The full column, by David Bauder, can be found here:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gun8JJ1XEslHHlWf8LzXa1QXrYwgD9B039MG3First two paragraphs:
Amplifying the nation's political division has been good business for Fox News Channel and MSNBC during this season of anger — but it may come at a price.
President Barack Obama has complained about a coarsening of political dialogue and cable news cycles where "the loudest, shrillest voices get the most attention." After a summer of raucous health care forums that received wide coverage, South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson felt free to shout that Obama was a liar during an address to Congress.
Pretty bad, isn't it? Well, who is to be blamed for this terrible state of affairs? Why...
journalists! And you know, the public mistrusts journalists, because they are confusing their opinions with facts, and political discourse is decreasing in quality across our fine country as a result.
How is this story illustrated?
WITH A PICTURE OF KEITH OLBERMANN.Yes, Keith Olbermann is the AP's poster child for Coarsening of the Political Dialogue Through Loud, Shrill Journalistic Voices.
To add insult to injury, it's a picture of him taken at "the 'Defying Inequality' Broadway concert, a celebrity benefit for equal rights, in New York." (Because, you see, equal rights are supported only by loud, shrill voices that coarsen the political dialogue!)
Read the story. It starts with describing Chris Wallace on Fox calling the Obama administration "the biggest bunch of crybabies I have dealt with in my 30 years in journalism." (Sounds like his opinion rather than a fact to me. Fair enough.) Then it goes on to speak of the popularity of the likes of Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly on Fox. It mentions that Fox cut off coverage of an Obama health care rally, saying it would return if there were "any contentious questions, anybody yelling"; that "liberal watchdogs Media Matters said that during one week, Fox aired 22 comments from health care forums that opposed or questioned Obama's plans, and none that supported the president"; and that CNN's Rick Sanchez has accused Fox of promoting the 9/12 teabagger rally rather than just covering it. All fair comments.
But--but--these examples implicate only the RIGHT, correct? And to do "journalism," you have to provide an equal example from the LEFT, don't you? So, where does Bauder run for his example of a lefty who is just as bad as Fox News at confusing his opinion with facts? You guessed it.
One moment that passed nearly unnoticed on MSNBC illustrated the same trend from a different perspective.
During its coverage of Obama's address to Congress on health care, MSNBC aired the Republican response from Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany, a former heart surgeon. The moment he ended, Keith Olbermann spoke up.
"Congressman Boustany," he said. "We should note that he has been sued for malpractice three times. He is a birther, who believes there are questions about the president's citizenship and ... he is a man reported in court papers to have fallen for a scam in which he tried to buy the British royalty title of `Lord.'"
Only a year ago, MSNBC was so mindful of separating news coverage from opinion that it replace Olbermann with David Gregory as anchor on political night coverage.
So. There you have it. When Olbermann said Boustany "had been sued for malpractice three times," that wasn't FACT, that was only his OPINION, in Bauder's eyes. Never mind that even Politico has confirmed that Boustany lost, or his patient was at least awarded damages, in at least three lawsuits for which he was the malpractice defendant, or that even Greta van Susteren said he had actually been sued eight times! It's just Olbermann's "opinion"! And it's also merely Olbermann's opinion that Boustany's a birther, despite the fact that when Boustany was asked ON CAMERA whether he believed Obama is a natural-born citizen, he said "I think there are questions"! And that business about Boustany trying to buy a fake royal title? That is a MATTER OF PUBLIC RECORD because he filed a lawsuit in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana against the hoaxers who ripped him off! But...it's JUST Olbermann's OPINION.
So, David Bauder, journalist that he is, really balanced out this article. He talked about Fox News' inserting of opinion into the news, and then he counterbalanced it with an example of Keith Olbermann inserting FACTS into the news! Damn that biased Keith Olbermann! He should have stayed replaced by David Gregory, who we all know delivers an impartial, evenhanded view of things! :sarcasm:
Oh, but Bauder wasn't done. He has to let "veteran journalist" Bernard Goldberg defend Fox News for THEIR insertion of opinion into news, because, why, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't know about "Van Jones and the Acorn organization scandal"!
"When Glenn Beck, who doesn't even pretend to be a journalist, breaks stories the so-called mainstream media should be breaking, journalism is in trouble," he said.
In other words, thank God for loudmouthed roughhousing non-journalist opinionators like Glenn Beck, because while they may opinionize, at least they also give us THE NEWS!!!!
Now, does Bauder, in his eternal quest for journalistic evenhanded coverage, go and try to find an example of some alleged lefty journalist "roughhouser" breaking a legitimate news story? No. He does not. Not here. No.
So you see, there you have it, folks, according to the AP.
Chris Wallace, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Fox News = opinion-mongers, but that's OK, because at least they give us the news, too.
Keith Olbermann, MSNBC = just a loud, shrill bloviator who confuses his personal opinions with news and brings down the national political discourse.
I can express my feelings about this only one way:
WHAT HAAAAAAAPPENED????
HOW DID I WAKE UP IN THIS CRAZY WORLD IN WHICH JOURNALISTS ACCUSE OTHER JOURNALISTS OF NOT KNOWING OPINION FROM FACT, WHEN IN FACT
THEY ARE THE ONES WHO DO NOT KNOW IT?????? WHERE BLOWHARDS LIKE GLENN BECK ARE PRAISED FOR DOING THE WORK OF JOURNALISM THAT PEOPLE LIKE KEITH OLBERMANN WHO USE FACTS
DON'T DO?
TAKE ME BACK WHERE I CAME FROM...PLEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!