T’was Accountability That Led the Mainstream Media to Suicide
by John NolteIn recent days and weeks three major news stories have broke here online, at Fox News or the Washington Times; everywhere but the mainstream media. Worse still, as the stories unfolded, the media willfully ignored them until, much to their embarrassment, they were forced to give grudging coverage only after official action — in the form of a resignation (Van Jones), reassignment (the NEA) or dismissal (ACORN) — occurred that could no longer be ignored.
Mainstream news outlets have been caught off guard before, but they used to play catch up. Today they play “hide the ball.” For as long as I’ve been politically aware the media’s been biased, but willfully ignoring a major national news story at great cost to their credibility and relevance is a new low. So what changed?
Ironically enough, scrutiny and accountability is the cause of much of the media’s increasingly disgraceful behavior.
Once trailblazer media watchdogs like talk radio, The Media Research Center and Bernard Goldberg were joined with the awesome power of the Internet and Fox News, the media’s sins of omission and commission could no longer be hidden from the general public, or denied. This gave the Fourth Estate two options. They could either: A) Clean up their act and do their jobs honorably … or B) Surrender their fig leafs of objectivity and run amok as the ideologues they really are.
Doing their jobs honorably would mean a setback for the Leftist cause, and so they chose B.
The good news is that this appears to be a suicide run.
The Dinosaur Media is losing money, viewers and readers hand over fist. The reason they’re folding or on life support isn’t because there aren’t enough left-of-center Americans to keep them in business, it’s because, like everyone else, liberals don’t want to sit in a choir and be preached to. They want information. They want to know what’s going on in the world.
Our liberal friends may not like hearing Van Jones, the NEA and ACORN are under fire, but they still want to know. What a disappointing revelation it must be to open the New York Times or turn on the network news only to discover after the curtain has already fallen that one of Obama’s Czars was forced to resign or that the U.S. Census Bureau let ACORN go.
The liberal media is failing for the exact same reason a dozen-plus anti-war films flopped: propaganda is dull. No matter your politics, people want stimulation and information, not affirmation. Obviously, that’s not true for everyone, but it’s true enough that those media outlets who haven’t figured it out are either dancing on the edge of financial ruin or, like MSNBC, continuing to double down on stupid thinking it will increase their abysmal performance metrics.
The rise of those who watch the Watchmen forced smart, savvy individuals to consciously choose between being tenacious, curious journalists who will hold the powerful accountable, or to finally come out of the closet and declare themselves the ideological warriors they really are.
They have chosen to become the Palace Guards.
They are also cornered, scared and armed with the mighty weapons of the unethical: lies and the inability to feel shame.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, we must continue to do our best as they let loose their worst.
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132 Comments
I think is really well said. I don't want people to tell me what I want to hear, I want to know the truth so I can decide for myself what to think about it. That's the problem right now….there's no way to tell what's the truth versus spin by acolytes until you've done exhaustive research for yourself (and who has time to do that when we're just trying to hold our own lives together). I wish more than anything that someone could interview Brian Williams or Charles Gibson (forget Couric, she's a lost cause) and confront them with what they've said, what they've omitted and how it's harmed the people who need them.
I think this is really well said. I don't want people to tell me what I want to hear, I want to know the truth so I can decide for myself what to think about it. That's the problem right now….there's no way to tell what's the truth versus spin by acolytes until you've done exhaustive research for yourself (and who has time to do that when we're just trying to hold our own lives together). I wish more than anything that someone could interview Brian Williams or Charles Gibson (forget Couric, she's a lost cause) and confront them with what they've said, what they've omitted and how it's harmed the people who need them.
Great observation, and every word completely true. As I have always said, "I would rather hear the ugly truth than a pretty lie."
OMG I love the visual of the being palace guards! Fabulous!!
Good article. I want truth from my news sources and I don't think I'm getting it right now.
Well said, John. "The mighty weapons of the unethical: lies and the inability to feel shame." Excellent.
Considering that the Media spun a six year dialogue that George Bush's huge deficits were the problem, Iraq was an innocent nation and the war was unneeded, prisoners were tortured, the Consitutuion was shredded and destroyed by the Partriot Act, Dick Cheney (aka Darth Vader) was secretly running the country for the sake of Haliburton, and that the entire world had lost respect for America because George Bush was a stupid christian cowboy psychotic, it seems that in the big scale of things they probably are pretty satisfied with what they've accomplished.
Van Jones, Acorn, Tea parties are all small potatoes to these guys.
I just finished watching C-Span coverage of the Tea Party rally in Washington DC – and you want to know what was the best part of it all? CSpan just showed us what was happening on the Mall. No glitzy tricks, no anchors, no talking heads, no golden-rolodex on-call experts, no instant analysis, no commentary, no re-interpreting … just the speakers and organizers, and attendees, speaking for themselves. Just the event, start to finish.
I just turned off NPR a few minutes ago, in an attempt to hear something about the Tea parties taking place I got a ten minute interview with a black history professor equating the protestors with what he termed Calhoun Conservatives, a reference to a politician froM the Andrew Jackson period in the 1830s that was in favor of slavery. THIS IS THE MEDIA OUTLET BILL MOYERS WOULD HAVE US TURN TO INSTEAD OF TALK RADIO
I used to be a democrat and a liberal. I am no longer. I am an American, an American that has my eyes finally open and mad as hell about the lies we are being fed.
