grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

[grasswire]

"Tom Rosenstiel, a former Los Angeles Times and Newsweek reporter who now directs the Project for Excellence in Journalism, said Democrats are themselves largely to blame (for mild media coverage of Bush).

“It’s not the job of the press to function as the opposition party,” he said. “If the Democratic opposition is lame or muted or conflicted, the press will never act as a surrogate for them.

“Is Bush getting an easier ride? Yes. He is because the Democrats are weak and the president is popular and the press is reflecting that.”



Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

If I can find an email address for this arrogant pr*ck, will you help me let him know the American people consider the duty of the press to inform the electorate?

[ThorsteinVeblen]

1. How the truth hurts

The Gelding Democrats have no one but themselves to blame.

[Sub Atomic]

2. true that

but at the same time, it seems awful curious how anthrax was only mailed to democratic leaders and press who dared to speak out against the bfee.

jus' sayin.....

[tomp]

17. once again, this dumb canard about anthrax threats.

first of all, daschle and leahy speaking out against bush? in some alternate universe somewhere perhaps. not in my book anyway.

second, any person sworn to defend the constitution, not to mention any patriotic citizen, ought not to lie down in the face of physical threats. we, and they especially, have a duty to defend the nation. one of my big questions is why daschle and leahy have not kept the anthrax investigation on the front burner, demanding results from the investigation. we had all the so-called terrorists in 48 hrs. and we have zilch on anthrax in 2 years, and they are not shouting from the rooftops that bush and ashcroft are incompetent?

anyone not willing to defend the nation against corruption at this level doesn't deserve a place in govt.

[Rose Siding]

3. Send him some T Jefferson quotes about

how we'll all be OK as long as there's a free press and we can all read.

[blm]

4. Where was he when Gore and Kerry were taking on Bush

and raking him over the coals for his military strategies OVER A YEAR AGO? Oh, yeah...the media spent all its ink mocking Gore and saying noone cares what criticisms they make because Bush is so popular.

[nini]

5. So, the press takes sides?

I thought they were supposed to be UNBIASED and honest?


Maybe if they had been reporting the TRUTH all along some of the swing voters wouldn't have been so f'ing stupid.

[grasswire]

12. contact page

Here's a contact page for the organization he heads; comments can be left there:

http://www.journalism.org/involved/contact.asp

[neuvocat]

6. He's right.

The democrats are largely responsible for this. The media isn't entirely blameless, given that they had so much to gain. Still, its mostly correct.

[diplomats]

7. Can you provide a link?

BTW, I think he's right. However, the Dems have become more vociferous lately and so has the press. Perhaps that's no coincidence.

[RichM]

8. What's supposed to be wrong with this? What you quoted is all true.

The Democratic opposition is lame & weak. Who could possibly argue with that? It's not a put-down - it's just a fact.

It's also quite possibly true that if these spineless cowards (the Democrats, that is) had had any cojones, the press wouldn't have been so derelict.

[Q]

11. Whatever happened to INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM...

...and doing their job to make government accountable to the people?

- I would agree that the spineless Dems are partly to blame...but the neocon controlled American media hasn't exactly gone out of their way to report both sides of the story. They have intentionally kept negative stories about Bush* off the front page to please their corporate masters.

[HiroP]

19. What about the opposition on the streets ?

Those hundreds of thousands of people certainly were not lame and weak. But still the protests were downplayed, ignored or even ridiculed by the mainstream media.
And there are plenty of things that don't need to be mentioned by a politician in order to be reported.
IMHO, Saying that * gets a free ride by the press just because the Democrats failed to make enough noise is just pure nonsense.

[TheBlob]

9. No, it's not your job to function as the opposition party,

but it is your job to report the truth.
It just so happens that in this administration the truth is considered the opposition.

The press is partially to blame for all of this Tom, and you know it. Why else would you be playing defense now?

[Sophree]

22. And Bush is "popular"

Because the wussy "media" hasn't been asking him any tough questions or calling him on his bullshit.

Blame it on the Democrats, they appear weak. Fine. But have you reported on ANY of the Dems. who have been consistently critical of *? Byrd, Kennedy.

You are partially to blame, you f*cking media whores. Take some damn responsibility.

:grr:

Edited for typo

[Nobody]

23. I remember this from grade school

"Popular" kids were never punished for anything and the outcasts were punished for everything, including being the victims of bullying. You were punished for tattling, which to the victimized, meant telling someone that you were constantly being beat up on by the "popular" kids.

