Posted on 09/21/2011 7:42:54 AM PDT by Kaslin
I must confess that I no longer have a clear understanding as to how many of our major newspapers operate.
It had been my assumption -- and you know what they say about assuming things -- that a large percentage of the employees at these papers were actual reporters who, in an ethical, professional, and totally unbiased manner, aggressively investigated stories, looked at all sides, followed the facts to their natural and honest conclusions and then wrote about their findings for their loyal readers.
That is what I thought. But now when I review The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal, I can find very little evidence, at least of political reporting.
It’s important to note that these five newspapers are not only the largest in the nation in terms of circulation, but also - leaving aside the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal - arguably the most liberal as well.
They are also still quite powerful in their ability to influence and direct the vast majority of the liberal mainstream media. Read something of consequence in one of these papers today and you will most likely see and hear it parroted by the three major network “news” outlets the next day.
These papers in fact still do some very good reporting. But when it comes to political reporting - especially if honestly following those facts to their natural conclusion will have a negative impact on the Democrat Party or the Obama White House - they seem shamefully compromised.
And they seem enthusiastically willing to not only carry water as needed for pet liberal causes, but to look the other way if that would also be of service to their ideological masters.
One case in point here is the ever-escalating Solyndra LLC government loan guarantee scandal threatening to root itself in the West Wing of the Obama White House.
With this scandal in mind, The New York Times just had a headline which read: “Republicans Suggest White House Rushed Solar Company’s Loans.” This story was in relation to the question of whether The White House purposely flushed and then tried to cover-up $500 million of taxpayer money going down the toilet as a way to fabricate “green” jobs for political gain.
I know it may sound crazy, but I have a suggestion for The New York Times. Instead of taking the word of the Obama White House, its energy department, or even the word of Republicans for that matter, why don’t you simply gather a team of your investigative journalists, remind them of their professional responsibility to be ethical, honest, and non-biased, and then unleash them to do some actual reporting for a change instead of insultingly regurgitating White House spin?
The same advice holds true for the other papers. Don’t they have any reporters? Are these “reporters” accepting a salary under false pretenses? Shouldn’t they do their job no matter which political party is in power or under the spotlight?
To be sure, if your name was George W. Bush or any other Republican or conservative politician, then these same reporters would not only investigate you since birth, but literally sift through your trash and that of your children to find any dirt they could use to damage you and your policies.
Others, like a certain disgraced former evening news anchor for CBS News, might go so far as to use forged documents to try and bring you down.
Beyond the Solyndra scandal enveloping the White House, these liberal reporters may also actually want to investigate the facts surrounding the under-funded and failing Social Security program. They may actually want to report on the damage Obamacare does to small businesses and in turn, the job market. They may actually want to investigate how and why greedy public-employee unions and their members are destroying the financial security of a growing number of cities, counties, and states.
In other words, they may want to reclaim some of their self-respect and not be the obedient lap-dogs for the far Left of the Democratic Party.
But, like the fiction of “green” jobs and a bursting-at-the-seams Social Security trust fund, this too will be yet another wish unfulfilled.
To bad, for us all.
They wouldn’t have a clue how to do it.
What country has this author been living in for the past 30+ years?
The media, later today, should be fawning over Obama’s “One World” speech he is now delivering to the UN.
To the extent that the American MSM has forfeited its birthright, the efficiency and integrity of our Republic is diminished... and in direct and increasing proportion.
American Conservatives have had to ‘de-code’ MSM reporting for a very long time and other Americans, NOT so enterprising or capable, swallow MSM misinformation and distortions WHOLE!!!
Fie!
It seems the liberal McClatchy news service has started to sour on the Obamessiah.....http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/09/20/124688/truth-squad-obama-misstates-facts.html
Mexican authorities say over 200 of their citizens have been murdered by guns "walked" into Mexico by the US govt BATFE, plus DEA and FBI.
When is a scandal not a scandal? When the Pravda Press decides it is too dangerous to "their" president to report on it.