This is not republican or democrat or liberal or democreat, and no matter how hard those in power try to use theier atomic bomb that is the race card they use to end all opposing arguments and try to make this about race and Obama, it is not about race…it is about Amazement we have been lied to for so long by the man behind the curtain and shame that we have been silent for too long.
We want our country back.
2010 THROW THE BUMS OUT!!!!!!!!!
Where is Howard Kurtz? Any brave Ombudsmen out there? Anyone??
We want our country back!
That needs to be put on a T-Shirt right along with Don't Tread on Me!
maybe it's just living in minneapolis, home of the red star daily newspaper, that my disdain for local media, as well as the MSM has been honed to a fine point. I have not watched local or national news in close to a decade, choosing instead to do my own research on the net, and Fox News to start my investigations. None of them will be missed by me, or most of my peers.
"No matter your politics, people want stimulation and information, not affirmation."
I think this statement should be true of news, I'm not sure whether it is. I think many people of various political persuasions don't want all of the news, they want news tailored to fit them, i.e. with the stuff they disagree with left out or made palatable, and with the news they like emphasized.
Bring up the anti-war flops in this context is interesting. People have varying ideas about what art should be, e.g. whether it should be didactic or should affirm some value or sense of life. I think the anti-war movies failed because most film-goers naturally prejudge (at least a little) a movie based on what they think it is about, i.e. its premises. If they don't see the film, it is because they don't think they'll like it. I think the quasi-documentary styles of the movies was an attempt to compensate for this obvious tendency on the part of moviegoers.
Ironically, I think many news programs are failing because they are the ones doing the "affirming", by means of selecting what stories to show and not show, et cetera. They wanted to gain viewership and they tried to do that by targeting their audience. They chose to reward the people tuning in who already thought Bush was evil and stupid and the wars are illegal and going badly, by showing them cherry-picked stories that affirmed their beliefs.
Perverse, that the "news" programs were (as others have said) crafting the narratives and the films were presenting "reality."
Doesn't it drive you crazy that NPR subsists mostly on government subsidy?
And I always enjoy meeting other former Democrats who woke up and joined the Resistance.
I think you'll note that they call themselves "the most trusted name in news," not "the news channel with the highest ratings." You see, when pollsters ask the general public which of the three cable news networks they trust the most, CNN usually comes out on top, as it has the best brand recognition. The trouble is, those surveys include large numbers of people who don't normally watch cable news, so they don't necessarily reflect the networks' ratings.
The MSM is split into two. One treats us like we are morons that need to be led to the 'real' story and they'll decide what facts we need to know. (CNN, ABC)
The second just throws intergerty and ethics into the gentleman's convince and just does what a poltiical party wants them to do. (MSNBC, CBS)
The New Media knows that we read and research stories for ourselves and can find the facts on our own.
When a Wal-Mart opens their doors, it's feared that local bussiness will shut down. Truth is that many of them evolve and do things wal-mart won't or can't do. News outlets decided to stay the monolithic outfits they always were, gave birth to FNC. Now FNC is the big dog and the others are set in not changing.
The Media downfall has more victims than just themselves
We are going down with them
This Admin and Congress are ringing bells and the can't be unrung
I would not be suprised if the health reform bill gets include into military funding
I just read somewhere that thousands of people have been pardoned in "O"s short tenure
It may be too late for America
The jeanie is out and she ain't going back in
It would appear the MSM didn't think this one through. Soon they'll be trying to untie their dingies from the SS (oops) Obama so they don't get sucked down when the ship of state founders. I for one will be there to laugh and say "I told you so."
My t-shirt says, "I'll will not go silently into tyranny"
Recent Cable Ratings
NPR (National Progressive Radio) should rename itself to AOR (All Obama Radio). All Obama, All the Time!
During the Bush 43 years, the news REPORTERS labeled most stories vis-a-vis Bush as a debacle. Not to mention Daniel Shorr, Senior News Communist. Shorr drooled this morning how abhorrent Joe Wilson's "You Lie" was, yet how Bush boos were innocuous.
Great quote. Can I use it?
Continue to keep an eye on the Census Bureau. For some reason I just don't trust them.
I think we have to stop referring to the dinosaurs as the mainstream media. As we've seen the 'new media' and outlets like Fox have actually been driving domestic news coverage over the last several months. The stories you mention would have been non-stories if not for 'new media' coverage. Another reason to re-label it is that we conservatives have to reset the terms of the debate, both in our terminology and on the ideological plane. Rush was accomplished that very successfully pretty much by himself in the early 90s. If we are to take advantage of the weakness of Obama and the Democratic Party, this is where we must begin. Once we havereset the terms of the debate, we can begin an ideological assault.
Just like all beyond lefty libs – the MSM realized the power they received in destroying the 2nd term of Bush, and toward Palin. Their new political agenda is hell bent on the destruction of this republic at all costs. The problem is "America was stupid for about a second, they are on to the MSM. I see big unemployment lines with a load of MSM people. They fail to realize the power of the People. They soon will.
I agree with you 100%.
Terrific article!!!! Part of the problem is the TV news outlets are owned by big corporations that have their own agenda – NBC&MSNBC, CBS, ABC answer to their higher powers like GE. The relationship between GE and the government would have been illegal and a scandal in the old days!
The wonderful truth is that MSM is really no longer needed-more and more Americans are waking up to the truth and are spending the time to get their news and information on the NET. Let MSM get with the program or die!
