John Deering for September 22, 2009

Bueller, is that how you see it? that the President faulted news media for the rudeness and lack of civility?

I thought Obama’s recent comments were telling it like it is. The media focuses too often on the extreme elements of both sides, as Obama said. And I think there’s some truth to the next statement:

“And so the easiest way to get 15 minutes of fame is to be rude to somebody.” I’ve written here that I think Wilson’s outburst was planned. His last election was the closest race in the district in 20 years and now he’s raised $2 million.

I’m very disappointed in CNN. They’ve taken to discussing everything with political type talking heads without the anchor or reporter ever reporting on facts. It’s useless to watch many CNN news programs if you’re trying to learn facts and background. If they want talking heads, why don’t they put on nonpartisan experts to shed light rather than heat. Not every story should be treated as a purely political story. I don’t expect more from Fox, so no need to go into.

bcs, Yes, I think Obama was blaming the media, more specifically the 24 - hour cable networks. Cameras have been in the gallery a long time. What is relatively new is this skill that politicians have developed to capitalize on that fact. They pander to the folks back home, so the lowest common denominator is out there in the audience they pander to.

The President was asked a question about rudeness and the shrinking capacity we seem to have as a society to be civil, all of this based on events from the previous couple of weeks.

The way President Obama responded may be in part due to the very same phenomenon he placed the blame on-this awareness public figures have of the 24 hour news cycle. I think people have to be accountable as individuals. I happen to agree that Joe Wilson’s outburst was probably calculated to some degree. And he just happened to be photograhed, with his face still twisted and his mouth still open. How?

Former Presidents Carter and Clinton have been asked about related issues in recent days. Their responses seemed to me to be somewhat less incumbered by the constraints of one who is a current office - holder. I share your disappointment with the overall state of broadcast media. in the case of CNN, they obviously think that to survive, they have to cross over to some degree and appeal or communicate to elements of the audience that leans toward FOX. No excuse.

Ultimately, though, we should not give in to the notion that we can only be as good or bad as the media says we should be.It is a dark, fragmented looking glass that tries to define us, though, i’ll give you that.

bueller, thanks for responding. We share the same disappointment in media. I’ve written elsewhere I’m unnerved by the level of hate-mongering, lack of civility.

I recently re-read “The Powers that Be,” by David Halberstam, about the history of four flagship media organizations. Halberstam writes this about McCarthy p. 141:

For there was never very much doubt or mystery about who Joe McCarthy was or what he was doing. … The only thing real and serious about him was the fear he generated; he came at a time when the society faced new and terrible inner fears and those fears were no longer dormant. He was reckless and cavalier from the start; his was an essential challenge to freedom of speech and an astonishing number of people were cowed, or at least semi-cowed. This was true in print journalism and it was even more true in electronic journalism.

…what McCarthy said word by word was meaningless … he made his charges and went on to his next charges, and objective journalists were considerate enough not to bother him with his record, with what he had said the week, or month, or year before.

This description is painfully similar to the situation I see today in much of journalism. Palin posts a message on Facebook on death panels, her charge is reported endlessly 24/7 for days and weeks on end, yet she is not available for a single question from media. Broadcast media don’t investigate or fact-find, they report it and feature dueling partisans to speechify about it. And there it is, a lot like Joe McCarthy. This is not where we want to be as a nation.

I need to finish the info on Joe McCarthy, please skip if you’re not interested.

McCarthy was eventually revealed for the liar and scam artist he was by a couple of print journalists who began practicing real journalism, following McCarthy from one speech to the next and simply reporting what he said, and putting it into context of what he said the day and week before. (Contrary to what most people think, Edward R. Murrow came to the game later with his special on McCarthy, but because it was television, his report had a greater impact.)

But today, those print outlets practicing the type of journalism that gave McCarthy enough rope to hang himself, so to speak, are dismissed as unprofessional, left-wing media (just read this site). The McCarthy’s of today’s age are still being glorified.

As Karl Rove said, “We’re an empire now. We create reality.” They are and they do and it is scary.

Thanks for posting the quotes from “The Powers that Be”, bcs. We really do make many of the same mistakes as a society.To the point that ,over the last several years, i’ve thought of the saying “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it” as as being pretty de-valued. The loss of political cartoonists to layoffs and attrition over the last few years has actually been reported and commented on quite a bit. The situation has gotten some attention outside of media circles to a degree i’ve been pleasantly surprised to see. What should be given a lot more attention is the loss of good investigative reporting, which has been going on for at least as long.

The similarities between “Tail Gunner Joe”, and a guy named Cheney really are remarkable, the indignant shout was merely replaced by the angry scowl.

A have to agree with Bueller’s point. The 24 hour news cycle has turned US into quite the voyer nation. That said there are plenty of other times in this country’s past where it seemed that civil discourse was no longer in fashion. Much of the 1960’s comes to mind at this time.

“H-ll no, we won’t go”, “1A on the draft card” during the 60’s, mean anything to you nomad2112 ?

hey bueller get an avatar

Actually, he wouldn’t have been rude if the medias couldn’t get him a bit of publicity.

JOE WILSON THE SC HERO AND JOE THE PLUMBER..THUMBS UP. JOE WILSON THE CIA HERO THUMBS DOWN