When we seek out the causes and culprits of our current economic crisis, there is one area in need of reform that should not be overlooked: the mainstream news media. It is not too much to say that the people in the NBC, ABC and CBS news operations were major contributing factors to the crash of 2008 and are helping to pave the way to future economic troubles now.
In the book Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon, authors Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner tell how, in the early nineties, faulty or skewed studies by ACORN and other groups fed the idea that there was pervasive racial bias by mortgage lenders, with blacks and Hispanics being unfairly rejected for loans. “The findings lit up the media, confirming many people’s suspicions about banks’ lending practices,” the authors write of one such study. In fact, properly interpreted, the data suggested that banks were making their loans not on the basis of race but on the basis of credit-worthiness. But as the misinformation confirmed left-wing ideas, the media pressure was on for a government fix.
To put it in simplified but not inaccurate terms, what happened as a result was this: The Clinton administration essentially gave orders to lenders to give unwise loans to people based on their race. Those orders required banks to adopt bad lending practices. The dangerously easy credit made house prices rise. And unscrupulous sharks on Wall Street and elsewhere rushed in to make a profit off the housing bubble by luring investors into funding the crummy mortgages. Thus the poison of the government-mandated bad loans flooded the system. When housing prices inevitably fell, the system collapsed.
At the center of all this were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, dishonestly run lenders with government backing and a mandate to make housing somehow affordable to those who couldn’t afford it. You can watch videos here and here to see Republicans, including George W. Bush and John McCain, warning of the coming disaster and calling for regulatory legislation to bring the madness at Fannie Mae under control. The videos also show Democrats — most especially and most perfidiously Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts — repeatedly claiming nothing is wrong.
If our mainstream news media had not been so politically one-sided, all of this might have been prevented. The reports that falsely claimed racial discrimination in lending could easily have been debunked. The entire premise of giving loans to people who couldn’t afford them might have been questioned. And the warnings of honorable men like Bush and McCain would have been given at least equal weight with the po-faced distortions of the awful Frank. It was the left-wing assumptions of the news media that prevented proper reporting and created at least some of the pressure on politicians to act irresponsibly — and then provided them with the cover of silence when they did.
I *do* hope that you are not holding your breath, waiting for this to happen, Mr. Klavan.
Klavan’s stated the problem exactly and suggested a workable remedy.
The remedy won’t be taken because the GOP makes ABC, NBC, and CBS pay no price for kicking them in the teeth at every opportunity. Why let them anywhere near the debates between GOP presidential candidates?! Hold them exclusively on Fox and talk radio, and let the Dems whine.
And why grace their Sunday shows? Rubio was great against Schieffer this weekend, but why boost the fool’s ratings?
Klavan poins out that ABC, NBC, and CBS have been at war with the GOP for some time. Boycott is an act of war, and in this case a measured one.
I don’t anticipate seeing Rubio again on CBS.
“Klavan’s stated the problem exactly”
He missed the biggest player of all. He writes,
“But as the misinformation confirmed left-wing ideas, the media pressure was on for a government fix.”
The big push was from private loan originators who profit by the new rules and pay for the “left wing” institutions through a persuasion exercise. Klavan’s comments are about as meaningful as looking at cap and trade and screaming “Greenies! Greenies!” and avoiding noticing JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, etc. etc.
Did you ever hear of one bank protesting the sub-prime laws? Nope. They are just as much behind them as their government arm, Fannie and Freddie. The idea Government controls the banks as opposed to the other way around is a kind of business fetish delusion. The executives at Freddie and Fannie are working for their future payoffs in the banks, not the other way around. Blaming the “media”? What about the banks and their pr agencies and the government they control? More stereotypical business fetishism trying to appear like “conservatism”.
As a term, “mainstream” no longer applies. My fellow morons/moronettes over at Ace of Spades HQ use the term “make-believe media” or MBM, which actually derived from MFM (the emphasis being on MF).
I get my news from this site, Hot Air, Ace, Commentary and Michelle Malkin as well as from Rush and Levin. The watershed moment for us all was when Andrew Breitbart became the center of attention at the Weinergate presser.
WE ARE THE MAINSTREAM. If only the internet had been around 30 years ago. If only…
AMENto that J.J. If it had been around 30 years ago there would be far fewer lieing democrats in office.a hell of a lot of those currently in office would not be, including the phony in cheif sitting in the oval office,
May I also suggest to you American Thinker.
