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The Escalating War Between the Old and New Media
CHRONWATCH.COM ^ | MARCH 19, 2005 | CHRISTOPHER ADAMO

Posted on 03/19/2005 9:06:22 AM PST by freeholland

It happened again. Last week, during an interview in Beijing, Washington Post Managing Editor Philip Bennett voiced his contention that the United States should not be the “leader of the world.” Along with this abhorrent declaration, Bennett launched into various other statements, mostly displaying a distinctly anti-American sentiment.

Such words were particularly vile, in light of the fact that he was offering them to a regime that aspires to eventual supremacy on the world scene, and is relentlessly building towards that goal.

Though it is by no means certain that Bennett’s anti-American diatribe will cost him his position as chief of one of the nation’s leading newspapers, it certainly should. Yet Bennett is only one of a long line of major players from the “Old Media” who eventually show just how adverse they are to the good fortunes of their homeland, and how detached they have become from Middle America.

Recently, CNN news chief Eason Jordan was shown the door in the aftermath of widespread public outcry over his bogus accusation that American troops in Iraq were deliberately targeting journalists.

Concurrently Dan Rather was ushered out of the anchor’s chair at CBS Evening News as a direct result of the humiliation suffered by CBS over the fraudulent military memos reported by Rather on “60 Minutes” in an underhanded effort to aid the campaign of John Kerry.

But while the efforts of Rather and the CBS leviathan to sway the election were rendered futile, a grassroots organization called the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” successfully enlightened America regarding those less than sterling aspects of Kerry’s war record about which neither he nor the mainstream media felt the nation needed to know.

In actuality, none of this would have occurred, were it not for the relatively recent advent of alternative forms of mass communication. The old order has crumbled. ABC, NBC, and CBS no longer hold the monopoly on news that they once enjoyed.

It may seem simplistic to say that darkness can withstand anything except the presence of light. However, such a fundamental concept yet remains beyond the grasp of the “mainstream” media, which struggles in vain to revert the news and information landscape back to its former, liberal dominated glory.

Needless to say, the left isn’t passively accepting such monumental changes. During the 1990’s liberals in Congress attempted to reinstate the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” in an effort to curtail the effects of talk-radio. In recent weeks, the liberal media has been apoplectic over the Jeff Gannon/James Guckert affair, in which an Internet news service employed Guckert as its White House correspondent.

Ostensibly, the bone of contention was that Guckert had acquired a press pass with a pseudonym, when in reality the liberal media only went after him in the wake of his congenial questioning of a Bush spokesman, accusing Guckert of being a plant from the administration.

Eventually, it was learned that Guckert posted lurid photos of himself on a website, advertising his sexual services. Abhorrent and perverse though they may be, such things never bothered the liberal media establishment in the past. Tawdry occurrences among their own ranks are quickly consigned to the irrelevance of one’s “private life.”

Nor is the media unilaterally opposed to the involvement of political operatives within its own ranks. George Stephanoupolos was a key player in the Clinton Administration until he was hired by ABC News. Yet network spokesmen contend, with straight faces, that he is an objective, non-partisan journalist and commentator.

Some in Washington are coming to the aid of the liberal information brokers. As if on cue, Senator John McCain (R.-AZ) has voiced his intention to bring internet bloggers under the dark umbrella of governmental campaign regulation. Clearly, McCain and his cohorts are working to strangle the efforts of those who would use the First Amendment as it was originally intended.

But despite efforts by McCain and the old media to re-establish its position of supremacy, a new age of accountability has dawned on the information industry in America. The former pattern of distortion and suppression of relevant information can no longer be maintained.

Although the “outing” of such individuals as James Guckert might result in brief setbacks for online journalism, this increased scrutiny and accountability will, in the long run, only hone and purify the voices of conservatism. In contrast, a restoration of its former media monopoly is the cornerstone on which liberalism is dependent for its very survival.

About the Writer: Christopher Adamo is a freelance writer from southeastern Wyoming, where he has been involved in grassroots political activites for several years. He maintains a website at http://www.chrisadamo.com.

Christopher receives e-mail atadamo.chronwatch@lycos.com.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abc; alternate; campaign2008; cbs; danrather; explosion; information; internet; mainstream; media; msm; nbc; newmedia; news; oldmedia; scandals; sources; swiftboat; vetsfortruth
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"Some in Washington are coming to the aid of the liberal information brokers. As if on cue, Senator John McCain (R.-AZ) has voiced his intention to bring internet bloggers under the dark umbrella of governmental campaign regulation. Clearly, McCain and his cohorts are working to strangle the efforts of those who would use the First Amendment as it was originally intended.

Is John McCain what you would call a "RINO?"

