Ten 2011 Examples of Major Media Malfeasance
Those of us who follow the news closely often forget that probably 80% of the adult population (seen as 85% some time ago, but likely lower than that thanks to New Media and the Tea Party movement) is relatively disengaged. They are, at best, passive consumers of news who either legitimately don’t have the time to do their own independent research, or don’t care to.
If we had a responsible establishment press dedicated to informing the public in a fair and balanced way, this would not necessarily be a big problem. But we don’t, and it is.
In 2011, passive news consumers were extremely ill served, as the leftist legacy media seemed to almost completely abandon any pretense of objectivity or fairness left over from its disgraceful collective performance in 2010.
Why did this happen? Beyond the normal factors, 2011 saw White House thuggery directed at a press corps already inclined to reflexively parrot its positions reach previously unseen heights.
To name just three examples:
- In March, Orlando Sentinel reporter Scott Powers, sent to cover a fundraiser involving Vice President Joe Biden and Florida Senator Bill Nelson, was confined in a closet “to keep him from mingling with high-powered guests.” Sentinel editors “dropped the story.”
- In April, the White House banished San Francisco Chronicle reporter Carla Marinucci “for using a video camera to capture an event.” The paper was “threatened with more punishment if they reported on it.” Chronicle Editor at Large Phil Bronstein called the White House’s subsequent attempt to deny it all “a pants-on-fire moment.” Press coverage elsewhere was scant.
- In May, the White House Press Office “refused to give the Boston Herald full access to President Obama’s Boston fund-raiser” because it objected “to the newspaper’s front page placement of a Mitt Romney op-ed.” The shutout was virtually ignored.
In a mid-May editorial, Investor’s Business Daily called out the press for failing to stand up for it own, and correctly characterized the White House’s actions as baby steps “toward state control of the media, using the carrot of access against the stick of exile.”
Nothing has changed. In December, a Washington Post item noted that “when a reporter gets something wrong or is perceived as being too aggressive, the pushback is often swift and sometimes at top volume” (including heavy doses of profanity). What do you guys expect when you just sit there and take it — something you would never do under a conservative or Republican administration?
It’s reasonable to believe that the constant threats of White House pushback and especially of access denial significantly drove this year’s extraordinarily negligent coverage of the administration’s scandals, corruption, policy failures, and misleading statements. What follows are just ten out of dozens of this year’s worst examples of media malfeasance. Except for the final two, which are clearly this year’s most egregious, they are in no particular order. In most cases, there was no press coverage, or no further coverage, of the items cited.
1. ”I am (possibly) the greatest.” In a 60 Minutes interview with the president which aired on December 11, CBS failed to include Obama’s preposterous claim about his accomplishments to date: “I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president — with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R., and Lincoln — just in terms of what we’ve gotten done in modern history.” Note well that the superiority of the three other gentlemen cited is only “possible.”
2. “Taunt a Republican for me.” In early December, an Obama for America campaign email asked supporters to in effect taunt their Republican acquaintances when donating by providing their email addresses so that OFA could do it for them in their name. Two days later, OFA added the ability to taunt anonymously.
3. Yet another word for “lied.” In September, Bruce Siceloff at the Raleigh News & Observer identified a false statement Obama made in a Tar Heel State appearance: “In North Carolina alone, there are 153 structurally deficient bridges that need to be repaired.” After interviewing state officials who asserted that North Carolina has no such bridges, Siceloff reached this “brave” conclusion: “[T]he president may have over-suggested the risk to public safety.”
4. “Scandal-free” pretense. As Fast and Furious, Solyndra, MF Global, LightSquared and a myriad of other instances of corruption and cronyism continued to swirl around the administration, at least five media and academic apparatchiks continued to insist that it has been and still remains pure as the driven snow. Among them: commentators Brendan Nyhan, Kevin Drum, Jonathan Alter, and the especially odious Andrew Sullivan, along with American University history professor and presidential prognosticator Allan Lichtman, who described things as “squeaky clean.”
5. Obama’s false Mama drama. In July, a book by on-leave New York Times reporter Janny Scott (who has not yet returned) showed that President Obama’s mother was denied disability insurance coverage during her ultimately life-ending battle with cancer — but not health insurance, even though, as reported by the Times’s Kevin Sack, “the president (in speeches) left the clear impression that his mother’s fight was over health benefits for medical expenses.” Wisconsin blogger Ann Althouse’s assessment: “Obama lied about a central fact about his own life which he used — powerfully — to push health care reform.”
6. Libya Labeling. In May, 60 days after it undertook its “kinetic military action” in Libya, the administration failed to receive or even seek the legally required congressional authorization under the War Powers Act to continue to have U.S. troops engaged there. The Associated Press’s headline: “White House Skips Legal Deadline on Libya.”
7. Condescension Cover-up. At an April town hall, Obama gave an audience member concerned about gas prices, which were heading towards $4 a gallon at the time, grief over his ten children and the fact that he was still driving a vehicle getting only eight miles a gallon. The Associated Press’s Darlene Superville initially reported part of the exchange in an Obama-supportive manner. It disappeared very quickly in subsequent revisions.