I haven't watched the networks since 9/11. That was the moment when I had my revelation of the media. As I looked at the media's faces on the screens, as I watched them stare at citizens waving flags and singing 'God Bless America', every damned one of those reporters had that look that said "I would NEVER do that!" Up until that moment, I had mistrusted those people – but that was the turning (off) point. The worst nightmare in our nation's history had just blown up in their faces, it was a sound heard around the world – yet they didn't hear a thing, only the leftist ideology in their heads. They didn't hear, they didn't see, they didn't understand. A media like that is incapable of broadcasting the truth. Buhh bye media.
The internet news sites, talk radio, Fox News, WA Times and others are gaining such a following simply because people want facts and honest reporting of the news, not the liberal rant and spin and outright lying of the MSM on anything and everything counter to the political agenda of the boy wonder president they contributed so much to putting into office.
As Mr. Nolte points out, the inability of the Fourth Estate to feel shame, or perhaps their total lack of shame, is proving their undoing as more and more people look to sources of proven reliabilty for their facts.
Absolutely correct.
Has there been anything to say the 2010 census has definitely been removed from the authority of the White House and Rahm Emanuel?
I think you make a lot of good points about why traditional media are digging their own grave. Yes, they do ignore stories they regard as inconvenient to their overall narrative line. I saw it time and time again when I worked in the newspaper industry. BUT… you are way off the mark when you say media consumers don't want affirmation. How do you explain the popularity of talk radio then? The increasing fragmentation of the audience into smaller and smaller market segments is precisely because people DO want to filter their content to their own tastes. Traditional media outlets are getting their clocks cleaned because with more and more competitors, people have more power than ever to ignore content they find objectionable.
Great post, as always John. I admit, I begin to feel completely demoralized as the MSM controls the dissemination of news by simply refusing to air any story that reflects badly on liberal policies or politicians. When the blockbuster video (by Hanna Giles and James O'Keefe) exposing ACORN was released, I thought "At last! They can't suppress this!" I anticipated the reaction – that it was an isolated incident, etc., and I knew it would be marginalized by the networks and newspapers – if mentioned at all. Then the next day… a second video. Oh, how sweet it was. Now ACORN is sweating bullets, wondering how many more videos are in the pipline….and voila! I'm not feeling demoralized anymore!
I just want as objective a report as possible; no leans either left or right. Simply straightforward information.
If you want to stick a commentary post report, fine, both sides.
That's what first led me to FOX all those years ago…"we report, you decide" seemed to be something that worked well with me…
Nowadays, some might call it rightist, but with such a severe heeling being done by the MSM, it just made the center move that way.
Well, the data just doesn't support that interpretation…
Although ObaMao has a lead and did a lot of damage, the inherent decency of the American people has been awakened to the crime. And they are doing small and big miracles every day to correct that stupidity…
People that elected representatives that won't listen to them will apply the needed pressure to correct that. If the representative won't comply with the immediate correction, they WILL remove them.
Nothing whatsoever.
[...] More on story distortions over at Big Hollywood. [...]
Within a certain limit, I agree with you, which would tend to support the statement that the United States is a center-right country.
But between crappy, useless, and frequently incorrect left reporting, or prescient, accurate, and efficient right reporting, the savvy consumer goes with the right, if for anything than getting an accurate picture of life around them.
And besides, the right commentators are frequently more entertaining…
Monday may be the day they either live, or die…
I have absolutely no idea if there is a third subject of their rapier…which is why ACORN is hiding under the bed. Even if the next shoe doesn't drop, the icy biting touch of the Sword of Damocles upon their neck has GOT to be extremely uncomfortable. Not knowing where the trigger for it is, is well, terrifying…
ACORN a victim of stupidity terrorism of their own making…so much karma there being rebalanced…
Great article that says it all. I lived in New Orleans for 25 years. I have always watched FOX because I worked for the DOD and that's all we had on in the CO's building. That's all I watched at home. After Katrina, I came back home to GA. My mom was hooked on CNN (she's 81 now). She's going blind, so I bought a house and moved her in. From the beginning, I would turn all the TV's on FOX and one on CNN for her. I would go to another room because I couldn't stand CNN. After a few days, she wanted me to stay in the room with her and told me to change the channel. She had a really rude awakening. She is now hooked and can't believe that she ever watched anything else.
She spends a couple of hours on the phone telling her friends everything that happened on FOX and has even converted some of them. I'm just glad that she finally saw the light.
Funny thing is…
If you had told me 10 years ago that my primary sources for reliable news in 2009 would be a pair of web sites called The Drudge Report and Big Hollywood, I wouldn't have believed you.
We'll never even know how many other stories have been suppressed over the last 20 years or so. Anyone remember what the MSM did with the John Edwards affair. The National Enquirer had to break that one. THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER!!!! How any of those in the MSM could look themselves in the mirror is beyond me.
As far as garnering the coverage that the Tea Parties rightly deserve, we need to start calling local news stations and telling them these are war protests, gay pride parades, and drunken celebrity sightings to get a TV crew dispatched to cover the protests.
"Americans" will hunt down the truth and find it.
According to cbs, nbc, abc and cnn
Tractor production is up in the 3rd quarter…
This is good because the wheat harvest is a bumper crop…
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Big Hollywood and John Rambo. John Rambo said: RT @bighollywood: T’was Accountability That Led the Mainstream Media to Suicide http://bit.ly/f3XLx [...]
