Sad State of Corporate Media

Progressives know the corporate media generally sucks. But it's sad in another way too.

From a Kentucky political strategist:

"The newspapers are gutted – and everybody who is left is doing three other jobs. As a result, it feels like there is little accountability for candidates about what they say. It's cover at 2:30 and file at 4:30 without thought or research."

Walter Shapiro continues:

As a veteran of eight presidential campaigns, I know there is a virtue to being there in person rather than virtually. Reading the polls and watching TV ads may equip you to loudly opine on cable news shows, but it is no match for interviewing the candidate, listening to the stump speech, gauging the mood of the crowds, and quizzing voters in diners and BBQ joints. Traveling with candidates (particularly in states like South Carolina and Kentucky where personal campaigning matters) gives you a sense of nuance about who they are as people and politicians.

Woody Allen got it right: "Showing up is 80 percent of life."

Sources:

Walter Shapiro, Nikki Haley and Rand Paul Races: Where Have All the Reporters Gone? June 11, 2010

McCain: Flip-Flopper

Everyone, except corporate media executives, know McCain is a flip-flopper. Do you think the establishment media will ever catch on?

A few examples without commentary, 'cuz I'd probably just be telling you what you already know.

Immigration Reform

Permanent Tax Breaks for the Wealth

Torture Prohibitions

Association with Religious "Agents of Intolerance"

Bob Jones University

For/against Ethanol

Abortion: For/against Roe v Wade

State Promotion of Confederate Flag

Gay Marriage

Sam and Charles Wyly: Were slimy, now supporters

creationism in the classroom: Not OK, IS OK

Being a moderate (actually never was)

Being a straight-talker (not any more)

Is Terry Nelson a flip-flop or just evidence that McCain ISN'T a straight talker? *shrug*?

Sources:

Not the corporate media. Carpetbagger Report, DemocraticUnderground.com

Media Critique: Clinton and Obama on Nuclear Weapons

The good news is that the establishment media piece addresses a policy issue. The bad news is that they belittle it as a "flap."

"Obama, Clinton in new flap, over nuclear weapons"
by Steve Holland, Reuters, August 2, 2007

Wow, Reuters is actually reporting on different policy positions of Hillary Clinton and Barrak Obama, and it's being picked up establishment media sources.

Obama ruled out the use of nuclear weapons to go after al Qaeda or Taliban targets in Afghanistan or Pakistan, prompting Clinton to say presidents never take the nuclear option off the table...

So, why does the editor have to belittle this serious policy issue by calling it a "flap"? I don't know, but thought I'd pose the question to a Reuters editor. You can to:

CLICK to Contact Reuters

On the content of this matter, Clinton has the policy wrong. She's conflating cold war policy with the hyped perpetual "war on terror," which doesn't apply. In the cold war days, nuclear weapons remained on the table with the USSR, because of the basic reality of deterrence. She's trying to be presidential, and only succeeding to be superficial.

Couric: Faux Journalist Reflects Twilight of America

It is one more sign of the decline of America.

CBS News said this week the April 4 installment of "Katie Couric's Notebook" consisted mostly of passages lifted verbatim from a Wall Street Journal column by Jeffrey Zaslow that was published in March.

Rigor and professionalism has given way to false appearance and the bottom line. For a highly-paid news anchor to blunder into plagiarism is unacceptable in a first-rate nation, which is the point. The U.S. is fading in the same way Rome, Spain and Britain faded from preeminence.

Morris Berman, and others, are writing books on the decline of the American Empire. A review of Berman's "The Twilight of American Culture," sums it up:

Morris Berman discusses the decline in American life, evidenced by growing class inequities, the deterioration of literacy, and the pervasiveness of anti-intellectualism.

The deterioration of literacy is exemplified in this case by a failure to recognize plagiarism. Couric didn't even write the video essay, despite the impression given that she does.

Here's another example of the decline, a failure of accountability:

The producer responsible for Couric's piece was fired on Monday night, hours after the Journal contacted CBS News to complain.

"Couric's" piece? First, it was phony theater, foisted on the American public; Couric wasn't mouthing a memory about her library card. She was mouthing someone Else's memory about their library card, written by an as-yet nameless producer (UPDATE: Now named as Melissa McNamara).

Second, if it's truly "Couric's piece," isn't she also responsible? Apparently not in the twilight of America, where it's OK for CBS to give the impression that it is "Couric's piece." It was faked, like most of what passes for journalism on corporate media as the American Dark Ages approach.

Sources:

Reuters, April 12, 2007, CBS says Couric unaware video essay plagiarized.

Melanie Ho, Review of Berman's "The Twilight of America."

See Also:

Regret The Error, a blog that was cited in the Reuters article.

The Daily Background, a blog that was cited in the Reuters article. Raises the question of double-plagiarism. What The Daily Background calls "double-plagiarism" I call "phony theater."

High Tech Parent on Couric

On the ligher side, gotta take a look at the visual on Milk Was a Bad Choice

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