There’s been an awful lot written about the Washington Post and David Weigel. The short version of the story: Weigel was hired by the Post to do blogging/Internet reporting on the conservative movement. This bothered some on the right, since Weigel’s left-libertarian politics made them think he was out to get them.
Weigel evidently had strong opinions about some of the people in that movement; when some of his messages to a liberal-leaning email list were leaked, his time at the Post was over.
David Carr at the New York Times wrote a thoughtful column (7/4/10) about the Weigel controversy, noting that Weigel “probably could have survived if he had slammed Rachel Maddow or had some fun at Al Franken’s expense.”
Carr adds that “if you dumped every reporter who ever sent a snide message or talked smack in private, there would be nothing but crickets chirping in newsrooms all over America.” Weigel was hired precisely because he had strong opinions and could also produce interesting, substantive reporting; the Post seems to think the problems with the former mean they must live without the latter.
After quoting Washington Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli saying, “We can’t have any tolerance for the perception that people are conflicted or bring a bias to their work,” Carr proposes “a little thought experiment”:
What if a reporter made a wildly inappropriate video suggesting that the secretary of state, who happens to be a woman, should drink Mad Bitch beer? Surely that reporter would be forced to apologize to Hillary Rodham Clinton before walking the plank. Yet when this happened, Dana Milbank, the longtime Washington Post star who made the video, remained a prized political writer at the paper. (The “Mouthpiece Theater” video segments, mercifully, have been canceled.)
Indeed, one can recall that the lesson Dana Milbank drew from the Mad Bitch fiasco was that other people on the Internet are mean-spirited.
Of course, EVERYONE knows that the media have a “liberal bias.” For some reason, however, all these “liberal” media will throw out any of their “liberal” reporters who make even small private asides to friends that conservatives don’t like, but they let conservative reporters malign liberals whenever they want without even the slightest scolding. It defies logic. Worse yet, this attack was NOT in response to the article – it was about something collected from Twitter! Have conservatives become so paranoid as to snoop into people’s comments to friends or a few like-minded people, gleaned from EMAILS and TWITTER (neither of which is the PRESS), and get them thrown out of a job if they are a little miffed at the words? This is tantamount to spying. What does this say about freedom of speech? It may not be prison, but it is unreasonable persecution of someone who merely voices an opinion.
I think this pretty much confirms that the need for profits in news media has caused the media to swing sharply right. The “liberal media” label is just an old smoke screen. Don’t believe me? Just listen to every Republican sound bite or interview. They are always allowed to spout their “talking points,” no matter how inaccurate, with little challenge from the reporter.
On the day President Obama was elected, armed men wearing the black berets and jackboots of the New Black Panther Party were stationed at the entrance to a polling place in Philadelphia.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/2/media-blackout-for-black-panthers/
What happened to this goon squad? (Zero; Obama’s DOJ felt it would be impolitic to go after the Black Panthers.) Don’t look to the Washington Post or New York Times for the story or the follow-up. Their liberal credentials are still intact. H’mm, care to recount how FAIR reacted?
Re: David Wiegel: Oh for the days of Katherine Graham! WP has fallen so far since losing her.
http://www.observer.com/2010/daily-transom/slate-welcomes-dave-weigel%E2%80%99s-socialist-ravings He’s back, writing for Slate, which is owned by Washington Post. LOL
BOB Walton sez..(see above).
Even the rabid WashTimes says nothing illegal or violent happened. His beef is that blacks didn’t stay out of sight and out of mind. I assume the NBPP were there to PREVENT right wing & white supremists from THEIR obstruction, intimidation and violence
Much as the original BPs did.
~John L.
The WAPO is is just another MSM newspaper that is full of shit!
FYI: I am a 72 year old veteran of 28 years active duty in the US Air Force, 1958-1986. You see, I’m old enough to remember WATERGATE! The Washington Post broke that story and investigated the Nixon connection.
Today’s WAPO is a mere shadow of its former self. The Washington Post has become a just another corporate right wing shrill!
Just shows where the Post has gone – right-oh! (I’ve quit paying much attention to them anymore anyhow.)
Hear, hear to those who mourn the loss of the Mrs. Graham and to Post that broke the Watergate story. How have the mighty fallen!