Posted on 11/21/2005 7:09:10 AM PST by Pikamax
Woodward? Google? A Plague Week By DAVID CARR
LAST week's string of dismal headlines about the newspaper business eventually began to resemble a multivehicle pileup on the freeway. There was so much carnage it was difficult for even the most determined rubbernecker to know where to look.
On Wednesday, Bob Woodward, the man who built his career on protecting a single Watergate source, became impaled by his efforts to protect another. Who would have thought that one of the journalists responsible for the ubiquitous "gate" suffix denoting scandal would end up with it being attached to his name?
On the same day, Walter Pincus, one of Mr. Woodward's colleagues at The Washington Post, found himself held in contempt of court for his refusal to identify his sources in a lawsuit brought by Wen Ho Lee, a scientist who formerly worked at a government nuclear weapons lab.
And while other reporters may not face jail time or fines, their future seemed grim as well. The Los Angeles Times announced cuts of 85 newsroom employees, while The Chicago Tribune said it was cutting 100 jobs across all departments. Earlier in the week, Knight Ridder got shoved onto the auction block by investors who had tired of the company's dawdling share value.
And the worst of it? Those were not the worst of it.
The scariest development for the newspaper industry wa
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Forget a sale price of 10 12 times earnings look at 8-9 at best.
This is why the term 'journalistic ethics' is a well known oxymoron.
Now, the HERO from Watergate is now a big ZERO and waaaaaaay too friendly to the Bush Admin. so he needs to be DESTROYED also!! Woodward will have lower poll numbers than Cheney!
Or, more ominously for the newspaper industry, people could start uploading advertisements to sell their '97 Toyota Corolla.
As someone in the WSJ said yesterday, Knight Ridder consists of a lot of lousy local newspapers whose only purpose is to sell classified ads, and if you take away the classified ads, what happens next?
The NYT expectedly defends the MSM and its "investigative reporters" such as Woodward.
News robots can't meet with a secret source in an underground garage or pull back the blankets on a third-rate burglary to reveal a conspiracy at the highest reaches of government. Tactical and ethical blunders aside, actual journalists come in handy on occasion.
Translation: A Google search doesn't have an ideological agenda. It can't mount a political campaign to bring down a Republican president by means of anonymous sources, lies, and innuendos. In fact, if the source isn't there, Google won't find it.
What a shame.
It always seemed strange to me that 'Deep Throat!' would want to remain secret. Let me see ..... What if I were "deep throat. I could remain secret and have total privacy or let Woodward announce who I am and get paid $50,000 a night to speak for perhaps as many as 200 nights. But what retired government employee would want to make 10 million dollars. What about the book deal.. another ten million for a book. Who would want that... And what retired government employee would want to make a round of appearances on all the TV networks every year on the anniversary of the Watergate Break In. Who would want to be worshiped on national TV every year by the worlds most famous pundits?
The continuous media fame would get some more big dollar speaking engagements each year. NAH!! I would rather wait until I am old and suffering from Alzheimer's and then let my daughter out me. One nice thing about not being able to remember my name is no one can check to see if I am a fake or not.
If "Deep Throat" were really angry at not getting the fame and power of FBI Director, then he would have surely wanted to be a very famous and wealthy celebrity media hero and darling.
Woodward has a history of lying.. Such as saying a Casey leaked CIA information to him while he was on his death bed in a hospital. The only problem was while Casey was on his death bed in the hospital Casey was totally comatose. Hospital records and family members confirm that during the time Woodward said he talked to him, Casey was comatose.
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