Interesting response to the New York Post piece about us

[firedupdem]

black folks being divided over our support for President Obama. :eyes:

http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2009/04/dear-washington-post/#more-10238

Good for lining your parrot’s birdcage and not much more.

“Let me ask you this, right quick.”

Once upon a time, you used to be a respectable newspaper. Since you decided to abdicate your responsibility to uphold the 4th Estate to the National Enquirer, I shouldn’t be surprised that writing articles to prop up Tavis Smiley was on your agenda. I now stand corrected. In the article, “Blacks At Odds over Scrutiny Of the President”, this article was nothing more than a hit piece to prop up Tavis Smiley against the African-American masses calling him out for his “hatefest” on President Obama, as well as trying to allow him to regain his status as a leader of Black people that he really never had, because he is a marketeer and a hustler of the first order.

You can, and should, get the hell out of here with that. The research of this article was so poorly done, a friend of mine who’s a Professor of Journalism at the University of Maryland says he would have flunked your staff writer for being used as a very ugly pawn in the game of finding Black Slave Catchers willing to say what many whites in the media wished they could, but are afraid to.

Enough of the pleasantries; I’ll get down to business.

1. You might not want to use Krissah Thompson to do pieces like this anymore, because whatever sources she uses are going to dry up. Several prominent African-American academics related to me their run-ins with Ms. Thompson and one Professor of Public Policy actually stated to me “This individual is a dangerous journalist that we have to keep our eye on if the media will use her to engage in writings like this.”

Typical of the political trend-story, the reporter simply accepts Smiley’s version as fact and does no digging to see if there’s more to the story. (Hint: There is.) I respect Smiley’s pivot–he got aired out last year, but he turned it all into a book deal. I can’t say the same of reporters who take any sources line as received truth. The hack indulging in the political trend story, isn’t worth the unblemished shoe-leather which his stories are allegedly built upon. These are the sorts of articles which force you to cackle in the face of any dead-tree patrician holding forth on the sacred links between newspapers and democracy. Whatever. Do your job. We’ll decide whether your worth mourning.

[kwassa]

1. do you mean the Washington Post?

whole different paper. I get it every day.

it's a good paper.

This is an opinion piece from the blog of someone who really dislikes Smiley. That is fine, it is their right to do so. Much of the rest of the ranting and raving is extraneous bullshit, though, and the attacks on Krissah Thompson pretty low and unnecessary. Way over the top.

and the last paragraph is quoting someone completely different, Ta-Nehisi Coates, so it is missing the attribution on the blog site.

[firedupdem]

2. oops kwassa....I did mean Washington Post.

Thanks for pointing that out....big difference!

[ecstatic]

3. Tavis has been such a disappointment

Seriously, what is his problem? He used to be cool but everything changed around last summer. :wtf: