For those of you not following right-wing non-stories, there is a mini-scandal brewing over something called JournoList, a now defunct private email list started by a liberal blogger named Ezra Klein. It came to include something like 400 members, many of whom were other liberal bloggers, academics and pundits.
Someone leaked many of the emails on the list to the conservative Daily Caller website, which has since run several stories alleging that the messages on the list amounted to a liberal media plot to coordinate their coverage in support of Barack Obama. The only problem is that the messages don’t show that ever happening, unless you happen to think that political opinions expressed by politically opinionated people are the stuff of conspiracy.
Nevertheless, there are some in the media who are taking this story very seriously. (I know–a right-wing pseudo-scandal getting serious coverage–stop the presses!!) Politico columnist Roger Simon writes a lengthy piece (7/28/10) about how journalism was once a “holy calling,” but things like JournoList–a “Frankenstein monster”–have contributed to the degradation of the profession.
Simon quotes NBC‘s Chuck Todd, who has been similarly wounded by this completely contrivedtale:
Journolist was pretty offensive. Those of us who are mainstream journalists got mixed in with journalists with an agenda. Those folks who thought they were improving journalism are destroying the credibility of journalism.
This has kept me up nights. I try to be fair. It’s very depressing.
Really? He can’t sleep because of this?
I’m all for journalists feeling in some way responsible for the reputation of their profession. In that spirit,I wonder if the media’s coverage of the Iraq War keeps Chuck Todd up at night, many billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives later? Does Andrew Breitbart’s destruction of a community organizing group–aided by credulous media coverage–bother him much?
I know these issues are not as important as private emails exchanged between liberally-minded writers….
Feel free to list your own examples of media failures that SHOULD keep Chuck Todd up at night in the comments thread.
Well, Peter, I don’t have the energy to produce a comprehensive list, but I’d say that at the top of any enumeration of corpress sins would be the jingoistic cheerleading for the “War of Terror” ™ and the unceasing boosterism for an economic system that destroys lives and ultimately may end life as we know it.
Work for you?
Glenn Greenwald had a pretty good list, in the form of sarcastic agreement with CNN’s criticism of the Internet:
It was, after all, Internet bloggers — using the scourge of anonymity — who convinced the nation of a slew of harmful conspiracy theories: Saddam had WMD, an alliance with Al Qaeda, and responsibility for the anthrax mailings. Anonymity is also what allowed bloggers to smear Richard Jewell, Wen Ho Lee, and Steven Hatfill with totally false accusations that destroyed their lives and reputation, and it’s what enabled bloggers to lie to the nation about Jessica Lynch’s heroic firefight, countless U.S. airstrikes, and a whole litany of ongoing lies about our current wars. And remember when anonymous bloggers spewed all sorts of nasty, unaccountable bile about Sonia Sotomayor’s intellect and temperament? Just as Roberts lamented, blogs — as a result of anonymity — are the “Wild West of the Internet . . . . like a giant world-wide bathroom wall where you can write anything about anyone.”
See http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/07/24/anonymity/index.html for the links.
To be fair to Chuck Todd, he has clarified his original remarks, see http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/07/chuck_todd_clarifies_his_criti.html .
I caught only two glimpses of David Gregory whooping it up at Rush Limbaugh’s wedding. That image was yanked immediately. I think that’s news and Chuck Todd (or anyone else) didn’t go near it.
Guys who call themselves “journalists” like Chuck Todd and David Gregory only listen to the Mockingbird. If you get my drift?
Chuck Todd and his accomplices are not journalists.
People in their positions who willfully withhold the truth and purposely lie to us are not journalists. They are propagandists.
People on the lower rungs of the media are simply ignorant, though they may later become complicit.
I went to journalism school, and I worked for a daily newspaper. …
You might be interested in my very recent article on Gary Webb, which includes mention of Woodward, Bernstein, Williams, Couric, Sawyer, etc., and shows them the actual amount of respect they deserve.
Link on my name.
