The 'journalists' of the 'liberal' media . . .

[CrispyQ]

Do you think they all are really pro-bush or do think most of them are doing what they are told because they fear losing their job.

Sure some are pro-bush, but all of them?

Personally, I couldn't do it. I'd rather clean toilets at a hotel than trash someone I truly beleive in.

[Robbien]

1. Fear and Anxiety in Network Newsrooms

I was just reading that article in Poynter, it said:

Much that is commonly "understood" among journalists is rarely voiced in public. A pre-convention event this week in Cambridge -- where network anchors went on the record about the partisan and corporate pressures they feel -- was a bracing exception. The Shorenstein Center program was mostly noted in the news for Jim Lehrer's chastisement of the big three anchors for their stinted convention coverage. But even rarer was the theme kicked off by Dan Rather at the start: "Fear has increased in every newsroom in America." The three anchors (Rather, Peter Jennings, and Tom Brokaw) sparred with one another about whether it was "fear," "caution," or "anxiety," but its existence seemed clear.

Rather started by noting this: When you're a reporter contrasting what someone in the administration says with what you know to be the facts, pointedly laying out the differences, "You're gonna catch hell." "And those who are willing to pay the price," Rather said, are fewer today than before. In a later remark, he said the strong feelings nationwide and the guarantee that they'll be voiced not only calls up more caution than ever -- sometimes a good thing -- but causes some to ask: "You know what? We run this story, we're asking for trouble. Why do it?"

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=54&aid=69110

So it appears they are being cowed by their corporate offices.

[leftchick]

5. I watched part of that program on C-Span...

It confirmed to me that Brokaw is an ass. I learned Jennings is an arrogant jerk too. I always thought he was a decent guy. They all pretty much blamed the lack of questioning the misadministration on 9/11. WTF? did they totaly black out the Clinton years?!?
:puke:

[dbt]

2. Anyone you see on-camera is doing his/her job.

They are not paid to think. They are (highly) paid to read what's on the TelePrompTer and nothing more. This has had the sadly amusing result of bringing us a generation of well-groomed airheads who cannot speak extemporaneously unless it's about their hair--but I digress.

You will be hard-pressed to find any anchor or reporter who cares about anything beyond what color BMW they have. Any special piece that they may do on whatever charity or humanitarian effort is done purely for the ratings value.

Taken as a whole, TV News Stars are shallow, mercenary and devoid of conscience. They could give a shit if what they're reading is truth or the phone book.

(Yeah, I've spent a good deal of time around these creatures. I have actually seen two co-anchors arguing over who got the most WORDS in a newscast!)

The people on-camera are saying exactly what their Bosses want them to say. Even Dan Rather is, apparently, quite comfortable in doing this. Pity, for he used to be a Journalist.

:argh:
dbt

[dumpster_baby]

4. I used to write the words on the Teleprompter, and I knew exactly ...

....I knew exacrlt what I could and could not write, even though I had never taken a journalism class in my life. The system is a set of filters developed over years, shaped by money and creating a worldview. Now most Americans are like Truman Burbank in the movie, _The Truman Show_.

[goju]

3. Scared shitless

They dont want to "appear" to be progressives for fear they will be attacked by hard core right wing pundits. I think it starts at the top and shit rolls down hill. The end of real journalism is at hand.