Posted on 09/23/2004 10:50:02 AM PDT by FlyLow
Newsweek's Howard Fineman argued that CBS News producer Mary Mapes became "obsessed," with trying to prove that George W. Bush got special treatment in the National Guard, because she wanted to "save the world from a George Bush presidency, and in the last five years, she's tried to find that smoking gun that would allow her to do that." Appearing on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning on Wednesday, Fineman fretted that due to the CBS scandal, it is getting "increasingly difficult to prove" that the rest of the media strive for "objectivity" and want to be "fair" and "even- handed." Fineman also predicted that "if Roger Ailes and Fox had done something like this, you know, the world would be on fire."
The MRC's Jessica Anderson caught the exchange between Don Imus and Newsweek's chief political correspondent, who appeared by phone, on the September 22 MSNBC simulcast of the Imus in the Morning radio show:
Imus: "What do you all make of what's going on at CBS?"
Fineman: "...My take on what happened here is that the producer, who I've never met, and who has a great reputation, but the producer, Mary Mapes, became obsessed with this story. In 1999, she began looking for evidence that then Governor Bush, you know, had not shown up for and been derelict in his duty in the National Guard. She probably didn't like him politically, judging from everything I've read about her, and was gonna save the world from a George Bush presidency, and in the last five years, she's tried to find that smoking gun that would allow her to do that. And they went to this guy, Burkett -- I mean, to me, one of the most amazing things about this story is that they searched him out, even knowing what an unreliable source he was. And that, to me, means obsession, and as you pointed out the other day, you know, that's what editors are for. Editors are there to harness the energy, sometimes obsessive energy of reporters and they clearly didn't do it in this case."
Imus suggested: "...Rather doesn't have any friends who do not hate George Bush. His friends are all -- we know who they are. I mean, the Molly Ivans of the world, and they all hate Bush. Maybe Rather doesn't, but he's the only one of anybody who he ever talks to or hangs out with...He may not, but that makes him unique in his circle of friends."
Fineman: "...In a way, this is a Texas war. It's between what I'm assuming is Rather's sort of populous Texas notions, which I'm sure he holds deeply, and the Bush view. The problem with all of this is, for what's left of what we used to call the mainstream media or the national media, is that those of us who've spent a long time, indeed, a whole career, trying to argue that we are objective, that we strive for objectivity, that we're interested in the facts, that we want to be fair, that we want to be even- handed, it gets increasingly difficult to prove that when something like this comes along, and for other people in the national press corps, whether it's at other networks or at news organizations like mine, to take sort of any secret guilty pleasure in CBS's trouble is a huge mistake, because what's happening is that the national press core is crumbling. I've got to say, if Roger Ailes and Fox had done something like this, you know, the world would be on fire, but they didn't. It's CBS that did it."
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"Newsweek's Howard Fineman argued that CBS News producer Mary Mapes became "obsessed," with trying to prove that George W. Bush got special treatment in the National Guard, because she wanted to "save the world from a George Bush presidency, and in the last five years, she's tried to find that smoking gun that would allow her to do that." Appearing on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning on Wednesday, Fineman fretted that due to the CBS scandal, it is getting "increasingly difficult to prove" that the rest of the media strive for "objectivity" and want to be "fair" and "even- handed." Fineman also predicted that "if Roger Ailes and Fox had done something like this, you know, the world would be on fire."
A whole lot of both.
What chaps my ass is how droolers like Mapes couldn't and wouldn't see the damage DEMOCRAT Presidents such as Johnson, Carter, and Clinton did to this country AND to the world. No, the magical (D) after their names made THEM just ducky.
What a stupid bitch.
We need to save the world from a Mapes conspiracy and a long prison sentence would allow us to do that.
"She had not the slightest idea what my political views were. There is not even the pretense of polite conversation among strangers with these people."
In my office everyone always thought I was a Nader voter. When they found out otherwise everything changed in my relationships with them. Outcome - currently looking for work.
That's really the whole key to this, IMO. Do the same thing to them that the trial lawyers do to everybody else, namely, take away their money. Publicly, CBS sponsors have been denying the impact this has on their sponsorship of that network, but other sources intimate that they're already getting hit in the wallet. Many of the affiliates have been more open in their admission that they are taking a lot of pressure from viewers and listeners. If that continues to escalate, it won't matter whether CBS and its roster of perpetrators are subject to professional recrimination and criminal investigation. If they are no longer able to pay the salaries, the bills, then they are no longer a viable enterprise. That, IMO, is the bottom line, RP2.
Earth to Fineman: It crumbled a long time ago. The so-called mainstream media — old media — is only "mainstream" because it's been around a long time. Newspapers in their modern form date to the mid-1800's — some might say even later, to the era of Pulitzer and Hearst. Films are just over 100 years old. Radio broadcasting is approaching it's 100th anniversary. Television broadcasting began in the late 1940's.
The modern fiction of "objective," above-it-all journalism which began roughly 85 years ago with Walter Lippmann, slowly began to crumble in the 1960's. Today, if it isn't dead, it's certainly close to breathing it's last.
The internet is rapidly returning us to a time before the advent of modern newspapers, when news was not the exclusive product of some corporate fishwrap monger, but was spread by ordinary people gathering in their town squares and meeting places. Today, the internet is the 21st century equivalent of the town square, and we are all much better off for it.
I had a similar experience in my writers guild. There was an automatic assumption that if you were "intelligent and creative" you were also liberal.
So the snarking about Bush cropped up, as if we all were in automatic agreement. Which left me (and a former FBI agent) to pin their ears back.
Like I have said before, jaws dropped and they looked amazed...startled, stunned...
"Buutt, buuutt...you both are so, so...SMART!"
he he he...
HOWEVER,
In my dance group,
While there are a couple of libs,
There is also appearing to be a couple of rabid, hawkish conservatives arising. Would like to think it is my influence...but really, I think it is because they are becoming serious, committed adults and growing up.
One way they could begin to win back some of their credibility is to go after Kerry's military record with the same dogged determination they are going after Bush's. It's unbelievable that no one in the MSM is asking where the rest of Kerry's records are. Contrary to his claims, he has not released all of his records, and the MSM is giving him a pass. I want to know damn it!
"I do want Dan Rather fired over this scandal, but not before November 2 when he sits in his Anchor chair at CBS and announces to the world that George W. Bush has been re-elected President of the United States.
I haven't had a chance to look for stories on this any where else, but I will.
What does it say about the people who read The Chicago Tribune?
"There was an automatic assumption that if you were "intelligent and creative" you were also liberal."
Yeah, that's the assumption. I've always thought that the best people in the arts have not stooped to political demagoguery from the right or the left and deal with universal truths that speak to the human condition.
It will be a BEAUTIFUL thing to witness, won't it? This scandal is not going away anytime soon. This will permanently damage CBS and the residual effect will wash over to the rest of the MSM. Keep up the great work, Grampa Dave. Thank God for Free Republic. All of you have become a valuable part of my life. God Bless our Troops, God Bless the President Bush and God Bless the USA!!
It will be a BEAUTIFUL thing to witness, won't it? This scandal is not going away anytime soon. This will permanently damage CBS and the residual effect will wash over to the rest of the MSM. Keep up the great work, Grampa Dave. Thank God for Free Republic. All of you have become a valuable part of my life. God Bless our Troops, God Bless the President Bush and God Bless the USA!!
It's not unbelievable at all. It is, in fact, the key datum that PROVES BEYOND A SHADOW OF DOUBT the complicity of ALL the major media (PERHAPS with the exception of FOX) in a drive to keep Bush from being re-elected.
Welcome to FR.
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