I wonder if Al Gore regrets inventing the internet…
John this is the best you have written yet! And you are so correct. We have a different way of getting our information. We don't want to be led down a path. We want to know so we can make up our minds. Disappointed? I was disappointed in Mark Sanford, Randy Cunningham but you know what? I got over it. Leftist can get over their disappointments to. Beck said something today about getting ride of corruption on both sides of the aisle and I have to say he has me pumped because the fact is both partys have let us down. I am still a Republican but a cynic. John McCain's lacklastur candidacy proved to me one thing: We need to clean out the RNC leadership and put new blood everywhere and I know there are moderate Dems who feel the same way about their own party. Let do it, or in the words of Todd Beamer, LETS ROLL!
I do often wonder when (or if) Hollywood will finally have a paradigm shift and begin to realize that they are alienating a vast majority of their once large revenue base with the tripe they keep spewing forth on Television and on our Movie Screens. If Hollywood people could once again tap into the psyche of Middle America, I imagine there would be some very happy (and probably wealthy) people made. You can only watch so many "Reality Slut of the Week" shows or "Here compete about [insert competition here]" Shows before you become bored. Every life in America is a story. Start telling them.
I just saw the "more viewers" claim today – the only thing that makes sense is that they get to count all of the captive audiences at the airport, etc.
I think the downfall of the Media started with Walter Cronkite. His comments–his OPINIONS about the Vietnam war turned the public against the war.
That was the start of Journalism becoming Opinionism.
Come on, Mainstream Media–you can do it! "Get back to where you once belonged"
Semper Fi,
How is the writer of this piece, John Nolte, "a screenwriter, director, and film writer" like it says in his bio here?
He has exactly ONE citation as a writer-director on the Internet Movie Database, the website of record for film, TV and entertainment credits. One credit, that's IT; and for a movie that sat on the shelf for years and never had anything approaching a wide release.
I just wrote this on this professional website. I guess now I can say that I'm a "professional website writer".
I become suspicious when I read or watch what appears to be one-sided news. I flip from CNN to FOX to MSNBC because I actually want to see what each of is reporting. Lately the only noteworthy news has come from Fox News or here on Breitbart.
Did you wear it while Bush was President and he was taking away many of your Constitutional liberties?
Or is it just that when a Black Democrat is President that you suddenly feel threatened?
When Obama won the election last year, I told some down-hearted friends that this would do two things. A) It would be incredibly bad for our country in the short-term. B) It will utterly destroy the media. We're seeing both, but I'm not claiming to be a prophet–merely observant. Obama won only because the media sold its collective soul for ideology. They could fool enough people for a short time, but Obama was (and remains) so obviously incompetent to anyone paying attention (i.e. reading blogs on the right) it was only a matter of time before the media could no longer hide his gaffes with a straight face. If the MSM implodes completely, it MIGHT have been worth a one-term horrific president ("might" because the jury is still out as to whether he will screw the country over too much before he's ousted in 2012).
Welcome to the real world DJ. Glad you're with us!
According to Mr. Vennett, John Nolte is dishonest and untrustworthy. But according to me, John Notle is honest and trustworthy, because his article brings peace, makes sense, and sounds logical. We all know that the MSM choose "option B." Anyone who works in Hollywood knew that long ago. Plus, Nolte consistently writes a clear article here every week. Illogical people use fallacies, such as "ad hominem," "tu quoque" and "hoc est ergo propter hoc." Mr. Vennett demonstrates two such deceptive arguments. On the contrary, I see the logic in your article, agree with your conclusion and think that your premises are true. Yes, the MSM is putting itself out of business, because the MSM is regularly making bad business decisions. Thus, owning a television is pointless.
"What a disappointing revelation it must be to open the New York Times or turn on the network news only to discover after the curtain has already fallen that one of Obama’s Czars was forced to resign or that the U.S. Census Bureau let ACORN go."
Oh Yeah! But were they disappointed? It may have only been a revelation obvious only to those who are non Kool Aid drinkers.
Add Big Government to that mix, and it is almost perfect.
Brilliant!
Sounds like you're a professional dick, too.
I just watched the NBC 10:00 pm news. They showed Obama at a rally drumming up support for health care reform, with a cheering crowd. How do you think they presented the rally in DC, where people went from across the country to protest against massive spending and growing government?
They didn't. Nada, zero, zilch, NOTHING!
I am reminded of Napoleon's quote: "Never interrupt your enemy as he is making a mistake." Keep doing what yer doing, mainstream media.
It's chilling, isn't it? Like being in a Twilight Zone episode. As if that rally in Washington DC never even happened. Thanks for watching NBC so I don't have to.
Great Post John. I have been aware for years and years of how the media manipulate the facts through selective editing and other techniques. As I keep telling my sister it isn't what they tell you as much as what they don't tell you. I was a big watcher of C-Span, especially during the Clinton years. I would watch unfiltered hearings, debates, and other proceedings. When I watched the nightly news the stories reported on the events I had watched bore zero resemblence to what I had seen. This is possible because of the method of news delivery. It is all about the "Narrative". You cannot fathom how sick I am of hearing that phrase. It fits or it does not fit the narrative is a common phrase in what passes for journalism these days.
Narrative is just a sneaky way of saying that the story was already written before the event took place. All that is required is to select certain facts and ignore others to make any story fit any pre-concieved idea. You can thank our colleges and universities for this troubleing developement. It is agenda driven journalism and more properly should be labled propaganda 101.
I just can't understand why Fox is the only channel that reports things because 1) they happened, and 2) people need/want to know about them. The other TV news outlets report things only if THEY think we ought to know about them, and can't understand why that isn't flying with the public.
