Rachel Maddow Shows Us What Real Journalism Looks Like

No, it isn't just letting politicians say whatever they want while you nod your head diligently. Allow Rachel to take it from here:

How NYC Newspapers Colluded With Bruce Ratner To Build Atlantic Yards

When it comes to big business, New York City's major newspapers are in bed with developers like Bruce Ratner. This video shows you the in-depth details of the relationships between the Daily News, the Post and the New York Times:

The Media Bent Over For McCain And They Can't Get Up

The traditional media was for the most part in the pocket of the McCain camp for quite sometime, even before he had a "camp" so to speak. They loved his brazen remarks and random statements that bucked his supposedly more conservative party. Now that he has become a tool of the neo-con right they aren't so fond of him, but as Eric Boehlert of Media Matters points out, McCain's campaign could care less.

From Media Matters:

Did you hear the media are mad? According to Howard Kurtz at The Washington Post, the press is angry at McCain for his patently untrue lipstick attack ("It's false. It's ridiculous"), and they're seething over how Sarah Palin keeps telling her demonstrably false Bridge to Nowhere tale even after members of the media pointed out her stump-speech applause line was a lie. (A "whopper.")

During the past week, virtually every major news outlet has produced welcomed, hard-edged fact-checking pieces about how the Republican ticket goes far beyond bending the truth and just plain snaps it out on the campaign trail.

In the past, that kind of truth-telling would have embarrassed campaigns and likely caused a dramatic change in the rhetoric. But what do McCain and Palin do in response? They pretty much ignore the press and its critiques.

Writing on The New Republic's website, Eve Fairbanks spelled out the conundrum, capturing the dumbfounded realization that spread through the press corps. It's like that scene in a movie when the superhero realizes his unique power (for the press, it's collective indignation) has suddenly been rendered useless:

Reporters demolished the claim that the Palin opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, and yet the McCain campaign insolently still uses it. Writers dismantled the McCain campaign's untrue assertion that Barack Obama compared Sarah Palin to a pig yesterday, and yet the campaign put out an audacious ad featuring the ridiculous allegation, presumably on the assumption that Real Americans don't care what the elite press says anyway.

Real Americans care about what the media says, they just put it into context. Boehlert points out that most people just don't pay attention to them as much because most of what Chris Matthews et al put out is complete garbage. The author cites several examples from the current election season as well as Kerry's windsurfing from four years ago. However there is a silver lining. If the media would keep reporting facts and times when candidates lie for more than fifteen minutes, then people will start paying more attention.

CNN's John King Throws A Hissy Fit

I would like to personally thank Glenn Greenwald for posting John King's email about a John McCain interview. By publishing it in its entirety, we can see the delusional grandstanding that "journalists" like King imagine themselves to be. At the same time, they like to belittle anyone that critiques them for things like...I don't know, fawning over candidates and letting them stick giant loads of bullshit up their ass. King isn't alone, many cable news whores are guilty of it, but the email gives a good look at the people in that industry.

From Salon:

Yesterday, I received a response from King via e-mail, the authenticity of which was confirmed in a subsequent exchange:

From: King, John C

To: GGreenwald@salon.com

Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 5:40 PM

Subject: excuse me?

I don't read biased uninformed drivel so I'm a little late to the game.

But a friend who understands how my business works and knows a little something about my 20 plus years in it sent me the link to your ramblings.

Since the site suggests you have law training, maybe you forgot that good lawyers to a little research before they spit out words.

Oh trust me, it goes on and on, belittling Glenn for not reading up and doing his homework, blah, blah, f'in blah. Any of these buffoons can whine about how they are professionals and bloggers are just scum of the Earth (on both sides of the political spectrum) who just like to rant about people who supposedly are unbiased reporters. Well Glenn obliterates that argument:

They invariably point to criticisms from both Left and Right as proof that they're unbiased straight-shooters. They chide you for being unaware of the secret, concealed information (interview questions that weren't broadcast, paragraphs that were edited out) which somehow disproves your critique of what they did broadcast or publish.

