believing it.

This at least implies some kind of conspiracy to provide the money and/or guarantees. There was a time I would have thought the idea crazy. But it is not impossible… and there are some extremely well-funded and well-connected international organizations (Socialist Inernational, for instance), connected to hedge funds run by ideologues, and some advantages to large industries to a leftist environment.

Sep 10, 2009 - 2:34 pm 109. goy:

@107. Dale: – Read it and weep, wingnut

Weep?? LOL!!! Why?

Your bogus, outdated story turns out to be based on pure B.S. Read your cite again. The mother was the only one claiming the incident had anything to do with the Patriot Act, and the lying shills telling her story gleefully expanded on her baseless claim from there. Is all your “evidence” this poorly researched?
 

Teen Ashton Lundeby Charged as an Adult for Bomb Threats

* By Kevin Poulsen Email Author
* July 8, 2009 |
* 7:33 pm |
* Categories: The Courts

A 16-year-old North Carolina boy arrested for allegedly making a bomb threat against Purdue University has been charged as an adult for that threat, and for threats against eight other schools and two FBI offices, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

Ashton Lundeby allegedly staged bomb hoaxes from mid-2008 until his arrest last March. He’s charged with conspiring to make threats against Purdue, the University of North Carolina, Florida State University, Clemson University, Boston College and FBI offices in Colorado and Louisiana.

The indictment also accuses him of making a series of five more calls to high schools around the country on March 4, two days before his arrest.

[“All will be cleansed.” Listen to the March 4, 2009 bomb threats]

Lundeby’s mother, Annette Lundeby, admitted in an interview with Threat Level in May that her son was “Tyrone” — a notorious prank phone caller who performed for a live internet audience in exchange for PayPal donations. But she claimed that he was with her in church at the time of the Purdue hoax.

An former fan of “Tyrone” who helped police track him down told Threat Level that the prank caller had begun accepting donations in exchange for shutting down donors’ schools for a day with fake bomb threats — a charge reflected in the indictment.

According to prosecutors in South Bend, Indiana, where the case was filed, a federal judge granted a government motion to try the teenager as an adult — an unusual request from the feds that cleared the way for his indictment and the public release of his name. Lundeby is in custody.

Ashton Lundeby’s arrest stoked widespread outrage on the web after Raleigh, North Carolina’s WRAL-5 reported on the case, noting that the boy is a patriotic homeschooled student with an American flag bedspread. Much of the online fury was triggered by Annette Lundeby’s incorrect claim — uncritically reported by the station — that the boy was being held without any legal rights on the authority of the 2001 USA Patriot Act.

Sep 10, 2009 - 2:59 pm 110. Michael:

Amazing what happens when liberals are in charge isn’t it #107.

Sep 10, 2009 - 3:06 pm 111. Cabinman:

I have tried, unsucessfully, to contact NBC,CBS,ABC, & MSNBC, to tell them to start telling the truth. After about a half hour of fustration I gave up. They don’t want to hear how low esteem the public holds them. No wonder why Fox News has so many viewers.

Sep 10, 2009 - 3:31 pm 112. malclave:

@107.

Parents and other family members often go to the press to complain when thier kid is arrested, and how he’s a good kid that can do no harm and is being treated unfairly. Sometimes their complaints are true; sometimes they’re not.

Only a moonbat like you accepts those statements prima facie, based solely on your own hatred and intolerance.

Sep 10, 2009 - 5:16 pm 113. bb:

The crashing collapse of the newspapers will be set squarely on the shoulders of the fool journalists. These ‘papered’ experts should consider a job at a arab paper, where control and manipulation of the people would be right up their alley.
It would seem, they can’t smell the coffee and trying to impose THEIR petty outlook will not solve the problem.
Good reporting is balanced, accurate and truthful. People every-single-day are fed up with their silly-ass approach to news coverage. They need not wonder why sales are dropping. Either get new management or new writers. Maybe both.
If the media can’t handle the job, the people will switch channels and leave papers on the stand.

Sep 10, 2009 - 6:43 pm 114. Now and Then:

Sorry state of journalism? I found it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsg_fQB_RBQ

Sep 10, 2009 - 6:56 pm 115. whyamInotsurprised?:

#84 Marie Claude – Bonjour my friend. You must have a scanner looking for any derogatory use of the words “France” or “French” I see. ha ha

Good for you. Maybe this week it would have been more appropriate for me to have used Scotland instead. But perhaps my habit of dumping on the French has been exposed.

Your point is taken. And that is precisely why I made my comment about journalists (and others) needing to be more patriotic to the USA. One can be critical, point out problems, uncover crimes and misdeeds and report them without being disrespectful or unfaithful to one’s homeland. Their jobs are not to change the world but to report on it. It is not their role to be newsmakers but to report the news, not make a case or sway an audience.

I know Marie Claude that you are not a Surrender Monkey. Nor are you an idiot. No need to reply by alias, please comment directly. Merci.

Sep 10, 2009 - 9:31 pm 116. Ole Sarge:

The msm has been loosing audience since the 60’s, when they ran to the hard left side of so called reporting. The decline curve has grown steeper such that in the 90’s they were on a constant whine about it all. They are just to stupid to actually figure it out, inspite of all the fancy pedigrees in the news room and management.

They are just a heart beat away from being totally done in. They have worked hard to attain this goal and I am happy to see them sink beneath the waves of arrogance and general stupidity. I certainly don’t miss them.

They were a major player in helping to elect bho and I think those folks still paying attention to the msm have hopefully woke up to, and recognized their short comings. As to the kids, who knows, but then they are not really awake anyway, so no point in even talking to them.

Sep 11, 2009 - 12:16 am 117. wja:

If young journalists are trained (indoctrinated) by Liberal professors, is it any wonder their slant on politics? Remember liberals are taught what to think. Not how to think.

Sep 12, 2009 - 10:45 am 118. Now and Then:

And conservatives are taught NOT to think. Either way, liberals come out on top.

Sep 12, 2009 - 5:23 pm 119. goy:

@118. Now and Then: – conservatives are taught NOT to think…

Since conservatives are largely taught by the same “public option”, government-controlled education system responsible for indoctrinating everyone, this true by definition.

Happily, conservatives are defined by their ability to overcome that mind-numbing indoctrination, whereas the leftists who make up BHO’s lying, entrenched, Fifth Column media, and people like poor “Dale” up there, seem content to wallow in the mindless, lemming fantasies of moral adolescence all the rest of their lives.

Sep 13, 2009 - 11:16 am 120. goy:

One more point before the article scrolls.

Sep 14, 2009 - 11:23 am 121. HangEmHigh:

Mmmmmm…actually, after reading all the comments, I am left feeling like the American people should be storming the White House AND Congress and yanking their butts physically, out onto the streets. Why are the American people putting up with all this governmental corruption? WHY? WHY? WHY? Haven’t you had enough yet? obama and michelle go trapsing around the world at a huge cost to Americans and they could care less about what they are doing, afterall HE IS THE MESSIAH. But, don’t forget what happened to the Messiah – they nailed him to the cross, and HE WAS INNOCENT. Obama IS NOT INNOCENT and HE SHOULD BE HUNG, AS WELL…hang em all high.

Oct 3, 2009 - 10:54 am 122. egypt holidays:

I want an ubbias report of the news both good, bad, and investigative. I will make up my own mind on choices I want for me and my family. The government has NEVER come into my living room and taken care of me.

Oct 8, 2009 - 11:48 pm

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