Posted on 09/06/2004 6:17:36 AM PDT by Redcoat LI
Media: From watchdog to lapdog By Joe Sciacca Recent Columns by Joe Sciacca Monday, September 6, 2004
CNN rented a New York City diner for the GOP convention and still ended up chopped liver in the ratings.
Comedy Central's ``The Daily Show'' billed itself as ``the most trusted name in fake news'' - which is, actually, true.
Chris Matthews ended up in a spitting match with Zell Miller, a moment that had millions of Americans calling their cable companies - to complain that their cable was working.
All of which begs the question, when it comes to presidential politics, is the media needed anymore?
Forget about the usual whining about the partisan tone at Fox or how Drudge has become as much of a daily news staple as the New York Times - and a rival in the area of credibility quite often as well.
We are well into a new era of politics in which a politician taking his case to the people without a media filter isn't enough.
Now, pols want to make their case with a media filter of their own choosing, one that gives them an on-air makeover in seconds flat, a sort of broadcasting Botox.
When President Bush [related, bio] was trying to explain his way out of a declaration that the war on terror cannot be won, he didn't call a press conference - he called Rush Limbaugh.
``People wish you the best and they're praying for you every day . . . They love you out there, Mr. President,'' offered Rush.
When you're on the campaign trail these days, help is just a phone call away. John Kerry [related, bio] has his own phone-a-friend.
``As you perhaps know, Sen. Kerry, from our 20-year relationship,'' Don Imus recently revealed, ``this is not `Meet the Press' and I don't pretend to be impartial.'' This announcement was not greeted with surprise.
If the media is the message, then there is an even higher goal in today's politics: create your own media.
The only thing better than having pals in the press is having your own employees in the press, as the use of ``convention jockeys,'' or CJs, by the GOP at the convention showed.
The five women, some former TV and print reporters, fed C-Span viewers a diet so rich in Republican sweets it was like trick or treat at Karl Rove's house.
What do the Democrats do to top this? Self-interviews? ``Hi, I'm John Kerry and I'd like to ask myself a few questions.'' Automated debates? ``Mr. President, your charge that I am a flip-flopper is (A) unfair, (B) uncalled for, (C) a distraction or (D) a distortion.'' They say that robots may fight the wars of the future. But in politics, the future is now.
The so-called 527's, the unaffiliated but deeply partisan special interest groups waging a negative TV ad war, wouldn't be so hard to take if they were only required to identify themselves properly.
In this corner, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth or Whatever Mud Sticks to the Wall. In the other, Move On to Demonize Bush Recklessly.Org.
While the stealthy surrogates do battle, the candidates hit the mainstream media circuit: Leno and Letterman. Who needs to field questions from reporters when a Top Ten List will suffice?
It's not that the press isn't interested in covering politics any more, it's that it is simply no longer setting the agenda, and likely will never again.
Reporters, however, continue to play a role in today's presidential politics. Somebody has to tell the Kerry daughters' hamster story.
GOOD ONE! Chris Matthews ended up in a spitting match with Zell Miller, a moment that had millions of Americans calling their cable companies - to complain that their cable was working.
All of which begs the question, when it comes to presidential politics, is the media needed anymore?
NO ALL I NEED IS DRUDGE AND FREEREPUBLIC
Keep telling yourself that, Joe.
Kerry daughters' hamster story: Once Daddy K stepped in to help, the poor creature was never the same afterwards.
"SEN. KERRY: I think, Tim, as people get to know me in the course of this, they’ll know the things that I have fought for and the things I stand for. I was a prosecutor. I’ve sent people to jail for the rest of their life. I’m opposed to the death penalty in the criminal justice system because I think it’s applied unfairly, as even Republican governors have determined, and because I’m for a worse punishment.
I think it is worse to take somebody and put them in a small cell for the rest of their life, deprived of their freedom, never to be paroled. Now, I think that’s tougher. Let me just finish.
MR. RUSSERT: But, Senator, why shouldn’t Timothy McVeigh, who blew up the Oklahoma building, or if John Muhammad is convicted of being a sniper here in Washington—why shouldn’t they receive the death penalty?