Yes, AT and American Spectator are both quite good as is David Horowitz’s Front Page Mag/Discover the Networks.
Also be sure to visit 2.0: The Blogmocracy. We’re a conservative team-blog/forum with emphasis on US issues, but not exclusively US by any means. We also have commenters and news stories from Canada, Australia, and elsewhere. We have a lot of coverage on political, economic, and national security issues, and on where various political and media figures stand on those issues.
You will need to register in order to comment at Blogmocracy, but registration is free, it is ALWAYS OPEN, and it takes just a minute or so.
We also have a call-in radio show on a fairly regular basis that is open to all callers.
Guest bloggers are welcome!
Don’t go to the Blogmocracy! They cater to anti-semites and want illegal aliens made citizens!
I could not agree with you more about the sources of our news. Unfortunately Fox is sliding down in my watchable programs. I still watch Brett Baier at 6:00 pm but O’reilly and Hannity are almost unwatchable. Greta at least listens to her guests and allows them to finish a sentence. The networks are unwatchable. It isn’t so much the lies as it is the omissions. I watched the “Press” conference at the WH on Friday and was appaled by the lack of any inquisitive questions. What ever Obama said was taken as fact. They threw softball questions at him like he was a two year old child. I thought the role of the press was to be devil’s advocate and present the tough questions.
“I still watch Brett Baier at 6:00 pm but O’reilly and Hannity are almost unwatchable.”
I’ve come to exactly the same place.
I’ve been thinking the same thing.
While Glenn Beck was right about a lot of things, he was wrong about a few other things (which I won’t go into here), and he wasn’t perfect. On the whole, he did a LOT more good than harm, and I certainly miss his presence on Fox News. He was spot on with regard to George Soros and with regard to the Caliphate.
The problem with Fox News – and with many of the “bigger” non-liberal blogs, websites, and news forums – is that after awhile, the people who run them get to be afraid of losing advertisers, or upsetting stockholders/owners (especially foreign-based ones), or losing access to prominent figures, or being censored in other ways. So they begin to practice self-censorship about important topics and how they cover them. They pull their punches and they avoid anything that might get some pressure group upset.
If you really want to see the full range of acceptable topics for news coverage and debate, you’ll have to look at some of the “smaller” blogs too. Yes, you’ll have to use your own judgment about the quality of news and the validity of opinion on each blog, but then, you should be doing that with ALL sources of information!
On my own blog (actually a team blog), we are all volunteers. We abide by certain rules (stated in the comments policy) so it isn’t a free-for-all, but we cover stories and views that the bigger blogs won’t talk about. Most of us blog under our screen names – it isn’t about promoting ourselves, it’s all about the message. And at this point, we don’t sell ads, and we have no plans to do so in the future, so we don’t have to worry about losing a source of revenue.
There are many other good little blogs like that – which is why we post so many links in our blogroll.
This is why I gather my news from sources like this on the Internet. Gave up network news years ago. Maybe network news will go the way of buggy whips.
Ditto! I refuse to get my news from a talking head on TV. Journalists are not supposed to be tattlers but they are. ANY informative article, video or other should always contain (who, what, when, where, how, and why) When was the last time you picked up those from the MSM? Answer never. So I completely agree with shunning the MSM and looking over the raw news as much as possible.
Amen to all of these comments. I quit getting the news from TV and newspapers years ago. I get up, I turn on the laptop and I read Pajamas, my local news website (for the weather), CNN, Foxnews, the Bigs, and a bunch more. TV news is shallow at best. Recently, a cousin by marriage came by. She’s from New Zealand and I asked her for information about the earthquake aftermath in Christchurch (remember that?). Our press is not a bit interested in the aftermath of Big Stories.
Thanks, Andrew for this column. I don’t know if I can bear to read the book – I’m angry enough as it is. To think that Barney Frank will most likely enjoy a comfortable retirement while I will most likely work until I’m 80 makes my blood boil.
“All it would take to reform a news industry that is collapsing under the weight of its own bias would be for them to change hiring practices and work to bring in new voices and new minds. There are plenty of brilliant right wing writers and reporters out there. Hire some of them.”
