Posted on 10/31/2012 1:01:49 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
This isnt an October surprise foisted on the media by opposition research; its news.
If you want to understand why conservatives have lost faith in the so-called mainstream media, you need to ponder the question: Where is the Benghazi feeding frenzy?
Unlike some of my colleagues on the right, I dont think theres a conspiracy at work. Rather, I think journalists tend to act on their instincts (some even brag about this; you could look it up). And, collectively, the mainstream medias instincts run liberal, making groupthink inevitable.
In 2000, a Democratic operative orchestrated an October surprise attack on George W. Bush, revealing that 24 years earlier, hed been arrested for drunk driving. The media went into a feeding frenzy. Is all the 24-hour coverage of Bushs 24-year-old DUI arrest the product of a liberal media almost drunk on the idea of sinking him, or is it a legitimate, indeed unavoidable news story? asked Howard Kurtz in a segment for his CNN show Reliable Sources. The consensus among the guests: It wasnt a legitimate news story. But the media kept going with it.
One could go on and on. In September 2004, former CBS titan Dan Rather gambled his entire career on a story about Bushs service in the National Guard. His instincts were so powerful, he didnt thoroughly check the documents he relied on, which were forgeries. In 2008, the media feeding frenzy over John McCains running mate, Sarah Palin, was so ludicrous it belonged in a Tom Wolfe novel. Over the last couple of years, the mainstream media has generally treated Occupy Wall Street as idealistic, the tea parties as racist and terrifying.
To be sure, there have been conservative feeding frenzies: about Barack Obamas pastor, John Kerrys war record, etc. But the mainstream media usually has tasked itself with the duty of debunking and dispelling such hysteria.
Last week, Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin reported that sources on the ground in Libya say they pleaded for support during the attack on the Benghazi consulate that led to the deaths of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. They were allegedly told twice to stand down. Worse, there are suggestions that there were significant military resources available to counterattack, but requests for help were denied.
If true, the White Houses concerted effort to blame the attack on a video crumbles, as do several other fraudulent claims. Yet, last Friday, the president boasted that the minute I found out what was happening in Benghazi, he ordered that everything possible be done to protect our personnel. That is either untrue, or hes being disobeyed on grave matters.
This isnt an October surprise foisted on the media by opposition research; its news.
This story raises precisely the sort of big issues the media routinely claim elections should be about. For instance, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last week that the basic principle is that you dont deploy forces into harms way without knowing whats going on, without having some real-time information about whats taking place. If real-time video of the attack and communications with Americans on the ground begging for assistance doesnt constitute real-time information, what does?
This is not to say that Fox News is alone in covering the story. But it is alone in treating it like its a big deal. During the comparatively less significant Valerie Plame scandal, reporters camped out on the front lawns of Karl Rove and other Bush White House staff. Did Obama confiscate those journalists sleeping bags?
On Oct. 28, of the five Sunday news shows, only Fox News Sunday treated this as a major story. On the other four, the issue came up only when Republicans mentioned it. Tellingly, on NBCs Meet the Press, host David Gregory shushed a guest when she tried to bring up the subject, saying, Lets get to Libya a little bit later.
Gregory never did get back to Benghazi. But he saved plenty of time to dive deep into the question of what Indiana U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdocks comments on abortion and rape mean for the Romney campaign. Typically, Gregorys instincts about the news routinely line up with Democratic talking points, in this case Obamas ridiculous war on women rhetoric.
I am willing to believe that journalists like Gregory are sincere in their desire to play it straight. But among those who dont share his instincts, its hard to distinguish between conspiracy and groupthink. Indeed, its hard to think why one should even bother trying to make that distinction at all.
The "dog in the night" is not barking.
Why?
And that's why I am willing to believe that Jonah Goldberg is a fool.
And yet, none of the facts relayed in Jonah's story backs up this thesis. It's clearly a concerted decision to spike this story by the media.
“And that’s why I am willing to believe that Jonah Goldberg is a fool.”
He just wants to continue to be invited to the cocktail parties.
Wrong! This isn't "groupthink". As the author pointed out with Gregory, the MSM doesn't want to talk about it and, when forced to, they parrot the White House talking points. (e.g. How many times was the term "fog of war" repeated by reporters verses the misinformation about the video, emails, etc.?)
The sooner people understand this, the sooner we can level the playing field.
I agree with the author when he said that he thinks that the mainstream media newsers tend to act on their instincts
The bald-faced truth is that the Obama admin screwed up big-time committing a gross act of dereliction of duty, and the lib media is trying to squash the story... and therefore committing a gross dereliction of duty themselves. Full stop.
It’s downright frightening, it should make every American fearful that the media can have this much power.
“Unlike some of my colleagues on the right, I dont think theres a conspiracy at work. Rather, I think journalists tend to act on their instincts”
and Mr Goldberg will believe this even while they are ushering him to the showers at the concentration camp.
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