"They are also cornered, scared and armed with the mighty weapons of the unethical: lies and the inability to feel shame."
Why should anyone have to feel shame about anything? Feeling ashamed would mean they did something wrong, and just because YOU think it's wrong doesn't mean it is, or that anything, for that matter, is wrong. Or right. What matters is that our actions feel authentic to us. But I guess a judgmental conservative like you is incapable of understanding that.
…..
God help me, I'm getting good at imitating them.
We have been hearing that the media is losing viewership for months now. They have a lot further to fall in terms of revenues. If a blogger can make it on a shoestring budget, these losers will keep singing to the choir even if their advertising spots devalue to 10% of what they are worth now. That's the bad news.
The good news is in a few years the competition will be the mainstream and a new era of journalism will take root, and the bums will be where they belong, campaigning for the democrats. Let's see how long the democratic party's power lasts without the 4th estate propping them up.
I always knew that a great army would be sent to save our great county…It arrived today in wash dc and all across the land, sent by our founding fathers via their forsight into the future….the right to protest and the right to assemble…..God bless our great country and and those that have peopled that great army…
Good post, Delmar. I always love to hear from fellow ex-Liberals from whose eyes the scales have fallen. It's sickening listening NPR's version of "the other side." They don't look for a conservative spokesman to give our side of the story, noooo. Instead they find some left-leaning "expert" who gives his take on our side of the story. That's modus operandi from them and it makes me want to puke.
Here's the thing that I don't get:
I frequently HAVE to watch CNN because everyone puts it on – airports, gyms, etc – because here in the LA area if someone sees Fox News on a TV they'll complain to the boss (although complaining about CNN just gets an exasperated eye-roll).
CNN constantly claims it's the number one news source – more viewers than Fox and MSNBC combined! – and I don't know how this could be true, although to be fair MSNBC viewership is a zero to the left. The claim is always accompanied by small print that goes by too fast to read.
What magic are they pulling with the numbers to be able to claim this?
The three men I just love to see,
Limbaugh, Levin and Hanity,
All said," Wait, just watch you'll see,"
"The day, the main-stream media died."
That happened this week, didn't it?
Irishgreen,
Just the sort of "wit" and response that I've come to expect from Conservatives.
According to your pal "TheodoreLosAngeles" above, you are wrong because you used an "ad hominem" attack on me. So one Conservative condemns the actions of another.
A well said piece of writing. I recall very well the acute joy I took reading many times over the last twenty years of the financial demise of liberal or left leaning newspapers nationwide. For the me the insight was clear but I doubt that these organizations ever understood why they were losing readership and therefore profits. Simple justice was being done. Since the liberals took over the teaching of our children in the 1960 they sought to recast education in their to their ideological leanings. Basket weaving and guitar took the place of reading and writing and twenty years later we had a generation of Americans who had not need for a newspaper as they could not read nor write the English language well enough todigest a newspaper written at an eighth grade level. Self-fulfilling prophecy! HaHa
And what you used, "TheodoreLosAngeles" is what's called a "Strawman Argument", where you state a bunch of things that I didn't actually write, and then condemn and disparage me for writing them.
Please cite where I stated that Mr. Nolte was dishonest and untrustworthy.
Your use of Latin terms is impressive, not nearly so is the strength of your debating skills.
(Oh, and please explain how Mr. Nolte's article "brings peace". I really don't get that.)
Recent Cable Ratings
click on Slideshow
There's only so many hours in a day.
WHAT? WHAT'S GOING ON? HUH? CZAR, WHAT CZAR?
The liberal saps are bouncing around hurling "racist" in every direction as they try to figure out what is happening. "Jones called Republicans a bad name!" Yup, that is all you will hear from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and the rest of the MSM.
Someday, if you truly care about America and you decide to do your own thinking, try to hear all the news, not just the pap fed you by the MSM.
Folks – I just logged on Yahoo to see how it covered the two million in the streets of D.C. today. And here's the crowd estimate they gave. Tens of thousands People, I kid you not. Naturally, there was NO picture of the crowd. Instead they picked out a poster from the march – it showed Obama with a Hitler mustache.
Oh, man! I haven't seen such lying since they described the black gun-toting protester as white.
See liberals, there is a God and He's got a plan.
Ye reap what ye sow. Garbage in garbage out, babies.
One of the best interpretations of what's been going on with the MSM and the advent of the new media opportunities of the 'Net. And John Nolte has the best of the best interpretations of everything, every day.
I HATE cliches. Hate 'em. But here's a beaut that's forcing its way to my mind: Give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves. Just think of the First Amendment as the rope. Abuse of free speech is the trap door. The corpse is the MSM.
And the 'right commentators' are saying much of what we as individuals have been thinking all along, but lacked the venue until talk radio and the internet came along, to give it voice.
Affirmation, not so much, I think. I have no problem with dissenting, reasoned logical points of view, but thre is just so much of NPR and MSM, and most recently, the Obama Lie on the House floor Wednesday night, one can take at a given time.
[...] reasons that are driving the Red Queen’s Race. But, as John Nolte writes at Big Hollywood, “T’was Accountability That Led the Mainstream Media to Suicide”: Mainstream news outlets have been caught off guard before, but they used to play catch up. Today [...]
Yes, I did. Actually, Bush, Clinton and co should be in jail for crimes agaist the constitution.
Mr. Vennett;
Why did you feel it necessary to pull out the race card on this?