1 posted on 03/19/2005 9:06:23 AM PST by freeholland
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To: freeholland

Does a bear poop in the woods? :-)


2 posted on 03/19/2005 9:07:59 AM PST by hiredhand (Pudge the Indestructible Kitty lives at http://www.justonemorefarm.com)
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To: freeholland

He was just affirming the Clinton Foreign Policy. Madeline Halfbright said the same thing WHILE she was SOS, and is heralded by the Left.


3 posted on 03/19/2005 9:11:33 AM PST by digger48
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To: freeholland
Yep. And if heaven forbid, he gets the GOP nod in '08, I'm sitting the election out.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
4 posted on 03/19/2005 9:11:36 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop
if heaven forbid, he gets the GOP nod in '08, I'm sitting the election out.

If Republicans want to have a chance at keeping the White House, they would be wise not to make McCain the candidate.

5 posted on 03/19/2005 9:16:20 AM PST by Bahbah
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To: freeholland
"Is John McCain what you would call a "RINO?"

No, John McCain is what I would call a demagogic, graft taking, money grubbing, power hungry, Presidential wannabe.
6 posted on 03/19/2005 9:18:10 AM PST by Bar-Face
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To: Bar-Face
Yep. He'd strangle conservatives if that would make his media backers happy.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
7 posted on 03/19/2005 9:19:15 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: freeholland

" Is John McCain what you would call a "RINO?" "


Cacatne ursus en sylvius?


8 posted on 03/19/2005 9:20:18 AM PST by Darksheare (I need to keep painting my wall red or the thing living in it will get out and get us all.)
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To: freeholland
Is John McCain what you would call a "RINO?"

Of course not.


9 posted on 03/19/2005 9:25:01 AM PST by Maceman (Too nuanced for a bumper sticker)
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To: freeholland

I wouldn't describe McCain as a RINO, exactly. He's one of a kind. Frankly, he's insane. He's powerdrunk, he's shown himself willing to do anything to advance his fame and fortune, he's a narcissist who loves being constantly in the news.

As his nickname suggests, he's more like the Manchurian Candidate than your average country-club RINO. Frankly, that makes him far worse and much more dangerous than folks like Susan Collins or Olympia Snowe, who are RINOs as we normally think of the word.


10 posted on 03/19/2005 9:27:09 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Maceman
TOO FUNNY.... ;o)

11 posted on 03/19/2005 9:33:24 AM PST by shield (The Greatest Scientific Discoveries of the Century Reveal God!!!! by Dr. H. Ross, Astrophysicist)
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To: freeholland

There's nothing particularly abhorrent about believing that the world does not need and should not have a leader or dominant power. The US has no God-given right to dominate the world.

But several other statements he made were indeed pretty disgusting.


12 posted on 03/19/2005 9:36:02 AM PST by Restorer
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To: freeholland
...a restoration of its (MSM) former media monopoly is the cornerstone on which liberalism is dependent for its very survival.

Needless to say, the primacy and monopoly of the MSM is history. The date of it's demise could be argued, but methinks it was circa 1997. It' only mental masturbation to think otherwise.

5.56mm

13 posted on 03/19/2005 9:36:18 AM PST by M Kehoe
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To: M Kehoe
It' ?

My darn "s" key got ssstuck.

5.56mm

14 posted on 03/19/2005 9:38:21 AM PST by M Kehoe
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To: goldstategop; freeholland
Yep. And if heaven forbid, he gets the GOP nod in '08, I'm sitting the election out.

I doubt he'll get the nomination in 2008. He'll be 72 then. Ronald Reagan was 69 when he ran and was elected in 1980. McCain is no Ronald Reagan.

15 posted on 03/19/2005 9:39:29 AM PST by Paleo Conservative (I Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: freeholland

McCain is a meddler.


17 posted on 03/19/2005 9:47:05 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

McInsane is a "tool".


18 posted on 03/19/2005 9:50:46 AM PST by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.)
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To: freeholland

There is no war.

The old media just doesn't realize that it's already dead.


19 posted on 03/19/2005 10:04:21 AM PST by MikeHu
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To: freeholland
John Mclaim is the only sitting republican Senator EVER asked to be the running mate as Veep candidate for the Democrat side in Presidential election.. A mistake that surely was but it was a mistake that displayed for ALL to see exactly where John Mclaim is comeing from.. And that their are stealth ringers in the republican party.. and he is not alone..

The republican party needs a republican caucus because not all republicans are republicans.. some are democrats working daily to morph america into democracy away from being a republic, even more than it is already.. What IS a democrat except someone that appreciates a democracy over a republican form of goverment, else why are they called democrats..

20 posted on 03/19/2005 10:13:23 AM PST by hosepipe (This Propaganda has been edited to include not a small amount of Hyperbole..)
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