You tried to tell someone what was going on and no one would believe you. Or if they did, they'd ask what you did to cause it.

I see this happening in our nation today. These idiots are still in grade school, still bullying those who can't fight back, still making sure that no one does fight back, still blaming the victim, and still calling anyone who tells the truth a liar and a tattletale.

Will we ever grow up?

[uhhuh]

10. Are we supposed to be doing the press' job for THEM!!!

Most of us here knew about the Niger forgery and the other scandals in the WH months ago. We have done research in the foreign press because that's the only place where we can find real journalists.
The job of a journalist id not to copy down what the popular kids say, and repeat it. It is to find the truth.

Here's another thought, buddy. It is not the job of the Democrats to paint themselves blue and dance naked in the streets in order for the press to examine statements coming from the White House for their accuracy. If the press is fawning, or conciliatory, or complicitous in cover ups, it IS the job of journalists to clean up their own house. You people are not superstars because somone films you reading on TV. Your job is to seek the truth and inform the electorate. If the Democrats are failing at that, it is even MORE your resposibility.

[diplomats]

13. I found the story linked on americanpolitics.com

Check out this revealing quote from Marvin Kalb:

“The Bush White House manages the press with extraordinary skill, has managed to quiet the press and corral the press with a political skill and toward their political advantage in a way that I haven’t seen in Washington in quite a long time,” he said.

That's another problem we face, and it's a big one.

[trumad]

14. I just emailed Bob Somerby his quote....

Bob is probably having several er..."Mordant Chuckles" over this one. That my friends is the state of the modern American Media...

[grasswire]

15. here's the link

http://www.hillnews.com/news/071503/democrats.aspx


Last month Democrats on the homeland security department held a press conference to highlight issues they called “of highest importance to our national security,” specifically that “the Department of Homeland Security is broken and needs to be fixed.”

Few reporters covered the event.

“We criticized the and nobody showed up,” said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), a member of the committee: “It’s very frustrating because people are asking us ‘Why aren’t you speaking out about things?’”

“The media institutionally is lazy, the news hole has shrunk, and there’s the corporatization of newspapers. They now put out newspapers to make money, They’re not making money to put out newspapers.”

The limited space allotted to government is nearly monopolized by the president and his efforts to fight terrorism, Frank believes.

Frank said if issues were more broadly discussed, “we’d be on the majority side.”

[arcane1]

16. true, remember how kind the press was to Cynthia McKinney?

:eyes:


it takes 2 to tango, and while there is, IMHO, a shortage of opposition voices, they are not exactly getting impartial treatment...

[sandnsea]

18. [e-mail]

Perhaps we all need to tell this guy that journalists are not the mouthpiece of a political party. They are just as capable of looking at documents and reporting the truth as anybody else. What a bunch of hooey.

[kentuck]

20. Unfortunately, there is a lot of truth to this ...

Sometimes it is like the Democrats sit back, rather than criticize, in hopes that the "liberal media" will report the truth. Well, sometimes the truth is not so easy to report. It is up to the opposition Party to raise questions if the press fails to report the facts of a case. Then, at least, the press can report that the Democrats criticized the other Party. I have been saying this for years. We cannot depend on the press to act as a political wing of the Party. If all they get is Republican quotes criticizing Democrats, that is what they will print. Look no further than Bill Clinton. If the Democratic Party had defended him more strongly, then the Repubs may not have had such an easy time impeaching the man...

[Cocoa]

21. there's a total double standard

What about Barney Frank's anecdote? I know I never heard of that press conference, did you?

this guy says it's the Dems fault for being weak. Well, the dems are being strong now, and the whores are calling this a partisan affair. And the biggest whore of all, Tweety, just last night ate Dennis Kucinich alive. Did he do that to Gov. Bush when he was running in 2000? Fuck no, because I guess for some reason known only to Tweety and the president of G.E., the gov. of Texas deserves normal respect, and the congressman from Ohio is a piece of crap to be stepped on.

What did George Bush do to deserve his preferential treatment, other than being George Bush? Kucinich can't help it if the whores' masters didn't choose him, no amount of "being strong" is going to change that.

[kentuck]

24. Well, somebody has to give it back to Tweety!

This ain't beanbag... :) We have to re-learn how to fight all over ?

[aquart]

25. Fragrant, steaming meadow muffins.

It's not the job of the press to call a liar a liar?