They are, but the only problem is they’re all working at FOX News. For the rest of the industry, especially the main stream media, all we get are tired old far-left ideas that are constantly being promoted by young newspeople that are cranked out by far-left universities and their “schools of journalism.” The few conservative journalists out there can’t get a break, let alone a job, with the main stream media, which is why the main stream media is dying such a horrible death. People are aware of the bias possessed by the main stream media and are tuning out. I’m wondering if the New York Times and network news broadcasts will even be around in a few years. But the Internet and talk radio and FOX News are re-shaping the news industry and if the main stream media doesn’t want totally disappear, it should start changing its ways, and fast.
The MSM is not “collapsing under the weight of its own bias”. Millions of mouth breathers from the doctrinaire public schools are in the pipeline to replenish the few who have become disillusioned with the MSM as a result of their climb up the socio-economic ladder, the so-called American Dream. But the Dream has been killed by the statist class warriors, and the mouth breathers can only increase in numbers. The MSM has waned but shall now wax.
No articulate opposition exists. And, if you haven’t noticed, take a peek. The jackals are now swarming over FOX.
I predict your vaunted news alternative on the everyman internet will become the mouth breathers’ Greek Chorus after the statists are through with it during Obama’s 2nd term.
pelaut, we should ALL, heed your warning.
I’m not sure the solution is a workable one– adding an undeniably right-wing bias to an undeniably left-biased news organization adds confusion, not clarity, as each side will, for that most part, simply claim the the other is wrong or misguided (and both sides will have the appropriately spun history, studies, and statistics to back them up.)
Nope, this goes deeper; the press of 100 or 200 years ago was blatantly, openly biased (in all directions)– heck, the phrase “yellow journalism” was coined to describe some of the lousy reporting that went on. The myth of “unbiased” journalism was created when the arrival of television gave so much power to one viewpoint (espoused on 3 networks.)
First, what needs to happen is that journalism should be taught as reporting– if you want to advocate, get a degree in Social Justice and Communism Studies and leave the rest of us alone. Reporters should report the facts, which should mostly be what they see and hear directly. Who, what, where, when, why and how. Remember those days? Me neither, they probably never existed, because we know bias will creep in– we can’t help it. Secondly, critical thinking needs to be taught in schools. If one knows how to spot the bias (left and right) and glean the facts from reporting that is objective as a human being can make it, then we will have an informed electorate (this, I believe is what saved us from the yellow journalism of the past; granted it wasn’t perfect, but I think we did OK until TV.)
Am informed electorate will almost always come down on the side of less intrusion into their lives, from whatever direction; even progressives, when cornered, will admit this.
Alas, I’m afraid this will never happen– we’re lazy monkeys, and stereotypes and bias make thinking and coping easier.
TheCableGuy,
You are a wise man. As you remind us, journalism has always been filled with deception, in 1898 it was Yellow journalism that got us into the Spanish-American war and the New York Times is still hallowed by some even though as far back as the 1930s its award winning correspondents filed report after report about how wonderful the Soviet communist paradise was all the while millions were starving there and thousands were forced to confess to crimes they never committed.
Educating our children to think critically is the only answer. America and Europe advanced ahead of the rest of the world because a culture of reason was fostered that required proof of assertions. Journalism, like our education system, is regressing back to the pre-Enlightenment days.
People hoped that video newsreels would bring us better understanding of the world, but we now know that this medium is easily manipulated, scenes are routinely staged. I will never forget the New York Times publishing a photo in September 2000 of a bloodied youth with an Israeli policeman holding a club standing over him. The Times caption described the youth as a young Palestinian, implying he had been beaten by the policeman. Only after the young man’s father recognized the boy as his son did the truth come out that the young man was actually a Jewish student who had been beaten by a mob of Arabs hidden just outside the image of the photograph and the policeman was bravely protecting the boy from the mob. The father had to organize a letter writing campaign to pressure the Times to admit the mistake. That is to me emblematic of today’s journalism
We never watch ABC. NBC, nor CBS. I read PJmedia and others nearly every day. There are many like my family. We don’t take the MSM newspapers either. Your article is right on. I don’t trust Yahoo News, either.
