Cowardice in the Newsroom (crusading reporters bullied by Right-Wing extremists)

Miami Herald ^ | 9/6/04 | Wasserman

[AnAmericanMother]

Thanks.

I guess, given the pool the school has to draw on - since the vast majority of universities in the country have been churning out liberal academics for generations - the faculty are bound to be liberal.

[redhead]

"psychosis [sy.KO.sis] (n). “The inability to distinguish between what is real and what is imaginary. Psychosis is a term used to describe a severe mental illness. Psychotics are characterized by a variety of symptoms that most people consider abnormal. These include experiencing delusions, such as the notion that one is being persecuted or conspired against. Psychotics may see things which don't actually exist and hear Voices (i.e. God) when no one is around. They often exhibit compulsive, irrational, ritualized behavior, esp. when such behavior serves no purpose or is even harmful or disruptive to those around them. They show no concern for others but may exhibit total self-centered behavior. Includes sociopathy, schizophrenia.”"

LOL! Great minds think alike! Check out my newest BLOG on the same subject!

[reformed_democrat]

. . . it's pretty significant that he's also talking specifically about US! Meaning -- FreeRepublic!

We were talking about that earlier on another thread Media: From watchdog to lapdog.(The last line is Classic.)

What started out as a collection of on-line buddies looking for like-minded conversation has mushroomed into the only place I go for real news. FR has always been bleeding-edge when it comes to current issues. I'm not as surprised as I used to be when I hear "breaking news" reporting the same story I read here yesterday. What throws me now is hearing Rush Limbaugh say the exact same thing I read 30 minutes ago as a response on a thread (that's only happened twice, but it's been a deja vu moment both times -- "things that make you go hmmmmm").

[SaveTheChief]

What comes to mind?

Homo lobby.
Feminists.
Enviro wackos.
Rainbow Coalition.
Hand Gun Control Inc.

BINGO!

That really is the issue at hand. The main stream media helps the homosexual lobby paint the picture that homosexuals make up a much larger percentage of the population than they do. A disproportionate amount of movies, television programs, and other media are targeted toward this very small minority and those who advocate it, at the expense of those who believe such behavior is immoral.

The main stream media gives a lot of attention to feminists, almost completely overlooking women who have chosen a very noble and important task - raising our next generation. These women are often ridiculed and scorned for not being strong willed, and for allowing themselves to be abused by men.

Environmentalists are getting a huge amount of attention. I don't think I need to say more than "The Day After Tomorrow."

All it takes is a good look at the 2000 electoral college map to see the true makeup of the country. We need to work hard to make the media portray the truth, not what their homosexual, environmentalist, feminist, socialist activist staffs desire to push on the nation.

[Fester Chugabrew]

That's a long way of saying that journalism is crude, tentative and fumbling, . . .

And the Consitution is a "living, breathing document," right?

[M Kehoe]

Reading between the lines, Wasserman (Rich, Dowd, Ivins, etc.) is telling us their collective works can't stand the scrutiny provided by the Internet (esp. FR). Poor babies.

5.56mm

[VadeRetro]

The attack doesn't come from ideologically committed journalists and commentators who put together reports clearly selected and spun-dry to sell a political line.

If 90 percent of journalists are leftwing idealogues who cheat blatantly in our reporting, that's OK. People who want real news just have to allow for that.

There's a transparency of motive here that, as long as they retain some minimal respect for fact, may even work to enrich the variety of information and interpretations available to all of us.

It's good, really.

It's hard now even to write for publication without being uncomfortably aware of just how thoroughly what you say is going to be inspected for any trace of undesirable political tilt and denounced by a free-floating cadre of rightist warriors.

But we're coming under pressure to cut it out and just report facts. The Truth will suffer if we are bullied like this!

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I understand why. It's hard now even to write for publication without being uncomfortably aware of just how thoroughly what you say is going to be inspected for any trace of undesirable political tilt and denounced by a free-floating cadre of rightist warriors.

Not to mention outright lies.

The Smoking Gun

The Associated Press, a powerful worldwide news source owned by its member daily newspapers, has perpetrated a vile and slanderous lie about President Bush and his supporters, and been caught read-handed. The smoking gun exists safe and sound in the cache memory of countless blog sites. The AP's reporter wrote a dispatch claiming that when President Bush told a rally of his supporters in West Allis, Wisconsin that President Clinton had been hospitalized,

“the audience "of thousands booed. Bush did nothing to stop them."

Within seconds, the AP dispatch went around the world, and the lie was repeated. In point of fact, eyewitnesses and listeners to radio and television reports could hear that there was no audible booing, but there was supportive applause when the President called on everyone to pray for ex-President Clinton’s recovery. 

Unfortunately for the AP, we live in the age of the blogosphere. Almost as quickly as the lie was spread, bloggers started work documenting the report and its factual refutation. Recordings of the crowd's reaction, contradicting the AP, are avilable to anyone on the web, courtesy of America's blogforce.

Caught, the AP behaved disgracefully. They pulled the byline appearing on the report, one Tom Hays, who appears to work in New York, and issued a corrected report, changing “boos” to “oohs,” perhaps to protect itself and claim an innocent mistake. Of course, that would not explain the “Bush did nothing to stop them” slander.

Even more tellingly, AP moved to cover its tracks, pulling the original report from the Lexis/Nexis database, effectively throwing it into Orwell’s Memory Hole. Jonathan Last summarized its behavior as follows:

-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...

[pyx]

Reporters don't just stroll through a meadow of stories in bloom and pluck a bouquet. What gets reported first depends on what journalists hear about. Then the story must seem interesting, significant or both.

When it comes to the MainStream Media (MSM), this is a great steaming pile of horsesh!t.

I'd venture to guess that more than 90 percent of the QUOTE news UNQUOTE that is shovelled up each day are VERBATIM reprints of PRESS RELEASES from VESTED LEFTIST INTEREST GROUPS. PERIOD. Nothing more.

[pyx]

Reporters don't just stroll through a meadow of stories in bloom and pluck a bouquet. What gets reported first depends on what journalists hear about. Then the story must seem interesting, significant or both.

When it comes to the MainStream Media (MSM), this is a great steaming pile of horsesh!t.

I'd venture to guess that more than 90 percent of the QUOTE news UNQUOTE that is shovelled up each day are VERBATIM reprints of PRESS RELEASES from VESTED LEFTIST INTEREST GROUPS. PERIOD. Nothing more.

[longtermmemmory]

This was in the Miami Herald.

These people are under the delusion that they are actual journalists by being far left. They are pro-homosexual, pro-castro, and basically anything that is anti-american.

They have no competition and are now fearing the result of being faced with real competition. Eventually look for the three remaining papers of south florida to become one. The only thing that must keep these papers going is the fact there is no other way to distribute the sunday ad circulars and real estate listings.