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Edited on Wed Aug-13-08 09:46 AM by SoCalDem
Welcome aboard, alternet...
Old, but still applicable:)
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Why Bloggers, why now...?
By SoCalDem...from Democratic Underground
Hey Media....
You have fallen down on the job. You know it, and now you know that WE know you know it.
You flew too close to the sun, the wax melted, and ....there appears to be a parachute "malfunction"..Happy Landings, Icarus
........
For decades media had Carte Blanche to report on whatever they chose, and for the most part did it fairly well. I'm sure that when FDR was putting together the New Deal, there was a lot of media attention to the pros and cons of the programs he planned. I know that during the Kennedy/Johnson/Nixon/Ford/Carter/Reagan/Bush1/Clinton years, there was no shortage of critical press. They understood that it was their JOB to report on important legislation.
Presidents are not supposed to "like" the coverage they get. It is what it is. Administrations have always tried to divert attention from their failings and trumpet their successes, but it's the DUTY of the press to call equal attention to both.
The stakes are very high, and the public is starting to realize that this might be our "last stand" against a government run amok. Instead of having the press standing by as "the fly on the wall" recording what is happening, they have become little more than megaphones for the politik-speak coming from the White House.
The real irony here is that as things have gotten ever more serious, the press has turned tail and run the other direction. They insist on force feeding us celebrity drivel, as China "eats our lunch". We just have to study, in depth, the make up of the Jackson jury while jobs are leaking from our country like water through a sieve. Brad & Jen's break-up is "top of the hour news...every hour" while we rarely hear an up to date accounting of our war dead. Our lopsided practically militant legislature is dismantling our long held safety nets but we see smiling anchors bemused by the antics of water skiing squirrels, and skydiving Grandpas.
Instead of deliberate reporting and follow-up on important issues of our day, we are "treated" to pseudo-journo-spokes-folks who delight in telling us about THEIR lives and the books THEY have written. Whole "networks" are devoted to "news", and yet they seem to interview each other as often as they report the news.
That brings up a whole other point. Experts? Experts used to be just that. They did not serve up a political agenda with their science. The so-called experts who are foisted in our faces day in and out are little more than Think Tank Hacks who have sold out to the right wing machine. They are as believable as the tobacco executives who repeated one after another "I do not believe that nicotine is addictive". For a price, these experts will say whatever they are paid to say. We know it, and we are tired of the lack of diversity of thought.
Bloggers are just ordinary people who are tired of being lied to, and who are ashamed and embarrassed for our "media folks". For the most part, the on-air "talent" are people who had the advantage of a good education, are well paid, and should know better. It's like seeing the guy from school who got a PHD working at Walmart.
We also "get it". We recognize the "code words" used in reporting the few news stories that get reported. We are ashamed of you because you are letting us down daily, hourly. You are our last hope for spreading truth and unvarnished facts, and yet you are usually first in line with lies, half truths and White House fax transcriptions.
Before you accuse the LEFT of being poor sports, I might remind you that "the left" controls NOTHING, and hasn't for a long time, so the "liberal bias" crap just does not pass the "smells like shit" test. Truth HAS no bias.
Our so-called media jumped on the war wagon with breathtaking gusto, never questioning the obviously bogus information, and yet had the guts to "be offended" when ordinary people started to take you all to task. You are our "last man".. We count on YOU to tell us what's going on. Sure, you all looked "cute" in your "war outfits", and it probably was great fun to race through the desert on tanks. You grabbed every lifeline the government tossed you as the reasons for war proved as solid as blobs of mercury. WE knew from Day One, minus 5 that the whole war was phony, and we are holding you responsible for a great part of the resulting carnage.
There was a window of opportunity when real reporting could have prevented the whole thing, and exposed the mess. We saw how you all enjoyed watching Colin Powell doing linguistic gymnastics at the UN, while the whole world laughed at us. Our media stuck their fingers in their ears and chanted la-la-la-la. You could not be bothered with mere facts.. The swooshy graphics were all ready.. the logos designed, and the measurements for your "war costumes" were already at the tailors.
and now we have arrived somehow, at Gannon/Guckert/Jeff/James/Cannon/Bulldog/BoyWonder.. whatever-the-hell he calls himself today. Get a grip people.. It's NOT about the sex (although he flaunted it).. It;s about the LYING... (Now where have we heard that canard?) and it's about the LACK OF SECURITY at the White House, and the EASY ACCESS that a male prostitute could get, and yet legitimate news people have difficulty getting.
We are spending billions of dollars on Homeland Security, and yet our own White House seems relatively INSECURE.
The Blogosphere is being covered now, out of obvious desperation on your part, but you are covering it in your usual dimwitted way. Turn the microscope around. You should be focused on:
Why can ordinary citizens with a computer be able to dig up facts that are unknown to people with degrees in journalism?
Why is the general public MORE aware of the undercurrents of stories than the mainstream press?
Why are bloggers meticulously careful in the sourcing of their material, providing voluminous links, while "real journalists" are the ones "just making stuff up" and claiming "confidentiality" when they get caught?
What's it TO you if real people have opinions too? Are OUR opinions less valid because we are the consumers of news, instead of the ones asking the "non-questions".?
Why are the relatively FEW opportunities afforded journalists WASTED with inane "questions"? I don't care what he eats, how fast he bikes, how many armadillos he fed Barney, or any of the other crap you guys ask him.
In case you have not noticed, we have some serious issues , and they deserve your full attention. If you cannot do it, please find someone else to do your job.
We have "moved on"..
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