Damn. I am not Mr. Knowitall, but damn this information has been available for a long time. I could have written this book. Damn, I could have raked it in, but no I just did my good citizen job getting the word out to family, associates and friends. What a do gooder, I could of cleaned up.
So what happened: Frank got re-elected and still has his fingers deep up Freddie and Fannies butt (now that’s funny), Fannie/Freddie chief Johnson became a millionare, Franklin Raines became a millionare, the Banks got bailed out, congress said “what? not me” and George Bush II was left holding the bag. What a world, what a world.
Oh and for the record, did you know that sub-prime loans to the downtrodden have quietly started up again. sssshhhhhhh you are not supposed to know, just like the last time.
Well said, Klavan! The groupthink is really pretty obvious. It’s a shame that that grand social vision of diversity, whether in education or in the media, has never included diversity of opinion.
“For the good of the country…?”Surely you must realize by this time that the only good the recognize is what is for the good of themselves.
Klavan gets it, but there are two things he omitted.
The Make Believe Media was designed to be what it is in the late 40′s and 50′s by the people deterermined to bring down the United States. Three generations later, the anti-freedom bias is so inbred that no amount of “reform” can change it. It has to be overthrown. Scott Pelley and Steno think of themselves as patriots. In fact, they are marxist idealogues. Brainwashed.
The second point it that although the 2008 economic meltdown’s roots are as Mr. Klavan ably described, the “crisis” itself was triggered by Leftists who recognized that Obama was going to be defeated after Palin/McCain’s poll numbers overtook Obama’s after the Republican convention. The VERY DAY that Gallup Poll was published, the attack on Lehman Bros began. Ten days later, the Money Market run that triggered the bailout was initiated. Concurrently, the price of gasoline fell from over $4 to $2, negating Palin/McCain’s top issue. Essentially, McCain then capitulated.
There was never any reason for a catastrophic event. All of the conditions had been well-understood for at least a year. There easily could have been a gradual descent rather than a Market meltdown. It also could have been delayed for years.
So it’s no coincidence that it happened with two months left in the most consequential election in 80 years, and immediately after the team that opposes tyrannical rule took the lead.
And the main stream networks and the left-wing of Congress are at it again in regard to the debt ceiling/deficit spending/tax increase debate. It is undebatable that cuts need to be made in spending. Even if it is debatable that tax increases should be a means to help bring down the deficit, it is DEBATABLE and can be postponed. This considering almost all objective economists say you do not raise taxes in a recession; the Rebuplicans also want tax reform; tax increases would not otherwise get approved by Congress, anyway, and the tax increases proposed would do little to fight the deficit. So in my view, there is little justification for the Democratic positions. Nonetheless, they are given equal to much greater weight on all networks.
I think that to leftists, “discrimination” doesn’t have to mean racism. It can be any policy or practice, whether intended to be neutral or not, that has a disproportionate negative effect on members of “vulnerable” groups. Banks may have been rejecting loans based on credit ratings, not the color of applicants’ skins. But if the majority of rejected applicants were black or hispanic, a leftist would see that as a problem with “the system” and de facto discrimination. “The system” keeps black and hispanic people from getting good credit ratings, and the leftist the government has to do something about it.
The latest answer, of course, wasn’t to help blacks and hispanics build up their credit ratings, guarantee their loans against default, help them pay back their loans, or just give them government funds to buy houses with. The answer was to use the power of government to force all those greedy banks to just give them loans same as the white middle class folks get. It’s only fair, after all. But where’s that same government when these beneficiaries of “social justice” start defaulting? Nowhere to be found. Any offers to help them out of the mess the government helped get them into? Not sure I’ve heard any.
Your lips to God’s ear, Mr. K., but not much chance of that. In these caves of liberalism, conservatives, once identified, are snuffed out. Political affiliation does not make a protected class in most states. Besides, no one is perfect, and just like any cop can give any driver a ticket if he wants to (who drives the speed limit?), so too can any company find a legit-sounding reason to get rid of any employee. It’s easy.
From Politifact:
‘… the current crisis arose because banks and mortgage companies made risky “subprime” loans to people with poor credit histories that were then packaged into securities and sold to institutional investors. As interest rates rose and home prices began to fall, homeowners unable to refinance the loans or sell their properties began to default, unleashing a cascade effect through financial markets. That phenomenon had nothing to do with Fannie and Freddie’s internal problems; in fact, both firms were praised for cushioning the financial free fall and keeping the market afloat by spending billions of dollars to purchase subprime loans.’
