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Posts Tagged ‘Media Malpractice’

John Ziegler

Media Malpractice in the Extreme

by John Ziegler

As anyone familiar with my book or either of my two documentary films would already guess, it is really hard for me to be shocked by anything that happens today in the once noble profession of “journalism.” However, when I simply tried to tell the story of the most recent saga of my rollercoaster broadcasting career, even I was truly stunned by the utterly dysfunctional and decrepit state of the formerly esteemed fourth estate.

Media Memory Hole2

This narrative is not primarily about why I am no longer doing a talk show at KGIL in Los Angeles (though that tale itself is fascinating and infuriating and necessary for proper context). Instead, I wish to focus on what transpired after I was told (at least partially inaccurately) by KGIL that they would be flipping the station to all music and that my contract would be paid out. (more…)

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Posted Sep 9th 2009 at 2:19 pm in Media Criticism | 78 Comments

John Ziegler

Sarah Palin: One Year Later

by John Ziegler

On August 29th, 2008, I woke up and, like almost every other American, was stunned by the news that Sarah Palin had been chosen as John McCain’s running mate. It was not that I had never heard of her or didn’t want her to be the pick (I had publicly called for her consideration numerous times), but because it was so clearly a very bold and risky maneuver and a true surprise in an era when we seemingly know everything well before it happens.

Moments after I heard the news I did a radio interview and predicted that the news media would destroy her in their transparent quest to pave the way for Barack Obama’s historic election. I had no idea just how right that “blink” calculation would be and I certainly never would have guessed that I would become a small part of that story by dedicating my life and fortune to documenting just how unbelievably bad it would get.

The last twelve months of Sarah Palin’s life truly bring new meaning to the phrase “what a difference a year makes.” I strongly believe that no public figure in modern America has ever endured more stress, pressure and unfair scrutiny in a more dignified fashion than she has over the past year (though what George W. Bush tolerated over the last three years of his presidency probably comes in a close second).

On August 28th of last year Sarah Palin was a largely unknown governor considered to be a rising star largely because of her willingness to take on Republicans in a way that had endeared her to Democrats. Today she is an ex-governor wrongly perceived by most of the country and virtually all of the news media as an erratic, unqualified, lightweight and ultra-partisan Republican who can’t even mange her own family.  (more…)

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Posted Aug 28th 2009 at 7:55 am in Featured Story, Politics | 312 Comments

John Ziegler

Inside the Letterman/Palin Flap

by John Ziegler

The fact that I’ve needed to correct the record every time I’m involved in some sort of media firestorm (about once a month since the election, it seems), probably says at least as much about the pathetic nature of our news media as anything I put in my documentary “Media Malpractice,” a film whose truth I’ve dedicated almost all of the last year of my life to. The most recent episode involving the controversy over David Letterman’s comments about Governor Sarah Palin and her family is certainly no exception.  

First, let me tell you what really happened, and then I can explain what we should all learn from this.  Here’s the timeline… 

Monday, June 8th: Letterman uses Palin’s trip to New York to unleash a torrent of  ”comic” attacks on her and her family. The entire “Top Ten” list is devoted to the Governor and includes cracks about her updating her “slutty” wardrobe and possessing illegal drugs. The monologue includes a “joke” about Palin’s “daughter” getting “knocked up” at a Yankees game by Alex Rodriquez during the 7th inning stretch while her mother and a stadium full of spectators presumably watched.   (more…)

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Posted Jun 19th 2009 at 9:55 am in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Politics | 11 Comments

John Ziegler

The Truth About My Arrest at USC

by John Ziegler

I have had a rather bizarre career in media, but what happened last week on the campus of USC here in Los Angeles may end up marking one of the strangest and most disturbing episodes yet. I went to USC intending to simply let as many people as possible know that the award for “journalism excellence” they were giving Katie Couric for her Sarah Palin interview was a complete farce. To prove my point, I wanted to give away copies of my film “Media Malpractice,” which has my own Sarah Palin interview as a special feature. Instead, I ended up getting handcuffed, “arrested,” roughed up, detained, threatened, and forced off the premises. 

For those that may have missed the incredible video of the incident, here is how the episode was played on Fox News Channel: 

While that report provided a good overview of what happened, there is a lot more to say about this situation, largely because there has been so much misinformation, so many irresponsible accusations, and so much blatant hypocrisy in the general reaction to the remarkable videotape.  (more…)

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Posted Apr 20th 2009 at 8:25 am in Media Criticism, News | 19 Comments

John Ziegler

Cronkite Award for Couric Represents Journalism’s Rotting Corpse

by John Ziegler

On April 15th, the “prestigious” (and apparently now openly liberal) USC Annenberg School for Communication will be presenting CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric with the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Journalism. 