Chuck– why not worry over the abominable coverage of Latin America? Any left-leaning ruler is demonized, while the only ones that get favorable coverage are those who are still client states of the U.S.–most of whom are rightwing repressive governments. Latin American leaders like Chavez of Venezuela and Lula of Brazil are actually from the people and are helping their countries become prosperous, developed countries instead of third world countries governed by a small ruling class. Who has investigated the four military bases we are building in Colombia, so that Colombians, our surrogates, can harass Venezuela across the border? Who is covering the huge story of Latin America having its own development banks and getting out from under the control of the IMF and the World Bank? Who has covered the fact that Brazil has a growth rate of 5-6% while we are languishing? Why they survived the bank meltdown better than we did? We have traditionally ignored Latin America, except when they had something we wanted, but they are our neighbors and they are growing up. Whether they grow away from us will be up to us, and we cannot afford for our media to ignore them or censor coverage to suit our fantasies of empire.
Put that in your hopper and dream about , Chuck. Get off your duff and move out into the real world to see what is going on there. Even pundits should keep in touch with reality.
What’s truly scary about chuck todd is his delusion of his own fair-mindedness. Orwellian. I’ll forever be greatful to Jeremy Scahill for calling the chuckers out on the Bill Maher out. Priceless
Peter Hart, if you want to ever be taken seriously how about your write a piece on FAIR and how you and FAIR ignored sexism throughout the Democratic Party primaries? How about you do that? How ’bout you explain your single sentence at the end of May and how it took Hillary being called a “bitch” on CNN for you to say a word — a single sentence.
Ava and C.I. documented it here, if you’ve forgotten, Peter.
http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2008/05/tv-american-oh-dull.html
And how about you talk about FAIR’s action alert on the last debate between Barack and Hillary? And how about you talk about what Journolist did on that?
FAIR used to be FAIR. In 2008, it showed a really ugly side and I’ve seen nothing to indicate that it intends to change.
By the way, where’s the article on Barack’s homophobia?
You stayed silent when he put homophobes on stage in South Carolina (read Kevin Alexander Grey’s piece in The Progressive for what FAIR wouldn’t tell you), you stayed silent when he did it again in the general election and you stay silent all the time.
P.S. Stop sending me your FAIR alerts. I do not highlight sexists and homophobes at my blog. Stop sending me your ‘alerts.’
letting drudge run the news cycle? reporters having a bar-b-q and swinging on tires with mccain? the fact that various conservative reporters sit in on gop strategy meetings? fred barnes getting speaking fees from republican organizations? faux news giving fauxnews “journalism” awards to fauxnews contributors like krauthammer? judith miller? i could go on…
I can think of many more serious sleep interrupters for Chuck! I wonder how he felt when he saw the whole story about why Weiner blew up on the House floor, after he failed to do his homework, which he often does anymore. I guess when you get your own show, somehow you have permission to just start parroting instead of researching, investigating and reporting. He was so rude to Weiner when he interviewed him about this incident and that was after his smart aleck introduction of Weiner accusing him of theatrics! Like Chuck Todd would know anything about what Weiner and others have been through trying to get anything done to help people in trouble for no other reason than it is the right thing to do and, yes, Weiner was very frustrated and heart sick that these heartless Republicans just continue their lock step idiotic behavior, with such complete comfort that they will not be nailed for it by the press or anyone else! Chuck didn’t even look to see what all King and the lock step Rs had been saying all day that caused Weiner to lose it finally! He just wanted to sit there like an arrogant judge of one of our heroes who has the guts to actually fight for what is right! Shameful!
I have to wonder why the billions of our money the MIC should be in charge of for rebuilding Iraq is LOST with NO knowledge of where it’s gone. Why isn’t this keeping Todd up at night?
Hopefully Todd & Gregory will lose enough sleep so that they can make it up during the White House press conferences and won’t be able to ask their propaganda loaded questions for the right wing nuts.
A recent nut asked Gibbs “what do you say to people like Angle & Paul … ?
The answer should have been: NOTHING