The Public Editor: Green reporter, Green Zone dispute, red-hot rhetoric [MSM A-HOLE's FOLLIES]

Sacramento Bee ^ | Sunday, November 11, 2007 | Armando Acuna

[Enchante]

When The Bee's Bobby Caina Calvan volunteered for a six-week reporting stint in Iraq, he didn't have the faintest notion he would be nominated for an award.

Just a few days into his assignment, conservative blogger Michelle Malkin did the honors, nominating Calvan for "Jerk of the Year."

That was just the beginning of the accolades. In a matter of days, bloggers and their flock of sheep across the country were calling Calvan an "immature human," "a pompous ass," "disrespectful," an "embarrassment," and an "anti-American military" ideologue.

There were more, but you can't print them in the newspaper.

What was Calvan's great transgression?

He got into a spat with an American soldier manning a checkpoint who questioned Calvan's identification before finally letting the reporter and his Iraqi helper back into Baghdad's secure Green Zone.

Calvan then wrote about the encounter in a snarky, arrogant way – including his attempt to "bully" the soldier – on his new personal blog, which was intended to keep his family and friends updated about his work and life in Iraq.

Except the blog wasn't so private, as Calvan found to his everlasting embarrassment and chagrin.

[Enchante]

Amazing - this so-called "public editor" admits that the reporter is an a-hole who treated a US soldier badly, yet it's all really the fault of Michelle Malkin and the blogosphere for noticing.

[Enchante]

So there seems to be no doubt (except maybe among the loony left) that the reporter is an a-hole who grossly disrespected the US military. Yet, surprise, the “public editor” writes this crap on VETERANS DAY to tell us all that its really only the people who are disgusted by this MSM vermin who are to blame....

And they wonder why all REAL Americans loathe the MSM....

[Dick Vomer]

y the way, I'm well aware today is Veterans Day. Today's column has nothing to do with that, so please don't go there. I'm proud of our men and women in uniform. I have family wearing that uniform now.

This isn't about them. This is about politics and playing games.

yeah, yeah, yeah.....support the troops, hate the war.

F#ck You.

this puts into music and pics what I think of the press. /a>

[Enchante]

Ah, I see that LGF has some interesting details and updates on this MSM bozo. Turns out that other entries on his personal blog (since taken down) confirm that (1) he is an insufferably arrogant leftist MSM twit, (2) who looks for anti-military, anti-American stories while whining about everything. This scumbag needs to be flogged with Sean Penn’s wet panties (not that I’m volunteering for that duty!!!).

---

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=27680_Media_Arrogance_Squared&only

Media Arrogance Squared

Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 9:54:23 pm PST

An almost unbelievable example of media arrogance, as a reporter for the Sacramento Bee complains about an ID check at the Green Zone, belittles the soldier for not knowing who “Knight Ridder” is, then brags about his bravery at his blog: Simply Simpatico | The GALLIVANT.

Since the little weasel has edited his post to remove some of his creepy comments after being mercilessly criticized by commenters, here’s the original; compare to what you now see at the link above......

[highlander_UW]

I think the soldier that stood his ground in not letting this buffoon through without checking his papers should be given an accommodation.

[Enchante]

I’d missed this story when it first happened, but there’s lots of stuff about this arrogant bozo at these links if anyone’s interested:

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/10/25/jerk-of-the-year-nominee/

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/11/11/editors-defend-jerk-of-the-year-nominee/

http://docweasel.wordpress.com/2007/10/24/bobby-calvan-does-the-impossible-unites-the-entire-internet-in-the-belief-hes-an-asshole/

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-showcomment.php?c=4413074&n=181

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-showcomment.php?c=4413017&n=132

[Tzimisce]

...well did this soldier know who he was dealing with? He was a reporter dammit. They have freedom of press - meaning the laws of the common man don’t apply to them...

[Enterprise]

" “What’s the use of these media badges if people like you aren’t going to honor them? Is this for nothing? Why don’t you call? That’s your job, isn’t it?” I made it known that I was jotting down his name."

"My security man was struggling with a smirk on his face. He knew my plan. I was going to bully my way back into the Green Zone."

If nothing else, the soldier will not forget either the reporter or the fact that he works for Knight Ridder. And now, millions of citizens and tens of thousands of people serving in the military are going to know who this reporter is, and that he works for Knight Ridder. Frankly, this is not the way I would like to have millions of people perceive me. This man is a self described "bully." And before I forget, he works for Knight Ridder.

[Enterprise]

“What’s the use of these media badges if people like you aren’t going to honor them?"

Well, the soldier obviously should have known that the A/H worked for Knight Ridder - the biggest producer of fishwrap in the nation!

[Enchante]

Knight-Ridder?? I think I heard of them once..... they’re the parent company for the folks that make “Charmin” toilet paper, right? Nice and soft on the butt, wish we had more of that over here in I-rak.

[elcid1970]

“Do you know who I am!!?”

This media a-hole is lucky he didn’t get taken down.

[tcostell]

Speaking for myself, I'd be much less upset if I heard about a car bomb killing 12 American journalists than if the same bomb killed 12 American soldiers.

[abb]

It is instructive that the SacBee’s new Exec. Editor is Melanie Sill. The Melanie Sill who was in charge of the Raleigh News & Observer when they ginned up a lynch mob in Durham and framed the Duke Lacrosse players.

IMO, she and her paper were as much to blame as Durham DA Mike Nifong and Durham PD in that scandal. It will be interesting to see how she handles this one.

[joseph20]

I walk my post from flank to flank and take no sh-t from any rank.

[abb]

ping

[backhoe]

In a matter of days, bloggers and their flock of sheep across the country

Isn't it fascinating, in a morbid sort of way, how The Jackal Pack Media Hive can't lose that arrogant, condescending tone, and attitude, toward the New Media?

I first noticed it years ago, directed at Rush, but it also bled over to anyone in talk radio.

It then was applied to the Web, once the internet came to the awareness of most people, and now it's being directed at bloggers.

The "free press" sure doesn't like freely expressed opinions much, do they?

[RichInOC]

1. Bobby, there’s one and only one man alive who can get away with the “You know who the hell I am?” act without sounding petulant...and you ain’t Evel Knievel.

2. Miranda warning for the new era...anything you put on the Web for public consumption can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion.

3. Armando...you’re supposed to speak for the public, not parrot Bobby’s bad opinion of the mean readers who made fun of him.

4. Both of you...frankly, a lot fewer people than you think really care who or what Knight Ridder is. Or McClatchy. Or (enter media company here). Get over it.

[abb]

ping

[aroundabout]

No, Knight Ridder is the company that made a black car that talked and was driven by a guy the turned out to be a drunk.

[aroundabout]

"The "free press" sure doesn't like freely expressed opinions much, do they"

Of course they don't. The weaker you are the more you need to be protected.