Now, for there to even be such a thing as an prize for “Excellence in Television Journalism” in an age where a desperate thirst for ratings has caused most TV “news” to become little more than glorified infotainment, is a bit like passing out awards for fiscal responsibility to members of Congress.  But for Katie Couric, the poster child of this “infotainmentification” of news, to be the recipient of such an oxymoronic honor is much like if that aforementioned trophy for frugal spending in Congress went to John Murtha or Barney Frank. 

But what makes this situation so particularly galling is the specific reason why Couric is being honored for her “excellence in journalism.”  Couric is being presented with the award for “Special Achievement for National Impact on the 2008 Campaign.” 

What was it that Couric did that was so “special?” The judges singled her out solely for “her extraordinary, persistent and detailed multi-part interviews with Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.”  (more…)

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Posted Apr 9th 2009 at 1:47 pm in Featured Story, Media Criticism | One Comment

John Ziegler

Obama’s Remarkable 9/11 Blindspot

by John Ziegler

As a guy who has just made a film about how the news media paved the way for President Obama’s election, it won’t surprise you to hear that I have some critical things to say about his most recent appearance on “60 Minutes.” But what might shock you (because it stunned even me) was the incredibly tepid response that his most incredible remarks elicited even from the right (and no, they had nothing to do with laughter, or the economy).

Whether anyone chooses to notice or not, President Obama put himself out on the very edge of a very long and fragile limb on the issue of how to handle terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay.  For a guy who is a master at not taking any real position at all (or, when he is really at his “best” taking all possible sides to an issue simultaneously) , Obama showed an absolutely unbelievable recklessness in his response to former Vice President Dick Cheney’s criticism of his closing of the prison camp. (more…)

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Posted Mar 24th 2009 at 12:44 pm in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Politics, Video | 8 Comments

Andrew Breitbart

My Real Time With Bill Maher

by Andrew Breitbart

To view video of Andrew Breitbart on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” taped Friday, March 13, 2009 click here.

This week’s Washington Times column:

Pretty much everyone I respect in media and politics recommended I not go on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher.” But on Friday night, I defied that wisdom and had the time of my life.

I sparred with Mr. Maher, Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson and a MoveOn.org audience from hell that booed my sentences before they were completed. Unfortunately, my wife and in-laws, who watched from the green room, were not as enamored with the experience as I was.

Since the salad days of ABC’s “Politically Incorrect,” which minted countless right-wing pundits and best-selling authors, conservatives have rightly assessed the HBO version of the Maher show as R-rated and shockingly hostile to their worldview. So most opt out.

I totally see why. But I think that’s exactly the wrong strategy.

(more…)

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Posted Mar 15th 2009 at 4:03 pm in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Featured Story, Media Criticism | 204 Comments

John Nolte

‘Brothers At War’ Matters

by John Nolte

It’s a little surprising to look back and realize I’ve been complaining whining pouting crying bitching moaning writing about the insidious effects of left-wing Hollywood on both our culture and the art form of film itself for a few years now. Watching conservatives catch up a bit in the political documentary department has been encouraging, but if someone were to ask, “What do you want?” My response would be, “Brothers at War.”

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As we’ve seen with John Ziegler’s important and well-made “Media Malpractice,” there’s a place and need for the political documentary, both on the left and right, but when it comes to the art of telling a story through film, that’s not the end game, it’s merely the opening kickoff. Though a documentary, “Brothers at War” is a reminder of what the goal line looks like. (more…)

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Posted Mar 11th 2009 at 11:26 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics, Video | 15 Comments

John Ziegler

Inside the ‘Media Malpractice’ Promo Tour

by John Ziegler

I am sure that the media tour for any major film is always interesting. However, when that film skewers many of the very same outlets and people who are interviewing you, the possibility for the ride to get particularly odd increases exponentially.  

Last week I released my documentary film “Media Malpractice… How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted“ and appeared on numerous major media outlets to explain and promote the film. You can see most of those, often hilarious, appearances for yourself here.

This is a diary of sorts of my promotional tour.  (more…)

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Posted Mar 4th 2009 at 5:15 am in Featured Story, Media Criticism | 58 Comments

John Ziegler

NBC Performs Media Malpractice On ‘Media Malpractice’

by John Ziegler

Next week I plan to write more extensively on Big Hollywood about the many bizarre behind the scenes occurrences and things learned during the initial media promotion tour for my new film “Media Malpractice… How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted.” However, one episode was so strange and important, that I need to briefly touch on it today.