They proudly inform you that there have, indeed, been some instances over the many decades that they've been working when they've stood up to someone and asked something other than mindlessly reverent questions, and if you had looked hard enough, you might have found a couple. They tell you it's appalling to comment on what they publish to their readers or viewers without first talking to them about it, even though you linked to or even printed in full everything they said and wrote. And they close by telling you that you have no standards, no ethics, no understanding of their Complex Profession, and no decency -- that you're just a shrill, ignorant partisan pushing a lowly agenda while they are in the business of Real Unvarnished, Objective Reporting.

Ponder how much better things would be if establishment journalists -- in response to being endlessly lied to and manipulated by political officials and upon witnessing extreme lawbreaking and corruption at the highest levels of our government -- were able to muster just a tiny fraction of the high dudgeon, petulant offense, and melodramatic outrage that comes pouring forth whenever their "reporting" is criticized. All this energized invective from King because CNN aired an "interview" with the GOP front-running presidential candidate consisting of one adoring question after the next, which I printed in full.

That is the problem, they are beyond manipulated by the politicians in Washington. By sucking up to people like McCain they ultimately forget the people they are supposed to be serving, the viewers. When so-called journalists like King ask pathetic non-invasive questions of McCain and others, the freedom of Americans who tune in suffers by limiting their access to things they want to know that are essential to their day to day lives.

What The Hell Is Going On?

This is what I'm sick of.....aren't you?

Even Miss USA Looks Down On Katie Couric

Miss USA of 2007 has high hopes after winning her crown, but she does have principles. Rachel Smith eventually wants to trade her tiara in for a crack at journalism, reporting on stories and whatnot. One person she definitely does not want to emulate is Katie Couric. Rachel must be following the blogs or at least watching Couric and seeing her failures first hand. Obviously her words reached the sensitive egotistical ears of CBS' number one failure.

From The Daily News:

Miss USA Rachel Smith tells us she wants to get into journalism, but something tells me she won't be applying to the "CBS Evening News."

"I always wanted to be a reporter — maybe some TV. Who knows? Some serious news — but some modeling, too," she said at the Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network event last week.

"I just don't want to end up like Katie Couric. I want people to take me seriously."

Ouch!

(Couric's rep later responded: "If she continues to offer such profound insight, she will not have to worry about anyone taking her seriously.")

I for one take Rachel very seriously. She is astute enough to see a pretend journalist when one comes across the screen. Take that Katie!

Couric Needs A Mentor Like Lara Logan

Katie's performance in Iraq was down right miserable and a pathetic attempt at shillery for the President. CBS is losing money on her at an incredible rate. However, all is not lost at CBS. They still have reporters like Lara Logan.

Lara does not hide behind bodyguards and show up at staged events like the al-Shorja market that is in Indiana central Baghdad. She does not parrot Bush's talking points on the evening news, that is what his interruptions during Prime Time are for. Let him remind the public why they hate the President for his miserable war.

Lara knows how to get it done and her reporting is hard-hitting and makes a difference, like this article about how billions in our taxpayer dollars is wasted in Afghanistan. Unfortunately the link shows Katie's face at the top of the screen, but the powerful words below are from Ms. Logan. If anything, Logan should be introducing Katie to how things get done, not how to fake the news.

Stossel Is A SiCKO

Stossel is making news today and as usual, it is for his horrific record when it comes to attempting to be a journalist. He wrote an article on Michael Moore's movie and one story in particular that was highlighted in the film. That is the tragedy that befell the Pierce family. Julie's husband Tracy died from cancer when a bone marrow transplant would have saved his life. Instead of him being a husband and father today, he died because his insurance carrier denied him the surgery. It is one of many sad stories that Stossel calls "Sick Sob Stories." They aren't sick John, you are, you heartless piece of shit.

From Michael Moore.com:

Dear John,

My name is Julie Pierce. My husband was Tracy Pierce. I am featured in Michael Moore's documentary 'SiCKO.' In the movie, I share my deceased husband's story — his unsuccessful battle with our insurance company to receive what could have been life-saving treatments for kidney cancer.

I just read your Wall Street Journal article written on Sept. 13, 2007, titled "Sick Sob Stories." You begin by talking about Tracy's role in 'SiCKO,' and claim the bone marrow transplant denied by our insurer would not have saved him. You also accuse me of "sneering" over our situation.