8. Goodbye, Iraq. The bias was so pervasive this year that I need to bring out something I haven’t yet touched, namely the Associated Press’s historical revisionism two weeks ago as U.S. troops were about to leave Iraq. Readers here only need to see five words to get a clue as to how bad the AP story was: “No WMD were ever found.” Memo to Rebecca Santana and Robert Reid: Yes they were — along with 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium found in Iraq after Saddam was overthrown, specifically “the stuff that can be refined into nuclear weapons or nuclear fuel.”
Now it’s time for the two worst examples.
Runner-up: Covering for the Occupy Movement. After Obama effectively endorsed the Occupy Wall Street movement, it was inevitable that the press would do its utmost to cover up and downplay the movement’s deaths (including at least one murder); sexual assaults; socialist, far-left, labor union (including the News Media Guild) and “1%” backing; its disease-ridden filth; the costs it imposed on governments, businesses, and the economy; and its fundamentally violent nature. Though the center-right New Media pushback was impressive, I still believe that most Americans don’t understand that the Occupy movement has been and remains an intimidation-driven enterprise co-opted by the mainstream left to assist wherever possible in ensuring Barack Obama’s reelection.
The Worst: Fast and Furious. This wasn’t a close call. The Occupy movement’s death toll is nine. The death toll from Fast and Furious is “at least 300 Mexicans” and Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. This is a government-sponsored operation whose only “coherent” justification appears to be to create enough mayhem in the Southwest and elsewhere to justify the imposition of stricter gun laws and ultimately the end of an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. We have an attorney general who is so deep in the muck that he’s parsing the meaning of the word “lie.” And yet, with the impressive exception of Sharyl Attkisson at CBS, we’ve seen near silence and reflexive self-defense from the rest of the establishment press. The story wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for Attkisson and several heroic center-right blogs. In fact, as of December 13, according to Mary Chastain at BigJournalism.com, Brian Williams at NBC’s Nightly News has not mentioned Fast and Furious even once during 2011.
As bad as this past year was, there’s every reason to believe that 2012 will be worse. The press has to figure out a way to drag a president who is very unpopular despite their best efforts to date across the November finish line while the White House continues its “oversight.”





Great work. Should be an op-ed or letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal.
Your last paragraph is the one that I have been wondering about for months now. How many deceitful ways will the MSM come up with this time around to mislead and cheat the public in support of the obama campaign?
The House Republicans need to impeach Holder ASAP and force the Senate into action . A Senate trial may flush out the Democrats and RINOs who need to be sent packing, and it may also coerce Obama boy Brian Williams to mention something about Fast and Furious.
Impeaching Holder will also cause the left to become more unhinged than it already is. Even the most obtuse voters will be able to see who the real whack jobs are and that they’re in Obama’s and the Democrat’s camp.
Yeah, that last time a Republican House that didn’t have the votes nailed down in the Senate impeached a Democrat who had the support of the media worked out really, really well.
You miss the point. The MSM will have to say something if Congress moves to impeachment. They won’t be able to ignore it entirely.
YOU miss the point.
The liberal media will paint the charges against Holder as trumped-up, if they report them at all.
Mostly the theme will be: Vengeful extremist Republicans going after decent Democrat as part of their campaign against Obama.
And the Republicans will be hard-pressed to explain how such an impeachment proceeding isn’t a political stunt, when it will be happening in the middle of a Presidential campaign.
Correct. That is why the Nuremberg Trials came after the surrender. His day WILL come.
Obama sold guns to Mexican drug cartels. That should be made known to every voter. Impeaching Holder will get that message out. To those who say it’s political? So what? The caharge is true.
Although mentioned in #4 Solindra should have a listing by itself. A well heeled bundler for Obama makes four visits to the WH and walks out with half a billion in federal loan guarantees which have proven to be worthless. Even worse the US government somehow got shoved to the back of the line of creditors which is evidently completely illegal.
No political price for giving a big contributor $500 million in federal funds is something only a true demigod could pull off. Probably sent a chill up Chris’s leg!
The MSM would headline such an event for weeks ala the supposed Cheney/Haliburton connection. Meanwhile Jay says it was just a nobel effort gone bad because the evil Chinese undercut Solindra’s prices. Barack Obama is never ever quizzed on the details of this crony capitalism fiasco gone bad.
Suggestion to GOP hopefuls. Make Solindra a catch phrase for slimy Chicago style politics that gives almost unlimited money in return for campaign funds. Make teacher unions and SEIU which fund much of Obama’s campaign the “special interest groups” that have completely poisoned our poltical process.
I disagree! (love saying that) We need this dead fish worn around nobamas neck like a medallion throughout the election process,a wonderfully stained dress to soil his EGO.Allow the voters to witness what kind of man the left offers up as leadership potential. Clinton,Nobama,Frank!
It’s not as bad as you make it out to be.