This dealt with the set-up segment to my appearance on the “Today Show” (video below) yesterday. The “Today Show” was given exclusive access to the unreleased portions of my Sarah Palin interview and NBC reporter Norah O’Donnell was given these clips and chosen to do the story on the Palin interview that would air just before and lead into my interview with Matt Lauer.

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What O’Donnell chose to air was striking for two reasons. First, it so badly missed all the best Palin sound bites I can only conclude (despite any logic to this theory) that NBC did so on purpose. No one could be so incompetent as to take 43 minutes of great stuff and literally use the very first answer in the interview (which was hardly noteworthy) and none of the best clips. Second, O’Donnell’s editorial choices went out of their way to diminish and ignore Governor Palin’s very credible objections to very specific episodes of media malpractice. But the news media, especially NBC, trying to make Palin look bad is hardly new. (more…)

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Posted Feb 24th 2009 at 9:32 am in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Politics | 249 Comments

John Nolte

Exclusive Review: Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted

by John Nolte

Big Hollywood was given an exclusive first look at John Ziegler’s latest documentary covering the media coverage of the 2008 presidential election.

In journalistic terms it’s called a “tick-tock.” This is when the media crafts a news story that takes you behind the scenes of an event and breaks down, piece by linear piece, the individual acts which led up to that event. With “Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted,” director John Ziegler (”Blocking the Path to 9/11“) turns the art of the tick-tock around and aims it, with damning effect, squarely at the news media.  The result is not a documentary, at least not for anyone who believes in truth, fairness or journalistic integrity – the result is a horror film.

If you expect Ziegler to build his case using easy targets like Keith Olbermann aping David Strathairn playing Edward R. Murrow, think again. Olbermann’s a bit player in this cinematic indictment, a clown. The real conspirators run the gamut of every network (cable and otherwise), and most of the major print and online publications. Maybe it’s not a horror story, after all. Maybe it’s something closer to an Agatha Christie mystery where everyone’s the murderer.

The victim, of course, is American journalism. (more…)

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Posted Feb 23rd 2009 at 1:04 am in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Reviews | 287 Comments

John Ziegler

Reaction To My Palin Interview Proves The Point

by John Ziegler

Unless you were hanging out with Joe the Plumber in Gaza this past week, you probably heard that I did an exclusive interview with Governor Sarah Palin for my forthcoming documentary, “Media Malpractice… How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Smeared.”

The reaction to the interview excerpts has been far more intense and far more deranged than I expected. Quite simply, the media response has done more to prove the basic point of the documentary than just about anything I could have produced in the film.

Here are just a few ways in which this episode felt like I had suddenly become Alice in Wonderland (without the dress or blond hair).

Governor Palin’s comments about being taken out of context were clearly taken out of context and her statements that they were being taken out of context were themselves taken out of context in a blatant, though thus far, unsuccessful attempt to turn the Governor and I against each other.

The Governor’s measured, rational and accurate attempts to correct the historical record about the basis for which a Presidential election was decided were “reported” by the left as being “whiny,” “catty” and “delusional.” Folks, there’s a reason why there’s such a thing as a war crimes tribunal; some things you just have to get to the bottom of.

(more…)

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Posted Jan 14th 2009 at 4:45 am in Featured Story, Media Criticism, Politics, Video | 221 Comments

John Ziegler

We Must Hang Together, Or We Will All Hang Separately

by John Ziegler

Big Hollywood will likely contain plenty of stories dealing with and (hopefully) overcoming the hardships associated with being a “conservative” in and around Hollywood. I want to commend those who have been able to hold on to their principles and have had the courage to share their true convictions in the face of obvious and insidious prejudice.

However, coming from an area of the “entertainment” world (talk radio and documentary films) where expressing a strong opinion is not only allowed, it is mandatory; I come at this challenge from a different perspective than many of the writers for this site. I believe that a complementary relationship between those who are just now slowly “coming out” and those of us who are already battle scarred and hardened is absolutely vital to our side having any chance in the message/information war which is currently raging, and in which we have been getting creamed, for far too long.

And make no mistake this is a war we are in. One of the many reasons we are losing so badly is that their side gets this, our side does not.

When you are in a battle like this (even one that usually doesn’t involve real bullets, but rather only the verbal variety) you need generals, infantry and diplomats all working in coordination and in the best interest of the team. In my experience, our forces are largely disorganized, discouraged and in disarray. Consequently, our soldiers, through little fault of their own, are forced to act out of their own survival instincts rather than out of what might be good for the cause.

(more…)

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Posted Jan 7th 2009 at 7:15 am in Entertainment, Media Criticism, Politics | 56 Comments