Several years ago, when the The New York Tiimes revealed details of a national security program that was vital to preventing future terrorist attacks in this country, the reason given was "the people's right to know." While controversial, it seemed an acceptable response until Bill Keller, Executive Editor of the NYT, expanded on that response by explaining that it is his job to decide what news the American people are informed about. I don't care what your political views are, it's frightening to realize there are Americans who believe they have the power and the right to censor what other Americans read and hear. Listening to the news reports on ABC, CBS and NBC about yesterday's events was like listening to a recitation of the Democratic talking points. According to our friends in the MSM, the President spoke in Minneapolis before a crowd of 15,000 enthusiastic supporters, while the half million or more Americans who gathered in Washington to express their opposition to out of control spending and big government were described as "thousands" aimlessly milling around DC on a Saturday afternoon.
I just finished reading an article in the NY Newsday lefty rag. They described the demonstrations in DC yesterday as being attended by conservatives and republicans against Obambo's health care. They don't get it. Or they do get and won't admit it.
[...] T’was Accountability That Led The Mainstream Media To Suicide [...]
Barak is going to bring the socialist/fascist corporate press down with him. They are a Marxist cult that can't help themselves. They drone on and on with innane slogans that serve as mantras. It's darn sick. But never forget these are America's self described "smart" people and everyone who laughs at them are the "stupid" people.
Most tv news is corrupt – Fox is the best but they arent perfect – I go to drudgereport.com and listen to Dr. Michael Savage for most of my news – Msnbc is laughable – what a bunch of morons – with Oblerman leading the way as top misfit – I dont watch NBC, CBS, ABC, or CNN anymore – only when they have sports on will I turn the channel to them. Also, when I watch the news and they have Washington DC in the background, ever NOTICE all the GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS? Thousands of them filled with hundred of thousands PAPER PUSHERS that we are paying for and they DONT DO ANY WORK ………..what a scam – we need a CHANGE alright – a change of how we GOVERN our great country – terminate all present in Washington DC and START fresh and get our country BACK ON ITS FEET with real Americans protecting our FREEDOMS.
Main stream media's refusal to adapt will cause them to implode…they've allowed themselves to become the propaganda arm for this socialist administration…final nail is having Diane Sawyer as hard news anchor…I like her on GMA but evening news? lol….
Mainstream news? Who are these CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC people? I read Drudgereport for information from around the entire world and make up my own mind on the matter. The news in most countries is that over one million protested in Washington DC over the Obama health care plans and high spending and the comments I read here are about 60 thousand. Even the C-SPAN video shows much more than this lowball figure. No wonder Americans are getting up set over their mainstream news. It appears to be nothing but coverage for Obama.
I just read somewhere that thousands of people have been pardoned in "O"s short tenure
I'd certainly appreciate a link to where you found this information/allegation
It is well know among people who know I exist–that I do not have TV reception in my home. I may go to the Movies twice a year. I usually do not listen to radio. (don't like constant noise), and I turn the sound off on the computer when I use it. Also only receive a local paper and rarely read it all. I do read books voraciously and have for my entire life-'-not Harlequin romance',
So when a young man I know was telling me some "news" a few months back….and I told him he was incorrect and here are the facts–he said "How could you know, You don't even get the news on TV?
So i have been slowly introducing him to the 'unadulterated' news.. how I find it -what I think about it and why.
(an admission here-I have started listening to the radio some).. I .try to listen to the opening monologues of both Rush and Hannity each day.
Basically I get the news from Drudge Report, American Thinker, some Hot Air, PJMedia, Br*itbart, and BigHollywood, and other sources. One of the best sources of rounded views I have found Is right here on IntensedDebate. People hear and see, think and share, this gives multi-points of view on the subject and how it truly effects 'We the People'. People for the most part who have no 'agenda' (save for let me live my life my way!) People who also seek the truth and share the links. Thank you all.
Why in the world people wish to sit in front of a TV and be spoon fed- 'all the news they want you to know', and be content that they are 'informed' baffles me.
My time has value, when I want the 'News' I go find the news, Thanks to brave souls and the Internet. I do not have to listen or see endless praise for the likes of Ted K, or MJ, people I had little interest in and less respect for in life, and while death is sad, it does not automatically make you a hero.
Neither Drudge nor Rush tells me what "I Think" they tell the News and What They Think…..I digest it and I decide what- I Think!
**I went to DC, yesterday I do not 'need' anyone to tell me it was a' Failure'–I know it was Great!
(by the way the park policeman I spoke with at 3pm said they estimated the crowd at 1.5 million!)
Accountability is a major theme of conservatism while tolerance is for the left. The two will always be at odds, but are not mutually exsclusive. I watched something about Afghanistan on CNN last night (360 something or other) and contrasted it to what I read when Michael Yon posts and at least in this one instance I was a bit surprised to see that they weren't tilting the story so much for a change. I don't want to see the MSM go down in flames, I want to see them rise up to the occasion and become legit for once. The internet checks and balances have helped keep them in check, but it's really not enough..
GM, GE, and Citibank are down for soviet-style state-run media. Who are you to judge what is torture or news?
After many, if not most, in the MSM admitted to their bias the day after Obama was elected, you would have expected them to try to be squeaky clean for at least a few months thereafter. But that was not the case, and because of it they are in a downward slide of their own making. I found it ironic that the Clintons, darlings of the media before Obama's viability was recognized, experienced their blatant bias first hand. I have to believe many moderate and slightly left Hillary fans had their eyes forced open wide when the MSM turned their juggernaut against her, and were worse than ever with their biased support of Obama. It's an example of the old saying – Those that live by the sword, die by the sword.