SEN. KERRY: Tim, I think that, as I said, you know, different people have different opinions about what’s worse. I’ve seen people die and I know what it’s like to almost die. I don’t think that—you know, dying is scary for a while, but in the end, the punishment is gone. When you’re alive and you’re deprived of your freedom each day and you’re in tough circumstances—and I’m talking about tough circumstances. I’m not talking about some cushy situation where they live off the fat of the land in prison.. I’m talking about tough. But if you’re deprived of that freedom for the rest of your living days until God decides to take you, you know, that is tough, my friend, and I think that plenty of people think that.
LOL!!!!
This mental case had better hope they start giving tours of the White House again, because thats the closest to the Oval Office he is ever going to get.
Where are our Rush Limbaugh’s on any major News Network? I can think of only one, Brit Hume. If FOX wants to continue their high ratings, they need to hear from us.
Floatin' down the denial river. we are the new media. We are part of the revolution, part of history.
We don't have to listen to filtered and biased news and try to glean the truth from it anymore.
I rarely watch TV news in any form, and I used to watch it faithfully. And newspaper articles? Really a waste of time. I don't need them anymore.
The TV is only on for some background noise. Once in a while something good comes up, but not often. FOX and SciFi are all I tune to:)
Poor thing was probably left acting like chris mathews spitting all the time.
On May 1996, Bill Curtis, news anchor at CBS in Chicago, received a videotape. The video, shot in Statesville Correctional Institute, showed a bizarre, boastful Speck [Richard Speck, convicted multiple killer] with women’s breasts–obviously from some hormone treatment–wearing blue silk panties and having sex with an inmate. Before the sexual exploit, he casually tells an off camera interviewer about the murders.
When asked why he killed the women he said, "It just wasn’t their night." He was asked how he felt about the killings, "Like I always feel. Had no feelings." He added he did not feel sorry. Throughout the video, he ingested and smoked drugs with bravado. At one point he said, "If they only knew how much fun I was having, they’d turn me loose." He described in detail how it felt to strangle someone "...it’s not like TV.... It takes over three minutes and you have to have a lot of strength."
John Schmale, the brother of one of the murdered nurses, said, "It was a very painful experience watching him tell about how he killed my sister...."
http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/speck/story_4.html?sect=8
I agree.
I don't care for news shows (even Fox News Sunday is a disappointment since they hired Chris Wallace), and newspapers just make the trash can heavier.
When I'm discussing "current events" with the family, I'm never stumped, and I'm never behind the curve. It's a very rare occasion when they tell me something I haven't read here.
Even my jokes predate theirs by months. I know how good a story was by how long it takes to get to me -- like the Concerned Senior Citizen letter signed by Saddam Hussein (written and posted by a FReeper, and broadcast over my local radio station within days). That letter has shown up twice in my e-mail in the past month. I wonder what takes them so long to catch on . . .
Later on Kerry claimed to be for the death penalty for terrorists. I guess he doesn't think they deserve the worst punishment for their crimes. :-)
Can anyone spell F-L-I-P F-L-O-P?
That is so true. Even the local radio hosts here in Mpls. talk about topics days later, and they do that for a living! I am always ahead of the curve.
What we really need is a reporter to investigate the hamster story. I don't believe it for one minute. Cowardly John Fraud Kerry would never give CPR to a hamster. I would bet my fortune that he is AFRAID OF HAMSTERS, as well as most other animals.
Great post! It is also very rare for me to hear about a story that wasn't here on FR first. My hubby has learned that if he wants more background on a story in the news, he just has to ask "What did they say about this on Free Republic?"
I do like being ahead of the curve in news and knowledge.
Did you know he was in Vietnam?
NO ALL I NEED IS DRUDGE AND FREEREPUBLIC
I bet he pretended to give it mouth to mouth and then told the kids the hamster was now resting and needs to be left alone to sleep it off. Then Kerry sends out some grunt to purchase another hamster...
Now I forward articles to him at work, and his co-workers think he subscribes to a news-clipping service.
It's good to be a newsgeek.
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