This is a Politifalsehood – a Democratic talking point that simply is not in keeping with the facts.
Well, that’s one way to deflect the truth — just call it a Democratic talking point. But it’s good to see you’re still hard at work at writing fiction. I especially loved the point about the banks being “forced” to write bad mortgages. No doubt the banks also wanted to warn their customers about the risks of variable rates and getting in over their heads, but the Dems forbade it. And then, to top it off, the Dems probably forced them to use robo-signers in foreclosure procedures without checking whether those foreclosures were legally justified. Oh, those poor banks!
Well, that’s one way to deflect the truth — just call it a Democratic talking point.
It’s not deflecting the truth to point out how untruthful most Democratic talking points are.
I especially loved the point about the banks being “forced” to write bad mortgages. No doubt the banks also wanted to warn their customers about the risks of variable rates and getting in over their heads, but the Dems forbade it.
So glad you love it, since it’s true. And it’s happening again.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/577794/201107081851/DOJ-Begins-Bank-Witch-Hunt.aspx
Klavan’s calling Politifact’s finding a “Politifalsehood” is just another in a continuing right wing attempt to smear a truly nonpartisan organization (visit its site sometime and you’ll see). Trying to delegitimize such organizations has become par for the course for a right wing that has pledged allegiance to Grover Norquist and religious fundamentalism (Christian variety) but, alas, not to the American people.
Btw, I heartily approve of the label “mainstream media,” considering how far out of the mainstream the right has traveled.
He wasn’t just dismissing it as a Dem talking point. He was dismissing it as patently false. Some things are so far from the truth, and obviously so, that one does not waste one’s time refuting them. One just dismisses such crazy talk.
Your statement was simply tinfoil-hat quality, unworthy of our time. Just crazy talk.
You’re right, Marc. Crazy talk. In reality, the banks begged their customers not to take out risky mortgages. They made every effort to turn down customers who weren’t credit worthy (the ads they ran to drum up business were really written by the government). The robo-signers? Well, who has the time to check paperwork anyway? Those “unscrupulous sharks on Wall Street”? They had absolutely nothing to do with the banks. And, oh yes, you’re the Queen of Rumania.
Kudos Klavan. Firstly, for shining a light on the source of the mortgage crisis which was affirmative action gone wild. Secondly, for recognizing that MSM was entirely complicit.
The underlying theory was that African American dissatisfaction and disaffection could be remedied by giving African Americans a stake in America–specifically through home ownership. Give Black Folk a piece of the rock and turn them into happy, patriotic Americans was the guiding principle. Isn’t owning a home every American’s dream? If African Americans with poor credit standing were affirmative-actioned into home ownership, they would immediately ascend to the rooftops of their new homes and shout America’s praises. Never again would African Americans burn down their own neighborhoods. Would a middle class homeowner burn down his own or his neighbor’s house?
Alas, the bankers who denied loans to African Americans with poor credit and employment histories weren’t being racist. People with poor credit ratings are bound to default on loans. And people who get something for nothing don’t value what they get even if it is a home of their own. The government officials and their enablers in the media who guaranteed loans to ineligible lenders with taxpayer dollars are guilty of malpractice and worse. Barney Frank belongs behind bars.
Not least among MSM’s sins was the fact that none of the immense coverage of this scandal ever suggests a racial engineering component. This is accomplished by simple trick of substituting “the poor” for “African Americans” wherever loan recipients are mentioned in a story. No one getting his news from MSM would ever know that this economic disaster began with affirmative action.
Maybe Bush intended to give blacks a stake in America. But that certainly wasn’t the marxists’ intent. The last thing they wanted was happy patriotic African Americans.
The marxists’ purpose was to undermine the financial system, and make it clear to blacks that they were being and would be paid of for selling their franchise.
Both worked. The economy collapsed, and blacks, with unemployment of about 25%, still mindlessly support the con man in the white house.
And, of course, there is also a certain segment of marxists, the tiny “true believer” contingent of librarians and college freshmen, who think captitalism is evil and that profits are the only real mortal sin.