We should distinguish between the newspapers and TV news shows in local markets across the nation–versus the liberal media that comes from the Washington DC/New York City/Los Angeles axis. In sheer numbers though not in readership, there are far more local newspapers out there than the big newspapers of those three major cities.
And for that reason, the *total* coverage of Obama in 2011 was actually negative–he’s not getting flattering coverage from your local town newspaper in Ohio or Kansas or Arizona.
http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/cr
Even in New York City, the New York Post and the New York Daily News published a lot of stories exposing the Occupy movement, while the New York Times puffed up Occupy as the real voice of the people.
Finally, even from a big network, Jake Tapper of ABC has been a real thorn in the side of the Obama Administration, asking questions that his colleagues won’t.
What Obama has in his hip pocket are:
The New York Times
The Los Angeles Times
The Boston Globe
MSNBC
NBC
I’d add ABC to that list. Christiane Amanpour is a dedicated 0bama booster, and George Stephanopoulos has followed up his eager discrediting of Clinton’s paramours, both complicit and forced (raped), during the Clinton administration with his enthusiastic present backing for 0bama. The only thing I can say in favor of CA and GS is that at least so far they seem to be tingle free.
“he’s not getting flattering coverage from your local town newspaper in Ohio or Kansas or Arizona.”
I utterly disagree. He’s getting very good coverage from the Toledo Blade here in Toledo OH. There’s been 1 story on Fast & Furious which painted the story as a good operation with a couple of minor mistakes.
To the extent that smaller market newspapers, radio, and TV cover national events, they rely almost completely on the DNC’s house organ, the AP or just carry their network’s National news, all leftwing except FOX, which itself is more into pandering to the shallow end of the gene pool than into a conservative point of view; FOX would interrupt ANY conservative pundit, officeholder, or candidate for a good car chase or fire.
It’s not as bad as you make it out to be.
We should distinguish between the newspapers and TV news shows in local markets across the nation–versus the liberal media that comes from the Washington DC/New York City/Los Angeles axis. In sheer numbers though not in readership, there are far more local newspapers out there than the big newspapers of those three major cities.
And for that reason, the *total* coverage of Obama in 2011 was actually negative–he’s not getting flattering coverage from your local town newspaper in Ohio or Kansas or Arizona.
http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/cr
Even in New York City, the New York Post and the New York Daily News published a lot of stories exposing the Occupy movement, while the New York Times puffed up Occupy as the real voice of the people.
Finally, even from a big network, Jake Tapper of ABC has been a real thorn in the side of the Obama Administration, asking questions that his colleagues won’t.
What Obama has in his hip pocket are:
The New York Times
The Los Angeles Times
The Boston Globe
MSNBC
NBC
Interesting article, but you miss the point of the article–and my long standing personal pet peeve. It is not HOW the MSM covers things–although there is much to criticize there–but WHAT they choose to cover.
An especially egregious example is anything having to do with gun ownership. Some six year old gets his hands on his grandfather’s handgun and shoots his three year old sibling. Tragic, shouldn’t happen and entirely newsworthy. Also, statistically very rare. Leads on the ten o’clock news, as it should. Grandfather runs off intruder (without firing a shot the vast majority of the time)–nothing to see here, move along. If the incident is reported at all, the motivation for the intruder beating feet is somehow not mentioned.
Sinz,
You forgot The Associated Press, Reuters, The Washington Post, ABC News, NPR, PBS, CNN, USA Today, and CBS News (except for the Fast and Furious story). In other words, every major media outlet that all the lesser news venues use as source material (except FOX). They’re all in Obama’a hip pocket.
The survey I cited stands on its merits.
Coverage of Obama was often negative, once you got out from the coasts.
Even when a local newspaper uses a wire story, the newspaper still gets to put their own headline on it, their own accompanying photographs, and of course their own editorials and commentaries on Op-Ed pages.
this past summer we saw Fox developing a penchant for the same “gotcha” style journalim that has helped erode the public’s trust in the MSM.
The loyal foot soldiers (mainstream media) of this administration do have their work cut out. Putting lipstick on this pig is going to be difficult, but I am confident they will be up to the task. They have had 3-4 years of adhering to the party line and promoting their Leader at every turn. One of the reasons for this is the ease at which so-called “journalists” move in and of the realm of political operatives, which in days gone by would have raised doubt in a normal newsroom and from skeptical editors. They are first and foremost advocates (think Chuck Todd, Little George Stephanopolus, Christ Matthews, etc.) who have taken on the mantle of journalist. The rest of the media pack want to remain in the good graces of those in power and continue to get invited to the best cocktail parties. Remember the quaint slogan regarding the job of the media to “Afflict the comfortable, comfort the afflicted”? Gone with the wagon wheel and candle makers. These “journalists” are able to shape the coverage, massage the facts to put Obama in the best light possible. Best of all, the president’s politics closely align with their own, making them the consumate eager cheerleaders. They are dusting off their pompoms even as we speak as they prepare to cheer for the next big game – the 2012 elections – and the big push to get their man over the top.
