Bush to Press: "You're Assuming That You Represent the Public. I Don't Accept That."

Press Think ^ | April 25, 2004 | Jay Rosen

[Thud]

I found this on Lucianne.com. Check out the link to the blog opening post quoted here - the original has lots of embedded links, and there is a long follow-up by Mr. Rosen with many useful reader comments.

[rs79bm]

You blod link doesn't work. Please consider excerpting next time.

[counterpunch]

"In our system, the press has the role of..."
Generations of journalists spoke confident sentences like that. The press is a vital check on power. It's quasi Constitutional.

The press, last time I checked, is not elected. They are self-appointed, and their power is purchased.
Each and every one of us whose voices are silenced ask ourselves at one time or another "why don't I have the power to shape the debate?"
And we always come to the same conclusion: "Because I cannot afford to buy the New York Times."

[Thud]

http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2004/04/25/bush_muscle.html

I did excerpt - the follow-up and reader posts are about eight times as long as Rosen's original post, and just as informative.

[Southack]

What the press "thinks" at any given time is seldom worth more than a warm pool of spittle.

How to spot press bias?

Here's an easy test: if there is a statement before a question, then the reporter is biased and has an agenda.

What's a "statement" before a question?

Here's an example: "Mr. President, with our troops bogged down on their attack towards Baghdad, and with our economy now sinking with out of control unemployment, and with our homeless now starving from so many government funds being diverted away from shelters, do you now think that it was wrong to unilaterally invade Iraq?"

The question is at the end, long after the "statement" was made. Notice that the biased reporters can't simply ask the question "Do you now think that it was wrong to unilaterally invade Iraq?"

Oh no. They have to first give their political spin on all of the bad in the world, from the most extreme, worst possible angles, and *then* they ask their question.

That's media bias.

We shouldn't be interviewing reporters. Journalists shouldn't be making statements prior to asking press conference questions, and Editorial boards should have as many die-hard Country Music listeners as they have Hip Hop and Madonna fans.

Who, What, Where, When, and How. Not "others think" or "some feel".

[Behind Liberal Lines]

I had a journalism professor in college who pointed out the following:

In the "old days," journalists were people who studied things other than journalism. They were intelligent, well rounded, people who knew about the world. Most of them held jobs outside of journalism for at least part of their lives.

By contrast the "modern" journalist is someone who went to college to be a journalist and that's all they know.

Basically, the modern journalist is a poorly educated "elitist."

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Journalism and its Discontents - Glenn Reynolds
Instapundit.com | 4/25/04 | Glenn Reynolds

[Imal]

The idea that President Bush doesn't start each morning anguishing over the front page of the New York Times is maddening to these people.

What Mr. Rosen and his cronies can't seem to fathom is that our sitting president has decided that he doesn't have time to join in their reindeer games, and prefers to spend his waking hours doing his job, instead.

It's not a sinister or clever thesis, he simply doesn't have time for that nonsense.

Thus the commercial media -- and America's enemies -- find themselves left to speculate and groundlessly editorialize about what the president thinks or is doing, instead of having it handed to them.

God forbid, some of them may have to resort to such drastic measures as trying a little honest reporting for a change.

What is the world coming to...

[SMARTY]

'We don't accept that you have a check and balance function.'

The press are not elected officials and have NO constituency.

[Thud]

oog, I missed that. I just ran a search for Rosen's title.

[q_an_a]

very nice post. thanks for taking the time to post it and in a format easy to read,that is ahrd to do with that much text. THANK YOU.

[SMARTY]

The press is 'married' to the visuals. They detached themselves from the conceptual facts of ideas, history, events, people, etc. a long time ago. Unfortunately, most viewers get all and their only information from the television. With television as one's only source, it all looks 'real' and authentic. However, with a firm frame of reference in the confirmation of history, factual data, and a wide understanding of events and ideas apart from the photographic record, reporting presented by the media can NEVER be seen as complete or final and can NEVER be trusted or valued.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

The media has just figured this out??? What did they think Agnew was saying?

[jmstein7]

BUMP!

[Mr. K]

not only is it a 'gotcha' press, they did NOT play the same game for Clintoon- so it is only a 'gotcha' press for Republicans

[HammerLane]

Bush to Press: "You're Assuming That You Represent the Public. I Don't Accept That."

---

Mighty big talk for one who couldn't carry a majority of the popular vote. He must be from Texas.

[vanmorrison]

Yeah, yeah, yeah...So what if he didn't get the majority of the popular vote. Bush got mine, and many others to boot. And I can tell you that the liberal mass media sure as hell doesn't represent me!

[.cnI redruM]

I think Jimmy Carter in 1976 is the last time a Democrat ever broke 50%.

[ZULU]

You are correct and so is Our President.

There is absolutely NOTHING in the Constitution which regards the press as quasi-constitutional. If that were the case, so would organized religion, as the Constitution protects that also.

The major media in the past - MANY, MANY years ago, provided the public with a balanced viewpoint on most subjects as there really were, once upon a time, major Repubican news papers. Today, most major media organs are trasnparent extensions of the Democratic party and apologists for the liberal position on every subject.

They DO NOT represent ME! Goerge Bush does. I elected him.

[appaloosa]

The Media
IS
"The Matrix"
that attempts to control
elections by saying Gore won
Florida.

Wake up America
Wake up