Good thought. Just step out of the way and let them fall on their faces
Same here. "I read somewhere…" is the same to me as "Ninety precent of [insert noun here]…". They both translate to PFA unless I see credible, verifiable sources.
Because that is supposed to cut off any further discussion. Such actions, and cries of "racist!" are swiftly losing their ability to do this. I, for one, and pleased to see this turn of events.
That's the thing that bugs me the most: I'm not a huge Bush fan or anything. I think the news organizations SHOULD be digging up dirt on politicians (when it's actually there) because that's their job.
People think that if you complain about the news media loving Obama it's because you want them to love 'your guy' the same. But no, I want them to be INDEPENDENT and treat them all with suspicion. Why is that so much to ask?
I agree with your general point about the bias in the MSM and the almost shocking dishonest (it appears) decisions about news coverage based, it appears, largely on that bias….but I think your conclusion that such bias is driving dollars out of the news biz is entirely wrongheaded.
If you were right about that, then conservative newspapers would be making measurably more money than left-leaning ones… and there's no evidence of that, that I know of. I believe the WaTimes (with its unusual financial backers, still Moon, right?) and the NYPost either don't make much or, in th ecase of the NY Post, lose big bucks, I think.
It's an unbiased cause behind the wrecking of the newspaper biz model: craig's list and other internet venues of free news and advertising.
PS:
….. and while gauging motives always is perilous, as far as I know the responses in news rooms and publishers' offices to financial decline has a complex relationship to any political bias or culture in any newsroom and news organization.
But you maybe could give libs their props if they are willing to stick to their ideological guns even if it means they lose money….it may be quixotic and wrongheaded, but it can be admired at one level.
But don't think newspapers are losing readers…. actually they all have more readers; just fewer that want to pay for a product t hey know can get largely online for free.
The monopoly news organizations used to have on gathering and reporting the news simply has been trumped by the internet, so the main revenue streams newspapers always made tons of cash in have dried up…..
Another example: the San Jose Mercury News is in trouble and asking its readers for "help":
http://www.mercurynews.com/topstories/ci_13310251...
PS2: Here's another example of apparent biased news judgment:
Take the time and inches devoted to Palin's daughter's ex-boyfriend/fiance, what he thinks of Palin and her household… Imagine MSM reporters ever giving, say, Joe Kennedy III's ex, lots of time and inches to tell tales out of school about the Kennedy casa.. Seems more newsworthy right now than that sad sack kid's gossip about the Palins. And a deeper, richer vein to mine, no?
Perhaps they're counting international viewers, too?
[...] MSM is not responding rationally to the challenges it faces. It may even be committing suicide, as John Nolte believes. I suppose one should give it credit for having the courage of its [...]
Yup, all them thar hayseeds in flyover country are begin'n to sprout. Yup, huge rollin' fields of beautiful flowin' grain, blowin' by the winds of liberty, watered by the passions of the patriots! Jes think, next years crop will be bigger 'n this years as more of them thar hayseeds will drop, take root, and reproduce!
The MSM obviously have NO self-respect. How can they? They lack everything needed to be real reporters: curiosity, tenacity, objectivity, honesty, propriety, ingenuity, intelligence, common sense, etc.
It looks to me like they may go down with the Big O ship! Since they hoisted the sails they would be hard pressed to bail now and admit they made a "mistake". Besides, who would throw them a lifeline? But, if they could, just imagine the self-respect they would regain.
Did you see CNN? Check this one out…
http://normanhooben.blogspot.com/2009/09/trouble-...
[...] Yikes indeed. So why is this happening? Yes, there are certainly key technological changes that are driving the Red Queen’s Race. But, as John Nolte writes at Big Hollywood, “T’was Accountability That Led the Mainstream Media to Suicide”: [...]
Alternative news sources are becoming the equivalent of Monica Lewinsky's blue dress. If they didn't exist, the mainstream media would still be denying everything, and probably getting away with it.
[...] point from Big Hollywood (via Ed Driscoll and Instapundit) is pretty important: The Dinosaur Media is losing money, viewers and readers hand over fist. The reason they’re [...]
[...] point from Big Hollywood (via Ed Driscoll and Instapundit) is pretty important: The Dinosaur Media is losing money, viewers and readers hand over fist. The reason they’re [...]
Ok, so now I guess it is safe to say that what we labeled the Mainstream Media, or Dinosaur Media has now become the State Run Media.
Much of it is simply a matter of who was there first. CNN is much older and more established than Fox. And it has the connections that come with being owned by the largest media company in the world (Time Warner). As Kwak pointed out, Fox kills CNN in ratings, but it's not always/only about ratings.
Just wanted to add a quick reality check here. Although I agree 100% with the claim that the MSM sees its mission as one of advancing the liberal movement — and I will not mourn its passing! — the truth is that it is declining mostly for reasons that have little to do with its ideological bias. Want to know what's killing newspapers? Things like classified ads (lack of). Craigslist. Doesn't make a great headline, but the decline in ad revenue from these former cash cows is killing newspapers. Yes, their readership is declining, but so is readership of books and magazines. Of all sorts, not just news and politics. These are demographic trends largely unrelated to politics. So, while its nice to think that the MSM is getting its just deserts (and it is, I suppose), let's remain realistic about what's going on.