Anyone, who by their boycotts, purity, or whatever, who gets their news from only one source, whether it is the NYT, CBS, PJM, or FOX is foolish. Too many people do not wish to hear anything which might challenge their current beliefs. So it goes.
We mostly all agree on that, Dwight. However, there are some sites I do not waste my time on, nor do I help them economically by patronizing their sites. I can go to Conservative sites, and still get the Left’s point of view. I do not have to go to a Leftist site.
I go by the rule GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage out. I am careful as to what I feed my mind, just as I am careful as to what I feed my body. Occasionally, I follow a link to some Lefty site, and it is often like wading through a mental sewer. I do not need that in my life. They are not all like that, but too many are.
It’s looks as though the media flame-out started around 1990, but those in the dominant media of the time, CBS/NBC/ABC/CNN were convinced of the opposite, that they had created the success of the Clinton campaign, and that their efforts to indoctrinate the masses had born the fruit that they, these media outlets had garnered. And they’ve been on that bender ever since.
It’s a real utopia when you’re breathing the rarified air of those bright lights.
Klavan….speaking of “…fair brokers of information” I would be very interested in seeing the data to support that the housing bubble and its collapse was due to “ACORN and ‘black’ lending practices…much less the news venues you ellude to. The Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 has taken many twists and turns over the decades and in every instance, every ethnicity and socio-economic class has benefited overall.
In my opinion, the causes of unsustainable collapse culminated as a result the congressional housing legislation, a flood of currentcy, forced banking and investment corruption and grossly inflated housing values. Not ACORN and the media you speak of!
Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of ’77 and reinforced by Clinton in ’95. The Repubs obviously helped, not wanting to be portrayed as bigots. An honest broker of information would have refuted all these absurd claims of racism put forward by those pushing this legislation. It would not have passed, if debated honestly. ACORN was a direct participant and direct beneficiary of the CRA.
Republicans have very often been unable to stop things, because the media had such a lock. None of our problems would exist, if the Press had been doing its job of pursuing the truth. We need a powerful, independent 4th estate to keep government honest. Republicans held hearings on Fannie and Freddie in ’04. The Dems ran interference. One look at the campaign contributions list would have told the MSM that they needed to look into it. It was the potential story of the decade, the coming housing and financial meltdown. The MSM was not interested in investigating, because they were running interference, too.
I was just talking to my Mother, earlier. She watches MSM, nightly. She has never heard of the NLRB screwing Boeing and screwing the energy industry. She thought folks were not hiring, because these big companies were trying to help Republicans get elected, that they were just spiting Obama.
The thing is, she understands business. When I explain it to her in business terms, and explain what the government is doing, and how businesses react, she totally gets it. She just does not have the info, because the MSM does not do its proper job. Instead, she gets sly innuendo, propaganda. It’s the fault of those awful Republicans. It’s a vast right-wing-business conspiracy. GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out. My Mom is smart, but she just doesn’t know.
Lets see if we can reduce a lot of what is called ‘todays’ information and media down to a couple common denominators.
1. The media venues represent the two adversarial minority extremes of the political ideological divide.
2. Most ‘news’ is self serving to each side of the political and ideological divide. It is complied by selectively sourcing from the works of like minds and motives and rarely, is balanced, independent and legitimate investigative reporting done.
3. There is a new definition of ‘news and journalism’ that has emerged with the advent of the internet as an open and unregulated venue. Anybody and everybody can now proclaim themselves to be news journalists and experts of any given topic….thus, the countless political activist sites labeled as journalistic news sources.
There is no such thing as legitimate news ‘reporting’ anymore. Its all become adversarial opinionating dialouge and a battle of ego’s.
But here is a fact! Individual irrepsonsibility is what has brought the nation to this point of crisis…not any government. The government is of the people. To point blame to any political party or individuals of government is disingenuous. Government excess only steps in when the people don’t step up!
The people are irresponsible spenders and managers of debt thus, the government steps in. Temptations are legislated by the boatloads but it is the people who are responsible for their individual worlds. Pretty simple when one employees some honest brokering of real facts.
