Free Republic

The American press needs a spine transplant in an age when reporters seem reluctant to step on toes and ask the tough questions, says former CBS news anchorman Dan Rather. Speaking as part of the Headlines and Biographies lecture series at Roy Thomson Hall Tuesday night, the veteran U.S. television journalist lamented a trend in today's news that sees reporters rely on euphemisms and tact as though they were conducting international diplomacy instead of telling people exactly what is happening in places like Washington or Ottawa. "I don't know where this urge to be so polite, this mandate not to...

Tuesday, June 7, 2005 7:45 am: Continental breakfast 8:00 am to 9:00 am: Discussion Special: Bring one guest for free Bob Kohn wants the Times to change. An attorney and executive with experience in both the entertainment and high-tech industries, Kohn is fed-up with the increasingly biased journalism in The New York Times. Kohn lays out his case in his second book, Journalistic Fraud: How the New York Times Distorts the News and Why It Can No Longer Be Trusted. His objective is to restore the Times as the “newspaper of record” by providing point-by-point examples of the liberal...

Professional code for journalists: sense or nonsense? By Steven de Jong, chief editor Politiek-Actie.net - Because of factors like rivalry pressure and the high running speed of news, we tend to more and more forget about the journalistic norms and values. Important methods and values like hearing both sides of a story, objective reports and independent gathering of news are under pressure. When media copy each others reports too fast without taking the time to observe those values, media hypes with very harmful effects will develop. Harmful not only for those directly involved, but also for the journalist and the...

The Death of Journalistic Ethics There has been a subtle shift in opinion journalism in America in the past few years. Now, we have people working for newspapers and magazines who are devoted to getting certain polticians -- namely the left -- elected to office. While Rush Limbaugh and the right-wing talk show cadre are entertainers -- and describe themselves as such -- these people are embedded in the elite media and are not supposed to be political activists. In a stunning admission in Sunday's New York Times, the following people attended a meeting with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) in...