Posted on 06/23/2012 2:25:23 AM PDT by radioone
All of which lends a certain pungency to something Sarah Palin said recently at a conference of conservative activists in Las Vegas.
"Every citizen can be a reporter, can take on the powers that be," she said.
According to Politico, she was quoting Matt Drudge. Ordinarily, you would dismiss it as just another silly thing Sarah Palin said. There is no shortage of those.
(Excerpt) Read more at islandpacket.com ...
To Leonard Pitts Jr., I lament the death of investigative journalism and a press that sought objectivity and critical analysis. Sadly, the press has become an instrument of progressive political propaganda as even evidenced by the disdain dripping from your pen for those like Drudge and Palin who point out that modern journalists, like the fabled emperor, have no clothes. The problem isn't, as you assert, that journalists have a poor business sense; but rather, that journalists lack common sense and have chosen as a group to promote statism and social justice (which isn't just at all, but just a retread of the old slaver's belief that it is ok to compel some men to work in support of others).
We, the American People, are tired of your half-truths, distortions, and caricatures of the traditional values that vaulted this nation to prominence. We are sick of your sycophantic dressing up of wolves like Obama. During the 2008 election, you, the press, carefully covered him in sheepskin, hid his real nature, and refused to critically identify and out him as a subversive with a radical leftist background. You, the press, were a willing tool of deception in order to promote your leftist ideals. Go toot your own horn all you want. Your colleagues' colors are clear, and journalism - real objective, fair-minded, critical journalism, died along time ago. All that's left is people who call themselves journalists, but who faithfully regurgitate the propaganda that your leftist masters feed you. About 2 years ago, the NYTimes was wringing its hands over a staff photojournalist who had staged some photos in order to manipulate perceptions. Ironically, at the same time, the grey lady clearly had no objection to creative manipulation of perception done by carefully crafted narrative. Go figure...
The death of professional journalism is at the hand of unprofessional journalists.
http://www.angelfire.com/tn/constcoal/Drudge.html
Anyone With A Modem Can Report On The World
Address Before the National Press Club
Matt Drudge | June 2, 1998
After he died my Grandmother was fleeced by her attorney who advised her to sell him the 10%.
Today that stock is worth less than she sold it for then.
They still print newspapers? Why?
I like an occassional Sunday paper for the ad inserts, coupons, comics and puzzles. I go to my parents house when I get that urge.
The author of this tripe reminds me of the feminazi nuns whose convents are empty because the people aren’t buying the crap they are selling - meanwhile the traditional genuinely feminine convents are swelling with new members because the simple truth is so attractive (and in this analogy citizen jouralists are offering the compelling simple truth).
One of the most important things that has occurred is that we noticed that “bloggers” are no less talented or accurate than the “professionals” - and the aura that used to surround print journalists (making them seem to be dedicated hardworking truthtellers) is simply gone. We now rightly see all writers as biased tellers of information packaged to suit the writers perspective. Writers are human, so the objective nature of any story will always be distorted. The difference is that the “professionals” lie about that fact and pretend that they aren’t leftist “progressive” hacks.
Where would an unaccomplished ink-stained wretch like Pitts find employment, were it not for the Leftist newspapers that carry his racist column? Affirmative action hires brought nothing in the way of excellence to papers that are now going broke.
I know who’s kidding himself, Mr. Pitts.
And to the title of the article (Don't kid yourself, daily newspaper journalism cannot be replaced), I say hallelujah and amen.
Hey Pitts - Cry me a river!
In order to survive you have to produce a product for the mass, not only for a certain political cross section. They will be FORCED to change if they intend to KEEP an audience.
BS! I have not subscribed to a print newspaper for over 10 years. Why read something that does not even pretend to represent the truth.
I do miss the editorials of the dozens of regional newspapers who have been bought out by the conglomerates. They actually had thinking people working for them. News was somewhat in context. Now it is only empty words and sound bites someone has reprinted.
Sad, but that is where we are.
I do not know how many times I have seen local city newspapers let an AP story co-opt their own staff in writing the lead article.
The type of reporting they are talking about (Katrina event coverage) can be done by TV or radio folk.)
I used to be a newspaper maven. In 1976 as a 13 year old, I would read a morning paper, an afternoon paper, sometimes the NY Times, and add U.S. News and World Report on top of all that.
Now, I might grab a “free” newspaper at the Culvers burger joint, and flip through. Nothing there that I don’t get on FR or elsewhere. I read the comics, way downhill from days of yore, and completely unsuitable for the kids, and finally spend most of my newspaper time doing a Sudoku puzzle and the Word Jumble.
Meanwhile, back in Rockford, I find out via LifeSiteNews that somebody firebombed the school bus that many kids in my church go to, and the local newspaper, the ROckford Register Star, can’t see fit to cover it for three days, and then only after they were shamed into it.
Maybe citizen reporters are not sufficient, but neither are the regular variety.
I love it when the guy whistling past the graveyard tells us not to kid ourselves.
Pitts wrote: “According to Politico, she was quoting Matt Drudge. Ordinarily, you would dismiss it as just another silly thing Sarah Palin said. There is no shortage of those.”
And that snarky Democrat attitude is EXACTLY why many people are abandoning newspapers.
The key point they fail to grasp: readers won't pay to read propaganda. If journalists want to advocate they can't charge for it. They refuse to accept that and continue to spin left. They will soon be out of work. They believed ObaMao would come through with taxpayer funding like the USSR did. Even with other people's money, why would ObaMao fund what he gets for free?
Replace journalism? We’d have to have some first.
Tell that to the newspaper subscribers in New Orleans...
A few years ago, our newspaper was crowing about how good they were doing. They declared bankruptcy a couple of years ago. I sent them an e-mail asking why they didn’t do any follow-up on our Democrat candidate for Lieutenant Governor seeing as his department in our state government somehow lost $23 million of taxpayer money. No response. They’re just shills for the Democrat party. They have a complete inability for self-examination.
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