LMAO. This poor guy would be suicidal if he was sent to find an honest journalist in this country.
Posted on 03/11/2010 5:34:32 PM PST by kristinn
One question has tugged at my professional conscience throughout the year-long congressional debate over health-care reform, and it has nothing to do with the public option, portability or medical malpractice. It is this: Why haven't America's old-school news organizations blown the whistle on Roger Ailes, chief of Fox News, for using the network to conduct a propaganda campaign against the Obama administration -- a campaign without precedent in our modern political history?
Through clever use of the Fox News Channel and its cadre of raucous commentators, Ailes has overturned standards of fairness and objectivity that have guided American print and broadcast journalists since World War II. Yet, many members of my profession seem to stand by in silence as Ailes tears up the rulebook that served this country well as we covered the major stories of the past three generations, from the civil rights revolution to Watergate to the Wall Street scandals. This is not a liberal-versus-conservative issue. It is a matter of Fox turning reality on its head with, among other tactics, its endless repetition of its uber-lie: "The American people do not want health-care reform."
SNIP
My great fear, however, is that some journalists of my generation who once prided themselves on blowing whistles and afflicting the comfortable have also been intimidated by Fox's financial power and expanding audience, as well as Ailes's proven willingness to dismantle the reputation of anyone who crosses him.
SNIP
As for Fox News, lots of people who know better are keeping quiet about what to call it. Its news operation can, in fact, be called many things, but reporters of my generation, with memories and keyboards, dare not call it journalism.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
A little truth seeking edit.
LMAO. This poor guy would be suicidal if he was sent to find an honest journalist in this country.
This is a joke right?
Howell Raines can KISS MY @$$! Mr. Raines - seriously - were you in a coma for the eight years of Bush's Presidency, or Reagan's, or the six years of Nixon's Presidency? Two words for Howell Raines and they're not "Let's dance".
I don't think I've ever ready a more self aggrandizing and pathetic suicide note in my life.
The guy is completely ignoring the monopoly the NYTimes had on political discourse for decades. And how they shamelessly promoted whatever societal changes they deemed important. For decades, almost every evening news broadcast would begin with, “The New York Times is reporting...”, and proceed to explain how we need to spend more on schools, or how our military leaders are lying to us.
Along came the internet...and Free Republic, and for the first time in my life, I witnessed people talking back to editorials. Not like letters to the editor, where they got to choose which ones were published. No...this was raw, angry, intelligent, sarcastic responses to people like Frank Rich. It was one of the most liberating political experiences I ever had.
And as technology blossomed Freepers turned into factcheckers, while the whole time, Dan Rather and Howell Raines had no idea what was going on. Google became the every-man’s Lexis/Nexis.
Conservatives, whose voice the NYTimes had mocked and ridiculed, and whose opinions they considered neanderthal, were no longer willing to accept left leaning news as gospel.
Welcome to Fly-Over America, Mr. Raines.
"..Following the revelations of Blair's deceit, The Times moved to uncover how management had allowed a young reporter with what appeared to be obvious problems to rise so quickly through the paper's ranks. The Siegal committee's months-long investigation found "a series of management and operation breakdowns" and "a stunning lack of communication within the newsroom." It found that Blair’s quick advancement may have become favored as part of a "star system" that advanced some reporters close to then-executive editor Howell Raines. "He was given a regular tenured reporting job despite the misgivings of his immediate boss," the report said of Blair. "He was put on high-profile national assignments with his new supervising editors receiving no notice of the serious problems that had marked periods in his previous four years at the newspaper."
Both Raines and managing editor Gerald M. Boyd, considered partially culpable for Blair's indiscretions, resigned a month after Blair's departure..."
I look forward to Mr. Raines improving his column on the internet by comparing Janet Cooke's imaginary "Jimmy's World" to Fox's Carl Cameron claim in 2004 that John Kerry got a manicure.
Hey I found a part of it that's true!
Ahh yes, you’re only an “honest journalist” if your in the tank for Obama.
We know all about “your” type Raines.
Attention Howell Raines:
Your talking points are showing.
Obviously, this guy wasn't around for the eight years of George W. Bush...
Oh, wait! He was LEADING the daily smear campaign and bashfest. I guess it's just different when the other side fights back.
“using the network to conduct a propaganda campaign against the Obama administration — a campaign without precedent in our modern political history?”
Only unprecedented because it is against a Leftist administration! LOL!
Great editing there. And do you really suppose the left would have had such a hard time cramming Nationalized medicine down the American people's throats if the people had ever wanted it?
Ah, yes. As we saw in the NYTimes this past weekend, the new meme is: Fox News killed Obamacare. Whaaa! Whaaa!
I think Howell has a point here. In fact, Fox should have been kicked off the air when its most prominent journalist used fraudulent documents in an infamous attempt to sway an election against a sitting president he had tried to take down for years.
QUIZ: What is the political affiliation of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, CNN?
Why should he care whether they're honest or not - doesn't this “noble” end justify any means necessary?
Raines is a pussy who would cry if he was called out to answer for his lies.
Such a one as Raines would never enter "the field of Honor", for he is as bereft of that principle as he is of any other you could care to mention...
the infowarrior
Thanks for posting this, kristinn!
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