“4. “Scandal-free” pretense.”
Two other scandals you could dump into this long list of scandals would be the government’s huge subsidies into the Chevy Volt as well as the government’s subsidies into Wind Power.
The Chevy Volt has been a disaster even though billions of OUR tax dollars has been poured into this loser. Not only does the government give you fat rebates if you’re dumb enough to buy one of these things, but it also gave billions of dollars to GM to develope it. To date, few Americans have bought the car and the Federal Government never quite tells you that the electricity needed to run the car isn’t cheap, either. You would save a lot more money by simply buying a small economy-sized car, several of which are on the market today (made by such companies as Honda, Toyota, and even Ford).
And what of Wind Power? You know, those spinny things that would save the world and stop us from having to import any more oil? You don’t hear much about those things today. Why? Because they don’t work. Or, to put it another way, they DO supply some electricity, but not nearly enough to power a big town, let alone a city. The government has literally dumped billions of dollars into this program and what has it gotten us? Well, it HAS gotten General Electric, the people who make the windmills, nice fat government contracts, which makes that ferret of a CEO from GE very, very, happy. But as far as a return on our “investment” in windmills, don’t hold your breath.
These are two big scandals that you don’t hear much about, but you should. Remember, these are YOUR tax dollars funding these stupid programs. Hopefully, the new president in 2012 will end them.
I have spent forty years engineering many technologies which produce energy, a list too long to include. During this career, I, long ago, gave up on American journalism as presenting these complex, life sustaining, industries, in any fair, informed manner. The nuclear industry was buried under daily reports by Peter Jennings of some nuclear accident, which “some say……. might kill tens of thousands”. I would learn, months later, that a worker dropped a wrench on a fifty ton valve, scratched some paint. But by then, the press had exposed more hundreds of nuclear accidents.
It became obvious in 1979, at Three Mile Island when the science reporter of one of the major networks, stood in front of a billowing cooling tower and make several bone head statements about nuclear power plants, my expertise. I never worked on TMI but knew the terror he had inflicted on the citizens of Harrisburg, the nearby city, via “might die” reports. Several people died of heart attacks, thousands fled their homes and work places in fear and rage.
My colleague, an expert in radiation effects, was urgently requested to go to the fouled up, badly run plant, and assess the danger. He put a radiation meter on the outer containment concrete but could not get a valid reading. After quick study, he realized that the coal fired power plants in the Wilkes Barre/Scranton area, hundreds of miles away were dominating the radiation signal during the TMI accident. Their hard coal is radioactive. This assessment never was given to people in five states who were told they might die from the TMI “disaster”. No radiation ever escaped the TMI containment. No person five feet from the containment, who simply walked away, would have suffered harm. (These statements are technically false, because husbands and wives radiate each other, and the babies they hold, thus nuclear experts can never legally say zero.)
TMI destroyed an industry, vitally needed now, due to stupid/ ideologically motivated reporters and out right lies, by “leaders”. It did not get better in the coverage of the Japanese Fukushima disaster last April. This fallacious mind set has led to a thousand debacles such as Solyndra, in which our nation’s wealth has been poured on technically foolish, politically correct green technologies. Dumb journalists reporting to dumber voters (both fled math and science courses in school) are terrified by power mad leaders. Fear of technology and hatred has led us to a collapsing economy.
It will get worse in 2012.
Excellent summary. Don’t forget the hit job done by Hollywood on the entire nuclear energy industry with the horribly skewed movie “The China Syndrome.”
And of course, so one bothered to separate the fact from fiction. As was the intent.
Good list! I am also amazed at the lack of curiously about Obama’s uncle and how much the Obamas spend on vacations vs. past presidents. And how is that fundraising going for the billion dollar campaign? Who or what is the source of the tension in the first marriage? If Obama were a Republican, these stories would be covered. Endlessly.
> The Worst: Fast and Furious. This wasn’t a close call. The Occupy movement’s
> death toll is nine. The death toll from Fast and Furious is “at least 300
> Mexicans”
In Obamaville, Mexicans only count when they are north of the border.
Well done.
Great list.
But the biggest lies being told are still about the economy – the most insidious act of omission. And the lies are so effective, even the FOX News media will parrot the statistics. For instance, the effective U.S. unemployment rate of 8.6%
According to government statistics, and I would hardly call government statistics carrying an anti-Obama bias, if the same number of people were seeking work today as in 2007, the jobless rate would be 11.0%. Put it in perspective, there are 6.6 million less jobs than there were in October 2007, and we have added $4,200,000,000 per day to achieve that job loss.
Or how about 1 in 7 now receiving food stamps in the U.S.? Or one in two families in America at or near poverty level?
If George Bush’s economy was so bad and supply side economics so failed,and that is what we have heard now for three, long years, perhaps one of Obama’s media lackeys could explain the glaring inconsistencies of what is being reported vis-a-vis reality.