It isn’t just their reporting on the financial crisis and on Fannie and Freddie, it is their “reporting” on everything, and their creation of their phony “alternative reality,” their very own “MATRIX,” in which black is white, up is down, the fanatical Muslims, thugs, dictators, idiots, madmen, international welfare queens, kleptocratic tyrants, and failed states of the world who run the UN are the good guys and we the bad, global warming is still an apocalyptic existential threat, Islam is “the Religion of Peace,” and Obama is a brilliant and caring centrist, and a pragmatic President with unmatched leadership skills.
The whole structure of the MSM–top to bottom, inside and out–has become hopelessly corrupt.
The MSM has become nothing more than the “Ministry of Truth” for the Left—all it lacks are those regular weekly meetings that used to be held all over the old U.S.S. R. in which the regime’s professional propagandists were given this week’s “line” of propaganda to push, and you could argue that the recently revealed “Journolist” was a good modern-day substitute.
I see no possibility of real reform; because the Left’s almost total control of the Academy gave them control of our schools of Journalism too. So, we won’t be seeing any old fashioned reporters—addicted—more or less—to honest inquiry, comprehensive reporting, and to the truth–being turned out by our schools of journalism any time soon.
No, I think the whole rotten edifice has to be shunned, ignored, starved of readers, viewers and revenue, and finally forced into a collapse that would allow for a fresh start, or perhaps even for the abolition of the “MSM” form.
Amen, amen, AMEN! There’s absolutely NO POINT in holding our breaths, waiting for them to find their consciences. The solution for the MSM is the same as that for Obamacare – Repeal and Replace. Of course it won’t happen in that order. Places like PJ, FPM, Fox, etc. are doing the second part now. In the mean time? Starve them out. Here’s a two word slogan I would like to see on a million bumper stickers:
“DIVEST MSM”
If nothing else it would lead to some interesting conversations with friends who (up till now) don’t see what is going on.
Boy, the MSM and the Washington Political Class have been in Bed together for
years and years. This is not a new thought. However, since Watergate, the MSM have become full members in the Elite Political Left. Almost all are North East
College Alumni, and they move in and out of Government and Media Outlets.
Just line Morgan Stanley Investment move between Washington and Wall Street.
It is no surprise to me, that Fannie and Freddie are still in full operation, and guys like Barney Frank are still in Congress. By the time Obama leaves office in 2016,if they continue to spend and borrow at the current pace, we could see a total collapse in the economy and Financial Industry. Start making your plans for survival. We will need to stick together.
Watch Europe continue to have problems with the debt of Greece, Ireland, Portgual, and maybe Italy. You will see America in the future years.
Klavan should stick to writing young adult fiction. Everyone outside of this little bubble of right wing propaganda understands that the housing bubble was caused by Wall Street’s rampant speculation of the housing market, not Freddie and Fannie. In fact, of all the subprime mortgage loans that were packaged and sold on the market, less than half were underwritten by Fannie or Freddie; the majority were handed out by private lenders. But regardless, Fannie and Freddie’s role is dwarfed by Wall Street, because it was traders who knew that these CDOs were worthless, knowingly repackaged these turds under a AAA rating, and then sold them on the open market to anyone who would buy them, assuring everyone they were gold. And then, if that weren’t enough, groups like Goldman Sachs, who knew they were selling turds, were also short selling them – betting against their own CDOs on he market, knowing that they stood to profit from the inevitable crash. That is what caused the financial crisis. To blame urban minorities for this crisis is just dishonest.
Right. Sure. It all started with the traders. That’s where history began. No need to look further back in time. No need to look into who created the cDO’s and CDS’s. No need to see who bought them in huge numbers, then sliced and repackaged them again and again. No need to look into how these sub-primes came to be. No need to look into the government’s role in tanking the economy. God forbid we should learn to not do THAT again. No need to look into the politics of it, nor to see how such stupidity could have come about, the corruption that made it all possible. Yep, it’s all Wall Street’s fault.
How ridiculous can you be?
Did you not watch the you tube clip? Even Bill Clinton admitted the democrats were responsible for blocking attempts at regulation of Fannie and Freddy.
How many times did you not hear Barney Frank and Maxine Waters claim there was absolutely no problem.
To blame urban minorities for this crisis is just dishonest.
You’re the one being dishonest. It’s not about blaming “urban minorities” but rather the ACORN-style groups who exist to exploit the urban minorities. Besides, while you demonize Goldman Sachs you deliberately overlook the fact that your hero ObamAlinsky happily took millions of campaign dollars from those Goldman Sachs parasites in the 2008 campaign. He loves to play class warfare games publicly while taking their money privately.
