Please read Krugman today.

[burythehatchet]

I'm to the point where Paul Krugman's work is becoming required reading. Sometimes though, he writes one that just strikes me in a way that I feel everyone should hear what he is saying. In today's editorial he again brings out a piece of information of which I had no idea. He reveals that Scaife has a long standing vendetta against Mrs. Kerry.

snip...
Well, I've been reading 60 days' worth of transcripts from the places four out of five Americans cite as where they usually get their news: the major cable and broadcast TV networks. Never mind the details - I couldn't even find a clear statement that Mr. Kerry wants to roll back recent high-income tax cuts and use the money to cover most of the uninsured. When reports mentioned the Kerry plan at all, it was usually horse race analysis - how it's playing, not what's in it.

On the other hand, everyone knows that Teresa Heinz Kerry told someone to "shove it," though even there, the context was missing. Except for a brief reference on MSNBC, none of the transcripts I've read mention that the target of her ire works for Richard Mellon Scaife, a billionaire who financed smear campaigns against the Clintons - including accusations of murder. (CNN did mention Mr. Scaife on its Web site, but described him only as a donor to "conservative causes.") And viewers learned nothing about Mr. Scaife's long vendetta against Mrs. Heinz Kerry herself.

There are two issues here, trivialization and bias, but they're related.
...snip

the rest of the article is at the NYTimes site, so registration is required.

[DeepModem Mom]

1. Trivialization and bias are our biggest obstacles; thanks, Krugman...

for addressing the problem of the media, and thanks for posting, burythehatchet.

[dennis4868]

9. "Trivialization and bias "

The media does not give a shit about the substance of politicians....their policies and beliefs...all that really matters is image...image is everything and that is why the media loves Bush....Bush is all about image as Ron Reagan, Jr points out in his article in Esquire.

For example, a few days after 911 Bush goes to ground zero in Manhatten and stands by some firefighters and shouts "the terrorist hear you and they will hear from all of us and pay for what they did." Well the media loved it....Tweety does not let anyone forget that moment. But what was it all really about...it was about Image! This WH is not fighting the war on terror....they let bin laden get away at the time they had him cornered on the border of Aghanistan right before the all important war in Iraq began. But Bush knows he does not have to truly fight the war on terror because the perception is (thanks to the scene at ground zero) that he is strong on fighting terror (where the hell was Bush before 911 in preventing terror in the USA?).

Bush and his thugs know the media will keep on saying he is tough on terror. But the truth and substance of it all is that just a few weeks ago many top officials from the Reagan and Bush I administrations had a press conference all saying that Bush must go because he is not taking the fight against terror seriously....that he is too ideological. Did the media tell the people about this press conference? Of course not....Bush is strong on terror because that scene from groundd zero.

Image is everything....so sad!

[Jack Rabbit]

2. And the US corporate media is wondering why we call them 'whores'

As recently as April approximately 60% of Americans continued to have serious misconceptions about the invasion of Iraq. They either believed that WMDs actually existed (or were actually found) or that Saddam had ties to al Qaida (or even plotted the September 11 attacks).

Those stories had been debunked long before last April. The fact that so Americans were misinformed can only be blamed on mainstream sources of journalism that are entirely too deferential to this criminal administration.

[indigo32]

3. I love Krugman

the man is pissed.

[burythehatchet]

5. I only wish I could get pissed as welll as Mr. Krugman

:)

[Ruby Romaine]

4. some "normal" people (faux watchers) told me recently -that Theresa told

a reporter to F... himself!

I told them Cheney said that to Sen. Leahy-
they didn't believe me!
brainwashing!

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Kick.

*

[Brotherjohn]

7. They have been vicious to her. Joe Conason wrote this the other day.

http://www.observer.com/pages/conason.asp

One example: "the Tribune-Review ran a column suggesting that Mr. Kerry had been enjoying a "very private" relationship with another woman. There was no byline on the story and no evidence to support the salacious insinuation."

Sciafe also funded a "study" that accused her of supporting "violent radicals of various kinds, including Islamists, through the straitlaced Heinz foundations that she controls."

She should have done a lot more than tell the reporter to "shove it"!

[liberalmuse]

8. Thank you once again, Krugman

Clearly the most steadfast and bravest man in journalism today.