Trying to pin the Gabby Giffords shooting on Sarah Palin and the Tea Party and the subsequent “can’t we all just tone down the rhetoric” whining was about the worst it can get in my mind.
You should have included the revelations about Climategate 2.0
In the face of individuals insisting things in this administration are “squeaky clean” when, in fact, many things are filthy dirty, I tend to conclude that money from somewhere has found its way into said individuals’ pockets.
And given the overall decline in media, especially print media, I tend to believe money has found its way into many newsrooms.
Money and influence have perverted scientific inquiry (poster child, anthropogenic global warming) so who is influencing all these brain dead blabbermouths who keep telling lies about political machinations and boondoggles in Washington DC ?
Until integrity and statesmanship become more important than personal gain and baldfaced lying for your guy (poster child, David Axelrod), we are screwed.
Andrew Sullivan was not bought off with money. He was bought off by political favor. In July, 2009, he was caught in a federally-owned park carrying marijuana, and the charges were dropped.
At an April town hall, Obama gave an audience member concerned about gas prices, which were heading towards $4 a gallon at the time, grief over his ten children and the fact that he was still driving a vehicle getting only eight miles a gallon.
The heavily armored Obamamobile that he tools around in gets about 8 MPG.
Chastisement uttered in the typical liberal spirit of “do as I say, not as I do.”
Michelle sends out an appeal letter for individuals to give at least $3.00 for her husband’s perpetual re-election campaign while they’re on a $4 million vacation in Hawaii, much of it at taxpayer expense. (reportedly, their personal finances covered the $3,000+/day rental house but not much else, certainly not the gigantic support and security staff)
f we had a responsible establishment press dedicated to informing the public in a fair and balanced way, this would not necessarily be a big problem. But we don’t….
The question is: why not. Why don’t the Koch brothers, Rush Limbaugh/Mark Levin/Sean Hannity, or any group of moderately well-off conservatives buy the New York Times, Time Magazine, or one of the other about-to-be-defunct news organs and change the bias a bit. Fox News could use a bit of competition in the not-so-biased news department. I’m getting really tired of conservatives sitting around whining and not doing anything about the problem.
Your solution to bent and corrupt lamestream media is for well heeled conservatives to purchase them ?
And if they don’t there’s some dereliction of duty on the part of complaining conservatives ?
Somehow, I don’t feel personally responsible to correct this dastardly situation of having widespread print and electronic media flagrantly and consistently lying to the American people on a daily basis.
If “the people” haven’t figured it out, or can’t, or don’t care enough, we’re toast anyway. The majority of our population is so self-absorbed it seems to barely notice what the other hand, politicians, are up to.
The dereliction lies with a press that has (apparently voluntarily) ceased to be free, without which democracy and liberty are suffering and will continue to suffer sharp blows to the head.
Newsweek got sold to Jane Harmon’s husband for a hugely embarrassing $1, but that particular shame & chagrin didn’t do much for the rag’s ideological bent.
The LA Times lost substantial readership and advertising revenues under its former wildly bent liberal editor, so that paper tried for some time to become more balanced. But based on my reading of the print version over Christmas, that newspaper is drifting, if not running, back to its old ways.
Last I heard, one of the wealthiest guys on the planet, Carlos Slim of Mexico, was keeping the NYT up and running, such as it is.
(I don’t know what my last 3 points mean in terms of your point, but I felt like writing them down)
“I’m getting really tired of conservatives sitting around whining and not doing anything about the problem.”
If only it were that easy, but it’s not. Leftists have their mitts on too many facets of power & influence over public opinion. They sit on high in all the important social circles. Conservatives are barely tolerated, always marginalized. It’s almost as if, in order to get anything done, they would have to go “undercover” so to speak. Limbaugh did an excellent monologue one day about the “ruling class” versus the “country class.” It’s practically impossible for enough conservatives to break their way into the “ruling class” to make a real difference.
I am simply hoping that enough of the American people have had the Obama administration’s endless string of shenanegans (along with the Dem-controlled, do-nothing Senate) up to the proverbial “here” to throw them out next November.
I think Rush was discussing Codevilla’s seminal essay.
America’s Ruling Class and the Perils of Revolution
That’s right. I read Codevilla’s piece that day (Rush discussed it) & thought it was an excellent analysis.
It’s not impossible for conservatives to change the narrative, they just don’t try hard enough.
You gotta be in it, to win it.
How many young conservatives major in sociology or Political Science or history? How many conservatives become teachers in public schools? How many young conservatives want to do stand-up comedy? How many young conservatives become artists and sculptors?
You can’t stay out of the liberal arts and the education establishment and the entertainment establishment, and then bemoan the fact that those establishments are dominated by liberals.
When conservatives participated fully in academic Political Science, they were often successful: Henry Kissinger and Herman Kahn come readily to mind. In economics, there’s the Chicago School.
But conservatives have to rid themselves of this self-defeating attitude that the soft sciences–sociology, anthropology, political science–are contemptible and not worthy of their study. If they had that attitude 30 years ago, there would have been no charter schools, no “broken glass” theory of policing, and no welfare reform. Those ideas depended on input from conservative social scientists.
Those soft sciences just don’t pan out very well in the private sector. How many newly graduated engineers will find lifetime employment vs how many newly graduated Social workers? Yet you are correct conservatives cannot influence these institutions without participation. I think it is just the nature of an individual who has chosen conservative idealism over social/liberal idealism to gravitate toward an education that continues to build a foundation for a career and a lifetime of productivity and employment. The nature of those young people who choose a liberal direction is to choose an education that continues to justify their sense of individual grievance and entitlement or legitamize their zeal for collective social causes, making them suitable to only one employeer, the govt. How much of the caterwauling did we hear from the #99% about paying back real money for an unmarketable education while squatting on public lands and displacing the homeless? And what can the president really do about all those loans, anyway, give them all govt jobs? I wouldn’t be surprised.
Comment by rip300rog, not THE Anonymous!
Historically, we had a totally biased press, each paper had its editor/publisher’s point of view, but it was clear that the News was a Republican paper and the Truth was a Democrat paper. The crime of the modern print and electronic media is that they maintain a pretense of objectivity and have maintained it for so long that people just accept the word of the media that brought us “the most trusted man,” Kronkite. I’ll admit that when I was a teenager, young adult, I took him as God’s own truth. I think most people in America gave total credence to Huntley-Brinkley and Cronkite. ABC was the upstart back then and probably didn’t have as much influence. Going back even further, Murrow was God’s own truth to most and anything like an objective look today discloses that Murrow was anything but objective.
Unfortunately, dead tree and network media are surefire ways to make a small fortune; just start with a large fortune. They are a playground of the guilty rich living off the money that daddy or granddaddy made. Real, live money-making conservative business people aren’t really interested in investing in dying idustries just to play political games. I don’t know the answer in terms of political organization; there’s a lot of people who still have the faith in the MSM that Americans of the ’50s had. It is a misplaced faith, but I don’t know how to break their faith – especially when you consider how woefully ignorant the typical government school graduate is.
“each paper had its editor/publisher’s point of view, but it was clear that the News was a Republican paper and the Truth was a Democrat paper”
Thumbs up just for that Izvestia/Pravda shout-out! (“There is no truth in The News; there is no news in The Truth.”)
This is far more sinister than that. What it also does is hand an “enemies list” to the Obama campaign. This is some seriously dangerous monkey business wrapped in a guise of less serious monkey business.
You are so right. We conservatives need to study our enemy and its immoral ways so we don’t keep getting caught flat-footed every time they spring a damnable new trap such as the one the House walked into last week.
Much as I truly appreciate the heroic efforts to expose the co-conspirators that have built a propaganda empire that deprives this nation of essential facts and material evidence in order to self-govern this land of ours…no list would ever be complete enough.
The myriad ways that the coverup the radicalization of our DOJ, the attempted theft of our wealth in numerous hoaxes and cons, the corruption of unions, the voter fraud of ACORN, the divisiveness of class, racial and ethnic warfare and the gutting of our military strength and geopolitical influence.
Our disloyalty to allies, our weakening of our borders and the lack of passing a budget for 1000 days.
I can’t rank how despicable one is from the other any more than I can separate droplets in the ocean. The mass of lies and distortion, the intentional acts of omission and failure to investigate, failure to uncover, failure to even mention the malfeasance, misfeasance, corruption, graft and abuse of power…can be explained in no other way…except as an act in furtherance of a criminal enterprise.
It is the ultimate act of betrayal. Great work, Tom…in raising the issue…and shining a light on it.
But, for me…there is no “top ten” worst acts. There is only the whole…tyranny and treason of a media with no soul and no conscience.
I catch your drift.
At some point continued enumeration of perfidy, specific examples of corruption and incompetence, starts to become irrelevant.
As long as we spend energy picking them apart, responding to and refuting their lies, we’re inside of their game.
And that game is circular, not to mention endless. A Barack Obama says one thing today and its complete opposite tomorrow, a Steven Chu sits before Congress and denies collusion in Solyndra, an Eric Holder sits before Congress and claims he knew nothing about Fast & Furious, on and on it goes.
Playing on this porch is like Sisyphus pushing the rock to the top of the mountain only to have it roll back down, where he has to start pushing it up all over again, starting from square one, an endless loop.
Dear tanstaafl, you have nailed it perfectly. Just waste all your time trying to make SENSE of their nonsense.
You said it a lot more succinctly than I did, Konnie
I see a lot of this DC crowd getting away with murder, in some cases, literally (fast & furious) despite copious self-righteous huffing and puffing by Congress etc.
So why wouldn’t this crowd of charlatans just keep doing what they’re doing, since there is nary a single consequence for their lying machinations & deception ?
Meanwhile, the erosion continues apace.
Thanks for mentioning the reporter locked in the closet by Biden story again. Cracks me up every time I think about it.
“But, for me…there is no “top ten” worst acts. There is only the whole…tyranny and treason of a media with no soul and no conscience.”