That’s what’s called a “straw man” argument. You wouldn’t want to try that one on a high school debating team!
Neither Klavan nor the authors of the book blamed “urban minorities” for ANYTHING. Making this accusation is a sly way of smearing Klavan, Morgenson, and Rosner as bigots, when nothing could be further from the truth. For shame!
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html?src=pm
Wow! But it’s not as if the NYT did not print the warning about the possible need of a future bail-out, should the economy decline. It is specifically mentioned within the article. However, few, no matter what their political leanings want to burst any bubble before its time and risk getting the short-term blame.
Objectivity, disinterestedness, impartiality—all qualities of mind that should be integral to the practice of journalism—or to any other intellectual inquiry—but which are now almost entirely missing from the narcissistic and utterly manipulative nonsense that passes for journalism today. The only antidote: read broadly, and bring a critical mind to all you read, see and hear. As Mr. Klavan does. Wonderful piece.
NY Times writer, David Brooks, wrote an article entitled “Who Is James Johnson?” (6-16-11). The article is about Fannie Mae, and the book “Reckless Endangerment”.
While I was reading the comments to this article, someone linked to another article in the Times dated 9-30-99 entitled “Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending” by Steven A. Holmes. The Times deleted this comment right before my very eyes! Read what they don’t want you to.
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html
Here is a quote from that article: “In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980′s.”
Yes, the NY Times doesn’t want us to be reminded that the Clinton Administration’s easing of credit requirements for homeowners might cause problems down the road. How could we continue to blame Bush for everything. The Dems and the Media continue to rewrite history.
While not condoning the role of banks and other financial institutions in the subprime meltdown, I do actually have some sympathy or at least understanding of the position they found themselves, in regard to these loans. If you force someone to lend to another who cannot possibly pay the loan back (unless house prices go up forever), the lender has a responsibility to, and will naturally, protect himself and his investors from such liabilities. They made lemonade which was unfortunately packaged up to look like the best champagne. What my liberal friends cannot seem to comprehend, as they’re conditioned to blame “conservative deregulation” for all things that go wrong economically, is that it was bad (liberal) regulations that caused this fiasco.
They do not need to hire right-wing reporters. They need to hire reporters who have integrity and are ethical, presenting balanced reports regardless of their beliefs and opinions — they should hire people who want to find out the facts on both sides of the story and present them so the public can make good choices based on balanced facts. Not advocates.
There has been a change in this country the last 30-some-odd years in journalism — much like science — they see themselves more as advocates for a cause rather than seekers of truth and fact.
A media that is not challenging and digging (adversarial) to the standing government is useless. That is the function of news media in a free and strong society. We do not have that. Stories are mostly edited to weigh the story toward the reporter’s personal political opinion. And most of the reporters / editors / news producers are leftists. Fox News saws right of center. It does well to offset the far left media, but is still not ideal. The center is ideal and Fox should strive to be more balanced, just as NBC, CBS, ABC and NPR should strive to go beyond their facade of balance.
FINALLY, someone, and not just anyone finally puts it in writing what I have been screaming about since the immaculation of Our Fraud in Chief. Call it what you will the October Surprise, The Ponzi of All Ponzi Schemes, Machiavellian Spinning, whatever!
What good is the Fourth Branch of Gov when they don’t seek the truth!
I feel like I’m in a bad dream. You know the one where you keep running and running and realize you’re on a treadmill and haven’t gained an inch…
This is how I feel about the media-News, NPR/PBS, Hollywood, Mags, etc.
NO WHERE TO RUN, NO WHERE TO HIDE!!!!!
Nothing will change until someone finds a way to hold the media accountable for their actions. We can’t count on the public to boycott the msm, the average American is used to being told what to think. “President Obama” is proof of that. No, someone has to figure out how to force the media to report facts, and penalize them when they don’t. Otherwise there is no hope.
The MSM doesn’t need to reform, it needs to die, because it cannot be reformed.
This heritage foundation produced graphic shown over at the belmont club shows the reltaionship between Obamacare and employment creation.
http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/files/2011/07/wm3316_chart1.ashx_.gif