In your 'reporting' of this story, you did not contact me, and you did not contact my husband's doctors. I cannot believe that a publication like the Wall Street Journal would print such an accusation without talking to anyone involved — especially in such a personal matter, which resulted in the death of my 37-year-old husband and the father of my child.

If you had contacted me, I would have told you that bone marrow transplants became a last option, only after our insurer denied many other treatments again and again and again.

I would have shown you a letter from our doctors at the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at the University of Kansas Hospital, in which they argued strongly for the bone marrow transplant, citing "strong evidence" supporting the past success of that treatment — they wrote that it could "give him a chance to achieve complete remission." In fact, they called the bone marrow transplant "his only chance of survival."

Tracy and so many others could have been saved by this procedure, yet Stossel weakly tries to defend his friends in the Health Insurance industry. He believes in a "free market" so much that he does not care who gets hurt. On top of that, he never contacted Julie or Tracy's doctors to research his stories. Like other conservatives, he cherry picks certain "facts" that prove his invalid points. How the Wall Street Journal printed that....and ABC still carries his ugly face on their network is outrageous.

Katie Couric Hearts George Bush

If you don't already know or believe it, then watch this video. It isn't hard to hear his talking points coming out of her mouth.

Tempest In A U.N. Teapot

So last week the traditional media saturated itself with a "breaking" story that claimed horrifying and terrible chemical weapons had been found in a filing cabinet in the U.N. where the old Iraqi government had their offices. New York was practically under attack ten years after the fact. In their nutty bum rush to the wires, the "journalists" forgot to do their due diligence (whats that?), because if they did there would have been no story to report and no fear to spread through Manhattan and the rest of the country.

From The New York Times (at least they are clarifying a week later):

When officials said that a potentially deadly chemical from Iraq had been found last month in a Midtown United Nations office, many questions followed. How did the sample get here? How did it get misplaced? And how could it sit in a box, unnoticed, for more than a decade at a world agency in the middle of New York?

But now, heaping embarrassment upon embarrassment, it appears that the chemical was merely a commercial solvent, a law enforcement official said.

Initially, officials said the substance was phosgene, an old-generation nerve-gas component used extensively at the end of World War I, and in Iraqi attacks against Kurds in the 1980s.

“We learned later,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case, “that initial tests indicated it might be some kind of over-the-counter solvent, though we don’t know what kind.”

Of course, the State Department is to blame for feeding them this crappy information....but seriously, these reporters need to do their jobs before falling all over themselves for the first crack at the airwaves and newspaper columns. Come on guys and gals, repeat after me, "I will do my due diligence, I will do my due....."

Its Not The Surge Stupid

One of CNN's few shining examples of journalists is Michael Ware. For some time now, he has been in Baghdad, covering the war like no other. He speaks truth and doesn't care for sound bites or repeating U.S. government propaganda. He tell it like it is, and here he explains the implications of the surge and more importantly, the chaos of Iraq and all the things Bush and all the war supporters do not want you to hear.

Tony Snow The Journalism Teacher

Despite the fact that Tony Snow's job is to be a White House shill, his shillery can be quite amusing at times, especially when he tells journalists how to be...journalists. Demanding a reporter change their "twisted words" is comical in a scary kind of way. Putting aside the notion that a representative of the President is lecturing a member of the Press Corp on how to do their job (you know, freedom of the press issue?), lets look at this in a light-hearted way.

From RawStory:

Towards the end of the briefing Snow called on Les Kinsolving--a long time correspondent and talk radio host, famous for his often bizarre questions and cantankerous attitude--who asked Snow whether the President thinks it would be a good idea for all Americans to prepare an emergency survival kit for a possible terrorist attack or natural disaster.

Snow quickly said he couldn't comment, and then proceeded to take time out to lecture Kinsolving on his job, "Let me just point out," Snow said, "that you need to ask questions that bear on the President's responsibilities."