We are seeing the nightmarish proof of the old adage that the pen is mightier than the sword. I hope conservative Internet journalists have enough time to bring down the evil empire.
Excellent column, thank you.
I would say that “regime building” is the only possible synthesis of all this.
I am just wondering, if it would be a good idea for the GOP to go on an all out attack on the MSM. I am invisioning a GOP leader going on a MSM sunday show, and full out calling out the interviewer on their hiding of the truth. For instance ,going on Bryan Williams, and having indisputable facts about Fast and furious, and just come out and name him as a biased liberal. Don’t let him change the subject, and only go on live interviews. The media is already strongly against republicans. What could it hurt? If it drives them further away at least more people would see them for what they are. Right now they are operating on stealth mode.
– mucho versus Obama? For once I side with Obama.
The MF Global scandal is going to (unfortunately) die away into a welter of financial gobble-de-gook. Most reporters can’t balance a checkbook, and this is going to be complex, so the only paper that will cover it is the Wall Street Journal.
This is a great pity, because while Americans will shake their heads in passing sympathy for dead Mexicans, it’s very abstract. Money in a brokerage account – which is yours and no one else’s – vanishing into the pockets of John Corzine? That’s an outrage people can understand and get very angry about.
But it will go away. Fast and Furious will go right on being ignored. And the press will keep saying, “Lalalalalalallala! I can’t hear you!”
– Sully is a toady.
Cut the poor lib dominated media some slack. What are they supposed to do with material like Obama? Tell the truth?
They’re contemplating an historic drubbing of Democrats next fall and the loss of “possibly” the greatest president ever. Expect these people to do anything it takes to try to keep the Bamster in power—he’s their god, for goodness sakes.
Next year the lib media will launch its own version of “Fast and Furious,” only it will be with lies instead of guns.
Next year ?
Been going on for a long while already.
In my never humble enough opinion, it’s not just organizations like NPR that get Soros (and related) cash to say what they say and write what they write.
The Obamatrons seem to all have Masters Degrees in lying.
Solyndra
Fast and Furious
Won’t sign BUT Do Sign
EPA
DOJ
TRPA
ATF
USPS
Nothing and No one in the Obama Administration seems exempt from LYING
—”If we had a responsible establishment press dedicated to informing the public in a fair and balanced way …”
The U.S. would have set Iran straight a LONG time ago. But as we know, the MSM, led by the NYT, amounts to a fifth column in that regard, and Iran (and Hamas, and AQ, and Radical Mainstream Islam generally) has been the beneficiary.
— 1. “I am (possibly) the greatest …”
Golfing president in U.S. history.
Not even that. Eisenhower would have tossed Obama off the course.
This leaves me more troubled than in the few minutes before reading this article. America is in deep trouble on two fronts. 1) The completely disingenuous so called main stream media and 2) The magnitude of the disengaged public who get their occasional 1/2 hour or hours worth of “news” from the attractive, seemingly erudite talking heads that disseminate their ideologically inspired interpretations of the “news” with feigned sensitivity, sincerity and disdain for anything resembling the truth. Is it the indoctrination that passes for education in the institutions of “higher learning” that are the incubators for these physically attractive, incompetent malcontents or willful deceit to hide the utter failure of their involvement in the most egregious scam ever perpetrated on a gullible, deliberately dumbed down American electorate? Or is it the pressure from their ideological overseers who control the trajectory of their careers? Either way, with little hope that any but the more engaged, educated, enlightened few possessing common rather than educated sense, are paying attention and the very slim possibility that these media mavins of obfuscation will jeopardize their lucrative careers and lofty reputations among their peers, the immediate future looks dim indeed. Apparently, professional ethics, patriotism and love of country are increasingly disfavored and perhaps denigrated attributes of the so called intellectual elite.
Equally troubling and contrary to a prevailing view, is the apparent inability of the internet, the so called “alternative media” to make a significant difference, seemingly stuck in a rut of irrelevance, of interest only to a limited choir of folks with the time, inclination, ambition, experience, concern and the healthy skepticism necessary to peruse this media and question a distorted version of reality that makes absolutely no sense on so many levels. They see the true reality but are they enough and more importantly, if not, what can and must be done to wake up a nation to the disaster that is Obama and his entire administration who have so successfully deflected the publics attention, focusing it on everything besides what would be blatantly obvious if professionally and ethically reported by the fourth estate? They are blatantly rampaging over and exceeding their Constitutional authority and the 2nd amendment establishing Freedom of the press has been completely subverted by anarchists.
Spread the word? Should this pessimistic rant be forwarded to relatives, friends and associates I’d immediately be labeled a right wing nut case. Limited attempts in the past have resulted in a deafening dearth of sympathetic, interested, engaged responses. That, plus the current, uninspiring group of Republican candidates, Ron Paul’s predicted success in Iowa and Gary Johnson’s decision to campaign as an Independent leave me thoroughly skeptical and less than hopeful that anything capable of dethroning “King Obama” will occur between now and November 6th, 2012. This Harvard educated prigs success in achieving a 2nd term would likely result in the end of what the Founders intended for our beloved republic and what, with all its faults, represents the best hope for civilized mankind. Will this soon require the use of the past tense?