[...] John Nolte, writing in Big Hollywood (hat tip to Rick): In recent days and weeks three major news stories have broke here online, at Fox News or the Washington Times; everywhere but the mainstream media. Worse still, as the stories unfolded, the media willfully ignored them until, much to their embarrassment, they were forced to give grudging coverage only after official action — in the form of a resignation (Van Jones), reassignment (the NEA) or dismissal (ACORN) — occurred that could no longer be ignored. [...]
Netkritter makes an excellent point. Overlooked is an analysis of the audience that has faithfully stuck with the MSM. Consider CBS news or the NYT. They each know their audience and know that it is far left of center and quite liberal. If they were to choose John's option "A) Clean up their act and do their jobs honorably", they would lose a measurable number from their readers/viewers. Granted, they would (or should) eventually build a larger, more diverse audience. Management, however, is measured on quarterly profits. They would not have the time (or money) to rebuild their audience once their base left them.
Fox News, on the other hand, leans right. They also know their audience. Fortunately for them, America leans right and their audience is huge.
I have been wondering if the reporters who seem to honestly report (Stossel, Tapper) aren't becoming the new superstars of journalism. I won't, for example, believe anything ABC reports unless the byline is from Tapper or Stossel. Not that either has a private line to perfection. Just that they both seem to be honest craftsmen genuinely trying to get to the truth. I realize that Stossel is a libertarian of some sort and Tapper may be a liberal, but both seem to try to reach objectivity.
One could build a franchise over that kind of reputation.
My ultimate point is that both provide actual proof of the value of the core mission (phrase stolen from Powerline) of the press. For good information, I actually hunt these two out. Just like for pretty honest fisking, I tend to hunt out Bob Owens (regardless of his obvious political leaning).
I don't know anything about Mr. Nolte. However, if your IMDB research is true, then Mr. Nolte's bio is technically true.
Many liberals follow the advice of Saul Alinsky Rules For Radicals. Rule 12, "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." He further clarifies, saying "Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works." Mr. Vennett, is that the point of your post? You never spoke to the merits of Nolte's piece. Just an ad hominem against the writer.
Although to be perfectly analogous to an MSM journalist the guard would be slouching, sloven, and asking whether free food and drinks will be served at the next news event. And he would be holding the gun with two fingers and saying "ewwww."
[...] Read More: by John Nolte, Big Hollywood [...]
Fox News and The Washington Times are mainstream media.
wow! what a great article.. I just found this website from Breit Bart going on Fox News, so wanted to come check it out. I am a democrat and am stunned at how the MSM is outright lying and covering up for the democrats.. and I say this as a lifelong democrat. The thing is now I am seeing the blantant bias that the MSM has for Obama and the democrats, I say to all conservatives.. I see the bias now (I saw it agn hillary clinton in the primaries and my eyes were opened for the first time). And the main power that MSM had to give to the democrats was that they had people like me who would beleive them.. THEY HAVE LOST THAT! I no longer waste my time watching/reading or believing a word they say.. I know who they work for.. AND IT IS NOT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!
–a lifelong soon-to-be-ex-democrat
I will be changing my party affiliation to independent after spending 34 yrs as a democrat.. these lunatics in the party are NOT democrats…. they are radical idealogues… I sure as heck am NOT a repub.. I am an American first and foremost.. and now soon I will be an independent, no party allegiance to either party. I am now finding out that the dems are just as corrupt as the repubs.. expect the democrats have the MSM to lie for them and cover their crimes for them.
– a disgusted soon-to-be-ex-democrat , and I suspect there will be millions more like me
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Timothy Hennessey, OnlyOneWayUp and calitweeter. calitweeter said: T’was Accountability That Led the Mainstream Media to Suicide. http://tinyurl.com/qgjhpg [...]
Eventually Obama's screw ups will get so bad that even the media will start to notice.
[...] [...]
Makes you kind of wonder: in all those years, say, from 1950 until now, just how much stuff the Legacy Media has lied about. We have the big – or at least, what we think are big – examples, like Walter Duranty. But what else is there? How much of what we've been told is true? How much has been left out?
[...] T’was Accountability That Led the Mainstream Media to Suicide: The rise of those who watch the Watchmen forced smart, savvy individuals to consciously choose between being tenacious, curious journalists who will hold the powerful accountable, or to finally come out of the closet and declare themselves the ideological warriors they really are. They have chosen to become the Palace Guards. They are also cornered, scared and armed with the mighty weapons of the unethical: lies and the inability to feel shame. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, we must continue to do our best as they let loose their worst. [...]
that would explain it.
Media bias has always been with us (William Randolph Hearst, anyone? Horace Greeley?). What irks me is not the bias, but the dogged insistence on objectivity by major media outlets; that butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. Most blogs, large and small, are pretty upfront and unapologetic about their viewpoint. When MSNBC et. al. can't admit the same, it taints everything they try to present.
The other issue that I think is relevant is that, for TV, at least, the news is just part of the overall marketing effort. This tends to undermine objectivity further, since the object of many news outlets these days is to make money, rather than report all the news they can get their paws on.
I don't think bias is necessarily a bad thing. Consider movie critics. If I'm interested in a movie, there is a set of critics whose reviews I will read. And I read some of them knowing perfectly well that they won't like the movie, simply because of their own personal biases and what I know about the movie. Some critics really don't seem to like animated movies, or Sf movies, or movies with a plot, or whatever. But going in knowing that, I can make a better decision for myself on whether or not I want to see the movie.
So viva la bias. But let's be honest with each other about our viewpoints, too. Today's utopian fantasy.
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