Posted on 09/03/2015 8:36:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
By Michael Getler
Sept. 2, 2015
This column is not about me, but I start by acknowledging that I am something of a technological dinosaur. I still read printed newspapers and I dont have a Twitter account or Facebook page. But the reason I dont engage in social media is only in part because Im a little challenged technologically. The real reason is that Im the ombudsman at PBS and I dont want to be glib or dash off something on Twitter that I would quickly regret, or that could easily be misunderstood, or could be used to either discredit me and my work or PBS. I had the same policy about pre-social media venues when I was the ombudsman at The Washington Post.
So that brings me to the real self-inflicted wound, which was a tweet by PBS NewsHour co-anchor Gwen Ifill on Wednesdayafter it became known that President Obama had secured the necessary number of Democratic backers in the Senate to ensure that the nuclear agreement with Iran could not be blocked by opponentsthat said: Take that, Bibi. That was a reference, of course, to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has strongly opposed the agreement and came to Washington at the invitation of Republican House Majority Leader John Boehner to argue against it in front of Congress.
Ifill added the comment when she retweeted an illustration from an Obama administration Twitter account that is designed to support the case for an agreement.
As they say in todays world, her tweet instantly went viral, picked up by bloggers, websites and a large number of Twitter followers and it quickly produced a lot of angry emails in the ombudsmans inbox.
I asked Ifill and the NewsHour for a response and explanation. She explained, in an email to me and in a tweet to many others, that she was RT'ing a @TheIranDeal tweet, and added that she should have been clearer that it was their argument, not mine.
One would have to lean way over backwards to give her the benefit of the doubt that she was simply shedding light on the administrations view of portions of Netanyahus arguments. But to personalize it by saying, Take that, Bibi is, in my book, inexcusable for an experienced journalist who is the co-anchor of a nightly news program watched by millions of people over the course of any week.
It is not the first time that I have written about Ifill and tweets. Three years ago a tweet supporting a former colleague, who made an inflammatory remark apparently unaware that his microphone had not been turned off, also brought about lots of criticism.
Ifill is a highly experienced journalist, very quick, alert, knowledgeable, and with an engaging on-air personality. She also has a talented eye for the ironies and political turnabouts in the daily flow of news that contributes to her presence. But PBS and the NewsHour are bigger than any individual and tweeting does not appear to be a tool, in these cases, that is appropriate for maintaining credibility, which is the bedrock for news organizations.
Posted on Sept. 2, 2015 at 5:02 p.m.
She’s a twofer. PBS will back down.
So now we know whose side she’s on.
I’d be dead if I were to expect any punishment of Ms Ifil, the darling of PBS’ Washington Week! She will offer an ‘apology’ and promise not to do it again until the next time she is caught!
PBS is the protected playground of liberals too liberal even for the MSM, Bill Moyers, Tavis Smiley etc. However touch a hair of the funding or allocate for non-liberal programming and watch the backlash of the privileged spending of other people’s money!
5.56mm
So—Ms. Ifill will be shown the door, then?
“...inexcusable for an experienced journalist who is the co-anchor of a nightly news program watched by millions of people over the course of any week.”
Just another pro-Obama liberal anti-Semitic “journalist.”
Gwen Ifull and Megyn Kelly are in competition for most inept news reporter for 2015.
Kelly had a pretty good lead for a while, but Ifull’s really shifted into high gear.
Only four months to go, ladies...
Just goes to show that no matter what they say they are, journalist in this case, they are really just hacks for the Democrat party, masquerading as journalists. She just couldn’t help herself, and it bit her in the butt.......................the mask is now off forever......................
Ifill’s was a re-tweet of the graphic and caption, accompanied by an editorial opinion of her own. She should be removed to features and be eliminated from further consideration as a debate “moderator.”
I really regret that I have to pay taxes to support public broadcast system. I quit listening to them decades ago due to their bias.
“Ifill is a highly experienced journalist, very quick, alert, knowledgeable, and with an engaging on-air personality”
But what she really is is a hack, a dem operative with a byline as Instapundit says.
Ooh! A sternly-worded letter and no consequences.
Meh.
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Only a fool would celebrate Iran going nuclear. The last Demoratic President signed a much tougher agreement with North Korea and they are now nuclear. This weaker agreement guarantees Iran will go nuclear.
No it was not a shot at Prime Minister Netanyahu, even though it has become apparent that, in certain circles, it was taken as one, Gwen Ifil explained.
“TAKE THAT, BIBI, “ Ifil wrote.
Just awful.
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