Justifiable concern, prescience or irrational panic? Time will tell.
Great writing Geppetto, albeit sad message.
I submit to you this letter from our first president to our current one…
George Washington writes a letter to President Obama
Hate to sound cynical, but people are going to have to be in enough pain before they cry proverbial “uncle” & start fighting back. I am cautiously optimistic with the notion that Obama is far more unpopular than polls show based on two factors: Many polls are skewed to show numbers that reflect a given agenda (in this case making Obama look “good” & the idea that many won’t admit when polled that they are not behind Obama due to concerns of looking “racist.”
There are those out there who appear confident that Obama will lose this November; let’s hope they are onto something.
To me, the biggest media malfeasance of 2011 has been its constant whitewashing of Islam. [LINK] is the most current example.
You seem to have left out the narrative early last year where Sarah Palin was pumping bullets into Gabby Giffords’ brain. I don’t think anybody who gravely rubbed their chins about this horrible event ever apologized when their story didn’t hold up …
All the great leaders, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Roosevelt, Tito, Mao, Pol Pot, Qaddafi, Hussein, Khomeini and some others, I’m sure, intimidated the media as well as Obama’s gang do. Not to worry, our media is dominated by brave men and women who will suffer anything to speak truth to power, as they always say.
This isn’t news to me. I’m still smoldering over the way the Leftstream Media savaged Sarah Palin.
Did anyone else notice that Gingrich’s numbers took off initially when he went belly to belly with liberal Scott Pelley (CBS)in a “debate”. That was not an accident.
Conservatives are dying to see candidates who will challenge the premises of questions toadied by the Obama press corps…(notice I said corps…not corpse). This press will hide every Obama misstep. They will attack every conservative idea, when are our candidates going to fight back?
Whoever does stand up to the liberal media will be an instant hero. Why can’t they figure this out?
“Why can’t they figure this out?”
It’s a tall order for anyone to admit to the fact that, in order to be on top & in control, they must at all times be above reproach. Those on our side of the aisle must constantly fight an uphill battle against media outlets that are complicit with the leftists & will do all they can to hold them up all the while they tear us down. These people don’t like us & never will; our pols need to accept this as fact & act accordingly. This means articulating our ideas clearly & concisely, answering all reasonable questions while never taking any guff. Gingrich badly needs to get back into that groove while carefully avoiding putting his foot in his mouth. No easy task for him, unfortunately.
I am waiting for the day that conservative candidates will not only challenge the liberal media on their tactics but also initiate proceedings challanging the legitimacy of the state run fraudulent political propagandist media asshats guilty of journalistic malpractice! I say put them on trial for treason and then promptly hang the bastards!!
Regarding the Occupy movement, what you never see is any comparison to May 1968 in France http://tinyurl.com/ylkyqs9 Which took place the same summer as the 1968 Democratic Party convention in Chicago. Why was that convention so contentious? Because LBJ “Lied and people died (in Vietnam)”. And what does this augur for the 2012 Democratic convention in Charlotte with a radical Left increasingly disillusioned by a President who breaks his campaign promises? Anarchy?
THANK YOU for posting this! We used it (with a Hat Tip) on today’s Common Cents post….
Steve
Common Cents
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com
Those soft sciences just don’t pan out very well in the private sector. How many newly graduated engineers will find lifetime employment vs how many newly graduated Social workers? Yet you are correct conservatives cannot influence these institutions without participation. I think it is just the nature of an individual who has chosen conservative idealism over social/liberal idealism to gravitate toward an education that continues to build a foundation for a career and a lifetime of productivity and employment. The nature of those young people who choose a liberal direction is to choose an education that continues to justify their sense of individual grievance and entitlement or legitamize their zeal for collective social causes, making them suitable to only one employeer, the govt. How much of the caterwauling did we hear from the #99% about paying back real money for an unmarketable education while squatting on public lands and displacing the homeless? And what can the president really do about all those loans, anyway, give them all govt jobs? I wouldn’t be surprised.
My reply meant for sinz54 under comment #19
There’s definitely a Ménage à Trois: Academia, Media, and Obama…
Lazy and infantile thinking Tom, every president does this stuff—ESPECIALLY the last one.
Since you’re obviously so grown-up and industrious — Tell us all about the Fast and Furious equivalents for each president back to Truman.
There’s definitely a Ménage à Trois: Academia, Media, and Obama…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJT1Hejp7DM
Excellent job. It has been my contention for some time that the MSM failure to do its job and report the truth will be the single greatest American scandal of the first decade of the 21st century. The incredible failure of the liberal journalists of the major news outlets to report honestly on “fast and furious” and other major events is breathtaking. The journalism schools that have produced these unrepentant ideologues deserve the black eye they will surely eventually get.