Snow continued to press Kinsolving, "I saw the piece you wrote the other day, that has been thoroughly twisting[sic] out of context." At this point Kinsolving tried to get a word in, but Snow was having no of it, "You know what I don't care, because the fact is, if someone is going to take questions about things that don't fall under the president's purview, and I answer that question, and it gets twisted, it is a disservice to this White House and the craft of journalism."

Of course Tony never mentioned the piece he was referring to, it was just an act to try and belittle a reporter. Les wasn't fazed though, he went on to his next question, asking if Bush would call for a lame duck session of Congress to pass his immigration reform for the third try. Les sees through Tony, and so do I. The only disservice to the craft of journalism in that room was Mr. Snow.

Save Your Tears On Katie Couric

By now its a foregone conclusion that the addition of Katie Couric to the CBS Evening News was a colossal mistake. Once proud and formidable, CBS is dead last among the network news programs on weekday evenings. She has been criticized on everything from her dressing habits to the choices made on interviews. Now she is out and crying about what a bad move it was to come to CBS and how it is everyone's fault but her own.

From The Huffington Post:

"People are very unforgiving and very resistant to change," Couric said in an interview with New York magazine. "The biggest mistake we made is we tried new things."

Couric's move to CBS has been a bust so far. The evening newscast's ratings are deep in third place, and CBS has rolled back some of the changes it made last fall to shake up the format. Couric conducts fewer interviews, an outside opinion segment was scrapped and the anchor admits she's even dressing down a little to give her critics less ammunition.

(snip)

Couric admitted there are days when she wishes she hadn't made the move to CBS.

"Of course," she said. "I'm human. I'm not going around `dee-da dee-da dee.' I have days when I'm like, `Oh my God, what did I do?' But for some weird reason, they don't happen that often."

It seemed like all Couric has done at CBS is go 'dee-da dee-da dee.' Choosing Rush Limbaugh as a newsworthy interview was pathetic. You would have never seen Edward Murrow perform as poorly as she has in the last few months. And he didn't need an enormous salary for it either. While alumni of the position have brought credibility to the CBS broadcast, Katie has done nothing but detract from it.

But is it all Katie's fault? The state of journalism today is precarious at best. There was a management decision to bring Katie in with a huge salary, banking on looks and her fluff from The Today Show. The sensationalism that the media chooses today centers around Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, not the scandals that the White House embroils itself in on a daily basis. Apparently celebrities draw better ratings that the ongoing degradation of our Constitution and liberties in general. At one time news was about things that impacted people's lives, now it is used for people to escape from the real world and into the ridiculousness of celebrity.

A Million Dollar Disgrace

NBC just outbid ABC for the rights to the first post-prison interview of Paris Hilton. Besides the network taking a financial hit, the real losers are the rest of us. Sure, millions will tune in to hear the heiress tell her tragic tale of being locked up and blah, blah, blah. Yet, there is no real contribution to society from this interview. The real story is very short, she acted irresponsibly once, twice and kept doing it until the authorities finally had to lock her up for flagrantly disregarding the law.

Our media and subsequently our society is celebrity-obsessed to the point where real issues seemingly do not matter. Imagine if that million dollar payoff to a billionaire was invested in the news department. Network news hardly does the job they did in the past. Much of their news is either infotainment or regurgitated government propaganda. It's truly pathetic. The masses are too busy in their own lives and problems to notice and take much of what is thrown at them on the screens as fact.

When the Roman Empire began to fall, the majority of people were enthralled by games, too engrossed to care about what was beginning to tear their civilization apart. It was easier to watch games (as it is to see Paris Hilton sobbing) than to care and actually do something about the war-hungry Emperors that wasted the treasury on far-flung military conquest than shore up the homeland.

That Empire is long gone, but ours is still near its peak (or slightly past it). However, there is still time to salvage it. We need to wake up from the garbage shoveled at us on billboards and television screens and start to care about issues that truly affect us. Michael Moore stepped up with SiCKO, showing us how the HMOs would rather kill us than reduce their profit margins. Many advocacy groups fight against the degradation of the constitution and many other disgraces of the Bush Administration. The structure is there to fight, we just need more active citizens to fill the ranks and take back our democracy.