My thoughts exactly. I’d ask what planet!
Biased media? Who would’ve thought?
Fox News carried it. I changed the channel and watched National Geographic’s Most Astounding Moments instead
True, and no one was murdered over Watergate either
That was my first thought. I suspect that he rhetorically used the first line to introduce his complaint. If not, he is, as you suggest, incredibly naive.
that a large percentage of the employees at these papers were actual reporters who, in an ethical, professional, and totally unbiased manner, aggressively investigated stories, looked at all sides, followed the facts to their natural and honest conclusions and then wrote about their findings for their loyal readers.
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What is this guy smoking?
An honest reporter(Journalist) intoday’s media wouldn’t last ten minutes before he got fired .
The papers set the agenda and they all march to the tune.
“In other words, they may want to reclaim some of their self-respect and not be the obedient lap-dogs for the far Left of the Democratic Party.”
The papers and networks you cite—and their reporters—are part of the far left of the Democrat party. They, and everyone they know, pretty much agrees on what is a story and what isn’t. Some of it is intentional. But some is just that everyone they know thinks a story about Obama’s past would be a stupid story. The reporters who see thru this realize they would lose all their friends if they did a story about Obama’s past.
The coastal elite is a lot like Islam in that regard. It’s a social and economic control system that makes everyone’s circle of friends the enforcers of the sytem. It is very hard to break out of.
I have a dear friend who is a non-trivial guy in the California democrat party. I told him one day: “You are not a democrat. You are a moderate republican.” His response? “If I changed parties I would lose all my friends.” I suggested maybe they were not very good friends. It didn’t work.
If newspapers took the above advice to heart, they could save an industry - their own...
We need to expose them in the same way that ACORN was brought down. Sometimes I really yearn for the undetectable microphone/transmitter so that their currently private conspiracies could be made public. Its very existence would put the frighteners on the conspiritors.
By Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama got some of the major points wrong when he unveiled his plan to curb projected federal budget deficits.
Here’s what he said Monday, and how it was wrong.
OBAMA: “Today, I’m releasing a plan that details how to pay for the jobs bill while also paying down our debt over time.”
TRUTH: The national debt would increase every year under his plan.
According to White House figures, the debt held by the public would increase from $10.2 trillion this year to $17.5 trillion in 2021.
According to the Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee, gross debt — which includes not just debt held by the public but also that held by federal agencies — would increase from $14.9 trillion to $24.6 trillion.
OBAMA: “It’s a plan that reduces our debt by more than $4 trillion.”
TRUTH: As noted, the plan doesn’t reduce debt. Assuming that the president misspoke and meant to say the plan would cut projected DEFICITS by $4 trillion over 10 years, that’s also wrong.
First, his plan totals $3.6 trillion in proposed tax increases, spending cuts and interest savings. To get to a figure of more than $4 trillion, he counts the $1.2 trillion in spending cuts already enacted over the summer.
Second, while he counts the $866 billion in added revenue from letting the Bush tax cuts expire for incomes above $200,000 as he proposes, he doesn’t count the cost of extending the Bush tax cuts for incomes below $200,000, as he also proposes.
That would add about $2 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, according to an analysis last year by the Congressional Budget Office, and would cut his claim at least in half.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/09/20/124688/truth-squad-obama-misstates-facts.html#ixzz1YbQWInCt
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Found the above at the link you supplied - it’s totally supports the premise of this post. It’s a list of factual information... Yet you see it as “McClatchy news service has started to sour on the Obamessiah...” That’s how biased our press has become - when there’s a listing of facts that doesn’t kiss liberal behind, we see it as ‘turning sour’ on Obama.
It’s going to take years for the American press to get their credibility back...
Yep. Fast and Furious is worse than Watergate, IranContra, Solyndra and Lightsquared all put together.
Which is why the Pravda Press won’t touch it.
The MSM mavens are idealogues first and reporters last. They would all rather BK their “news” organizations than lead to the downfall of their Marxist messiah.
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