Posted on 12/13/2004 2:31:23 PM PST by swilhelm73
Here’s what Bill Moyers said:
“I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee. We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people."
I have to comment for four reasons: 1) I began my so-called career working for Bill Moyers (whom I still like and admire), 2) I spent more than 20 years in the “mainstream press,” 3) I spent four years as the spokesman for the Republican National Committee, and 4) I now contribute to what he calls “the ideological press.”
To begin, it’s unfortunate that he’s “going out” telling a story that he hasn’t reported on in any comprehensive way and clearly doesn’t understand.
Second, yes, there is an “ideological press.” It is forthright and honest about its desire to view the world from a conservative perspective and to make the case for a conservative world view. And, yes, since Republicans are more likely to be conservatives, obviously there is interest in the election of GOP candidates.
There also is a “mainstream press” that – news flash! -- is no less ideological but subscribes to an alternative ideology. That Bill and others fail to see that is beyond reason. (Perhaps it’s a matter of faith.) The “mainstream press” also has become implacably and aggressively hostile to conservatives and Republicans – but insists on denying that obvious fact.
What I’m saying is not just an analysis – it’s an eyewitness account: I worked at The New York Times as a reporter, editor and foreign correspondent. Perhaps uniquely, I went over to what Bill would see as the “dark side” when I joined the RNC as communications director. (And, recently, I clashed, rather hotly, with the top Times editor over my criticism of his front-page, eve-of-election coverage of the “missing explosives” of al Qaqaa, which was only one notch below Dan Rather’s use of forged documentation to establish that President Bush had not fulfilled his National Guard obligations.)
Look, I think Bill is correct to say that America should have a vigilant, independent press – it also should be a balanced and disinterested press. But I don’t think that’s possible until and unless the mainstream press is willing to engage in self-examination and self-criticism, is willing to re-establish the boundaries between opinion and analysis and between analysis and news.
I wish my old boss, Bill Moyers, would take on that challenge. I wish he’d at least begin a serious discussion. That doesn’t seem likely. Posted at 12:33 PM
He's mentally diseased.
ping
Moyers=Submoron
I'd say Moyers doesn't know $#%t, but he spent lots of time taking notes while LBJ pontificated from the toilet.
Maybe it damaged him, kinda like second-hand smoke...
I think you're on to something.
Well...an interesting point to note is that the Far Left believes the press to be rightwing. The Left believes the press to be balanced. The Center and Right believes the press to be leftwing. The Far Right believes the press to be far left.
Looking at such an analysis it becomes obvious that indeed the press is leftwing. Not as far left as a Nader or Kerry, but perhaps about as leftwing as a Gore or Dukakis.
There is a simple reason why we have a right wing press. The mainstream press is the left wing press, and there is no real market for a far-left wing press. But there is a strong market for a right wing press because their side is not reported by the mainstream press. The left-wing gets plenty of anti-war, pro-abortion, pro-global warming, pro-nationalized health care, pro-gay rights, pro-social programs, and anti-tax cut spin from the mainstream press. The reason the left-wing media always flops is because in order distinguish itself from the mainstream media, it has to go so far to the left it turns off most people.
Bill Moyers is a certifiable nut - and a parasite on the government dole to boot.
The drunken Moyers and his son are as left-wing as Mao.
As for Bill, he is simply a bitter old man who has seen his beloved socialist Democrat Party USA and its allies, the big city newspapers and broadcast network news, lose all vestiges of power and influence right before his very eyes. He's a loser and he just can't get over it.
Err...make that last one Bill Clinton not Dukakis.
The dangers of typing with a headache.
The holy grail of "a balanced and disinterested press" doesn't interest me. I want a conservative press, not one that is halfway between truth and error. You will say that I am over the edge in saying that, but I don't think so. The criterion for veracity is not properly the belief of the median voter, but the stricter standard of how the analysis holds up in the perspective of history.Journalism is in a constant headlong flight away from the perspective of history; the journalist prefers to live in "breaking news" where - as the military puts it - first reports are always wrong. By preference the journalist restricts his attention to the uncertain. And the journalist prospers by reporting the news which unsettles and thus attracts the attention of the public. And liberalism is simply the political expression of the negative, superficial, and arrogant perspective of journalism.
Conservatism, OTOH, prefers its news to be cooled in the saucer of a week of analysis before consumption. Not quite as quick, but much more prudent. So the conservative melieu of FreeRepublic.com is preferable, and can confidently can be expected to be far more historically accurate, that mainstream journalism.
The thing that amazes me is that he doesn't realize that we can see right thru him.
The remark alone shows an insularity which is almost staggering in its narrowness, to the point that it borders on narcissism. Only someone who has so blinkered his understanding of the world as to believe that the news media is the world could make such a fatuous remark. The fall of communism, the spread and influence of the internet, the revival of a serious attempt at jihad by the Muslims, proliferation of WMD's are all eclipsed in Moyers mind by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. Moyers uttering that remark could be the poster-child for the reason the MSM has become utterly irrelevant.
Bill Moyers is a nutcase, and always has been. He's the propagandist who wrote the "Daisy" commercial which implied that Goldwater would start a nuclear war. The interesting thing about Moyers is not so much that he's a mental defect, though. The interesting thing about all this is that the media considers him to be a respected journalist, and has allowed him to masquerade as one for decades.
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