Tony Snow Knows The Facts, Tells Reporter He Can't Have His Own

Tony Snow "job" continues to live in his own state of delusion when it comes to the actual facts. He believes in the White House's spin so adamantly that when reporters bring up what happens on the planet of Earth, he lashes out at the people that spout truth instead of 'truthiness'. The White House Press Conference was quite a show yesterday, especially when CBS' Harry Smith interjected a fact or two.

From RawStory:

However, when Snow said of Bush to CBS's Harry Smith, "He goes to the G8, leads the way on climate change," Smith broke in to object: "I think that's following on climate change. ... These other countries have set the table for this for years. The president is late to this table."

"I hate to tell you," replied Snow. "No Harry, you can't have your own facts. We've got a better record than the rest of the world... What you're arguing is that you regulate your way in. It never works, hasn't. What the president says is, use technology as the way of doing it and, guess what, everybody agreed."

According to a Reuters report on the G8 conference, "President George W. Bush's plan to combat climate change got a cool reception on Friday in Europe, where the European Union's environment chief dismissed it as unambitious and the 'classic' U.S. line."

When it comes to sycophants like Tony Snow, Bush can do no wrong. Protecting the oil industry and other polluters is good for the environment, not harming us all like the data shows. The data must be a pinko commie liberal, or something like that. In the last six-plus years and for the remaining 586 days, 13 hours and 45 minutes, Tony will fight to deny Harry Smith's (and the rest of us) truth and promote his own....no matter what.

Helen Thomas Talks

Helen sat down with Tim Russert on CNBC, talking about reporting, her relationship with George Bush and what she would do if Cheney became President.

Now It Is Journalism Being Outsourced

I know that journalists are slipping these days but there is no need to send their jobs to India. It is bad enough technical and customer service positions are being relocated halfway across the world to cut costs. For local journalists to be replaced with people that don't even live in the town that they are reporting the news on is just plain ridiculous.

From CNN:

James Macpherson, editor and publisher of the two-year-old Web site pasadenanow.com, acknowledged it sounds strange to have journalists in India cover news in this wealthy city just outside Los Angeles.

But he said it can be done from afar now that weekly Pasadena City Council meetings can be watched over the Internet. And he said the idea makes business sense because of India's lower labor costs.

"I think it could be a significant way to increase the quality of journalism on the local level without the expense that is a major problem for local publications," said the 51-year-old Pasadena native. "Whether you're at a desk in Pasadena or a desk in Mumbai, you're still just a phone call or e-mail away from the interview."

No James, it is more than that. On the local level such as in Pasadena, reporters should live in the area, know the layout of the town both spatially and culturally and be able to communicate to their neighbors. That is absolutely impossible to do from Mumbai.

As can be seen in the CNN article, there are plenty of doubters because it is a stupid idea. A long time ago, the news was meant to inform, not to maximize profits of the companies that ran the news departments. It is time to take a step back and let people from Mumbai cover Mumbai, and Pasadena should do the same.

The Tale Of Two Iraqs

There was a huge difference in reporting on the run-up to the war between the Washington Press Corp and the journalists that investigated what was going on in Iraq and in the intelligence community. Bill Moyers interviews those lost reporters who were ignored by the mass media while the D.C. establishment trumpeted Bush's march to Baghdad.

Weapons Of Mass Distraction

As our troops are being slaughtered in Iraq, our economy is floundering for the working and middle classes and the health care crisis rages on unabated, you would think the media would have plenty of issues to talk about that mattered to Americans. Well think again, when it comes to the media at large, expect nothing but over-hyped stories that effect a minute fraction of the American people.

In case you didn't notice, Anna Nicole Smith mysteriously passed away yesterday at the age of 39. It is a sad tale where a young mother lost a child a few months back and is now leaving a newborn behind with no father to be found. Whatever the case may be, whether suicide, depression or natural causes, it has no place being repeated for hours on end in the mainstream media. Sorry to offend the Smith fanbase, but seriously, the nation has more pressing problems at hand.

It seems like there are always stories that consume hours upon hours of network news that are used to boost ratings based on sensationalism, from the still-missing Natalie Holloway to the Jon Benet Ramsey unsolved murder. The business of journalism is more focused on pleasing their advertisers than doing the business of actual journalism.