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Williams Bewails Decline of 'Classically-Trained' Journos, Rise of Guys With 'Opinion And a Modem'
NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

Posted on 12/24/2008 6:03:33 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest

There was no Memorex around when the brontosauri were bidding bye-bye, but I think we have a pretty good idea of what they sounded like as they were going extinct. Just listen to Brian Williams this morning. Appearing on Morning Joe, the NBC Nightly News anchor lamented the decline of "classically-trained" journalists in favor of guys with "an opinion and a modem."

A question from Pat Buchanan about the ebbing fortunes of the old media set Williams off on a soliloquy he assured us was not self-interested.

View video here.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: blogosphere; brianwilliams; msm; rathergate
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1 posted on 12/24/2008 6:03:34 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
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To: Behind Liberal Lines; Miss Marple; an amused spectator; netmilsmom; Diogenesis; MEG33; PGalt; ...

Williams’ wail of the MSM dinosaur ping to Today show list.


2 posted on 12/24/2008 6:04:53 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Keeping track of the MSM so you don't have to!)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

I would love to see what this ‘classical training’ is


3 posted on 12/24/2008 6:05:38 AM PST by Mr. K (Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help)
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To: Mr. K
I would love to see what this ‘classical training’ is

YOU know where to get a copy of the communist manifesto, Marx, Mao, and Mein Kampf... don't be facetious.

4 posted on 12/24/2008 6:07:53 AM PST by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

If Brian Williams considers himself a “classically trained journalist”, or even a trained journalist, or anything OTHER than a talentless shill for the left then he is even more deluded than I thought.


5 posted on 12/24/2008 6:08:30 AM PST by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: Mr. K
"I would love to see what this ‘classical training’ is"

From what I can tell it's dumpster diving in Wasilla, Alaska to destroy a fine American, Sarah Palin, while completely ignoring the Obama fraud.

6 posted on 12/24/2008 6:08:32 AM PST by avacado
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To: MrB

Good one!


7 posted on 12/24/2008 6:08:58 AM PST by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: Mr. K

‘classical training’ is a degree from a leftist J school.


8 posted on 12/24/2008 6:10:20 AM PST by reg45
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To: Mr. K

Here in New York I remember meeting a speaker who was a young lady in journalism. She was visiting our University and talking about how she had gotten into journalism.

It’s really not a big deal. She went to the Columbia journalism school and from there was able to get into the industry.

Took some media course and remember this one little cute blonde and her ambition was to be a news anchor. Not to be a journalist, but to be reading the news in front of a camera.

On the list of difficulty, journalism majors don’t stand that high. And the knowledge they bring to their “craft” is in most instances sorely lacking.

Take any area of expertise you have and when it’s brought to the fore from our “journalists” you soon see how poorly informed they are but it doesn’t stop them from making all kinds of pronouncements.

And that’s not even in the political arena. There it’s out of control by design.


9 posted on 12/24/2008 6:13:22 AM PST by romanesq
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
There was no Memorex around when the brontosauri were bidding bye-bye, but I think we have a pretty good idea of what they sounded like as they were going extinct. Just listen to Brian Williams this morning.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

These two sentences are very funny. I am sitting here laughing!

10 posted on 12/24/2008 6:14:37 AM PST by wintertime
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

11 posted on 12/24/2008 6:17:20 AM PST by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Today’s journalists are just conduits for liberal editors. There really is no point in having them. They no longer investigate to reach a conclusion. They reach a conclusion and then look for data to support their conclusion.


12 posted on 12/24/2008 6:20:47 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: Mr. K

“An opinion and a liberal arts degree.”


13 posted on 12/24/2008 6:21:26 AM PST by Psycho_Bunny (ALSO SPRACH ZEROTHUSTRA)
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To: AppyPappy
They reach a conclusion and then look for data to support their conclusion.

Leftists ARE completely "goal oriented", which means they'll pragmatically sacrifice any principle or rule in order to achieve the desired ends.

Unfortunately, it's not just journalists, but judges, that do this.

14 posted on 12/24/2008 6:23:13 AM PST by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: Mr. K

It means you were educated by Harvard, Yale, UC insert name of city, NYU ( basically, any academic institution that loves to embrace liberalism) on how to pervert America and make light of all Christian values.

“Classical Journalist” are dying because we are sick of watching bigoted, racist, left wing, Democrat stooges tell us the “news”. I want real journalist, not stooges. Now if he means classical journalist in the sense of people who report the news without bias, then I say we need all of them we can get. Please!!


15 posted on 12/24/2008 6:23:43 AM PST by Jaime2099
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

The problem is that we have too many of them.


16 posted on 12/24/2008 6:24:14 AM PST by Colonel_Flagg (You're either in or in the way.)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Probably an appropriate time to post this one again.

http://www.libertyroundtable.org/library/essay.drudge.html
Anyone With A Modem Can Report On The World

Address Before the National Press Club
by Matt Drudge, June 2, 1998


17 posted on 12/24/2008 6:24:17 AM PST by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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To: AppyPappy
"They no longer investigate to reach a conclusion. They reach a conclusion and then look for data to support their conclusion"

ding ding ding!!! we have a winner

18 posted on 12/24/2008 6:24:40 AM PST by Mr. K (Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help)
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To: Mr. K
I would love to see what this ‘classical training’ is

Traditionally, classical training involves a few years each of Greek and Latin, along with readings from the great authors--Cicero, Virgil, Homer, etc. The only evidence of classical training among the journos I have seen was when they all picked up the word gravitas in the pre-election Bush-bashing of the last century. Of course, they pronounced it like medievalists, not classicists, so even on that count they fail. The classically-trained journalists of our golden age have been replaced by medieval barbarians, ushering in a new Dark Age.

19 posted on 12/24/2008 6:28:40 AM PST by Caesar Soze
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Amazing the expertise one can pick up at J school whilst being “classically trained”. Journalists can tell us how to stop global warming, how best to runs wars, how to save the auto industry, how to manage the economy, how best to deliver health care, what laws should be passed, who should be elected, what we should eat, who we should associate with, what news we should be exposed to and what we should not, etc, etc, etc.

They don’t teach humility or introspection.


20 posted on 12/24/2008 6:36:47 AM PST by Paine in the Neck (Nepolean fries the idea powder)
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