Enough right-wing propaganda (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

The Washington Post ^ | July 26, 2010 | E. J. Dionne

[abb]

The smearing of Shirley Sherrod ought to be a turning point in American politics. This is not, as the now-trivialized phrase has it, a "teachable moment." It is a time for action.

The mainstream media and the Obama administration must stop cowering before a right wing that has persistently forced its propaganda to be accepted as news by convincing traditional journalists that "fairness" requires treating extremist rants as "one side of the story." And there can be no more shilly-shallying about the fact that racial backlash politics is becoming an important component of the campaign against President Obama and against progressives in this year's election.

The administration's response to the doctored video pushed by right-wing hit man Andrew Breitbart was shameful. The obsession with "protecting" the president turned out to be the least protective approach of all.

The Obama team did not question, let alone challenge, the video. Instead, it assumed that whatever narrative Fox News might create mattered more than anything else, including the possible innocence of a human being outside the president's inner circle.

Obama complained on ABC's "Good Morning America" that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack "jumped the gun, partly because we now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a blog and everybody scrambles." But it's his own apparatus that turned "this media culture" into a false god.

Yet the Obama team was reacting to a reality: the bludgeoning of mainstream journalism into looking timorously over its right shoulder and believing that "balance" demands taking seriously whatever sludge the far right is pumping into the political waters.

This goes way back. Al Gore never actually said he "invented the Internet," but you could be forgiven for not knowing this because the mainstream media kept reporting he had.

snip

[abb]

A full-court press today.

[abb]

ping

[Da Coyote]

Sorry WP. Ain’t buyin’ it.

You might want to hire some writers who have actually received an education.

Better luck next time.

[pnh102]

LOL. The right wing media? OK.

[God luvs America]

yep....lets’ stop cowering to the right wing media after the smearing of sherrod by smearing the Tea Party...

funny what happens to these rat wingers when the shoe is on the other foot....

[doodad]

Doctored video? How do they manage that leap?

[Tomato lover]

They forgot the ‘Barf’ alert on this post!

[pyx]

Uh ... the WP as usual, lies. The WP might want to listen/watch to the WHOLE recording.

[abb]

http://www.hillmanfoundation.org/blog/sherrod-and-shame/olbermann/maddow/stolberg/vonDrehele
The Shame of the Fourth Estate

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100725/COL01/7250472/In-the-Sherrod-controversy-do-shoot-the-messenger&template=fullarticle
In the Sherrod controversy, do shoot the messenger

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-onthemedia-20100724,0,42690.column
On the Media: Even when in error, Andrew Breitbart is on the attack

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/business/media/26carr.html?ref=media
Journalists, Provocateurs, Maybe Both

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/07/after_shirley_sherrod_time_for.html
After Shirley Sherrod, time for the slow blogging movement

[caver]

E.J. needs his diaper changed.

[MarkL]

Pot -> Kettle -> Black

Mark

[abb]

They forgot the ‘Barf’ alert on this post!

Anything written by E. J. Dionne automatically carries a barf alert. De Facto, in other words.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Some people just can’t stand a little bit of criticism.

[thethirddegree]

E.J. needs his diaper changed.

With Obamacare, he'll have to wait a while.

[Paladin2]

E. J. Dionne is a left-wing commie extremist and a racist to boot.

Pass it on.

[MrB]

We wouldn’t have to if they wouldn’t insist that we be under their control and their ideological infestation.

We could just have some separate states that weren’t affected by their ideology. But they and their “father” can’t allow that.

[abb]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Newspaper-Publisher-A-H-Belo-prnews-2104644220.html?x=0&.v=1
Newspaper Publisher A. H. Belo Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2010 Financial Results

[Falcon4.0]

My what short memories these people have.
How many Conservatives have they tried to Tar and Feather as a "Racist".

[Islander7]

Al Gore never actually said he "invented the Internet," but you could be forgiven for not knowing this because the mainstream media kept reporting he had.

Actual quote, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

Sounds like he took a lot of credit for something he didn't do.

I saw a little of this E.J. character on one of the Sunday shows. I tell you, all the leftists are in full panic mode! The majority of the public is no longer buying their crap.

Notice that the NBP story is dead now. That was the REAL issue. I believe Breitbart was set up to take the heat off DOJ.

[Le Chien Rouge]

The Washington Post is part of the same media that went full court press against Sarah Palin the minute she was nominated for VP yet basically ignored Barrack Obama’s ‘colorful’ past during the entire 2008 campaign.

Washington Post, hypocrisy is thy name.

[Howie66]

This reads just like the old Pravda did.

[PreciousLiberty]

The truth shall set you free.

The left wing has tirelessly spewed forth “news” that is nothing more than twisted propaganda. Thank goodness there is a new, independent press much closer to that which the Founders wished to protect with the First Amendment!

Hold their feet to the fire, and we’ll see true beneficial change from here on out.

[AmericanVictory]

But, but, what will happen if the worship of the Leviathan state upon which the WaPo is based is upset by an actual return to our constitutional rule of law? Where will the WaPo be then? People will actually reason for themselves as at the founding. Horrors!

[shove_it]

E.J. left off the /sarc tag.

[DGHoodini]

DIONNE IS ONE OF THE FASCIST JOUTNOLISTER FIFTH COLUMNISTS.

NOTHING DIONNE SAYS IS ANYTHING OTHER THAN FASCIST PROPAGANDA, AND OTHERWISE DOGSHIT. LEFTIPERV DOGSHIT.

[abb]

Last Friday we had the CNN Kyra Phillips/John Roberts call to “regulate” the internet. There is nothing new under the sun. While reading a bit of media history last night, I ran across the name of Roger L’Estrange.

See here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_L%27Estrange

In 1663, he published Considerations and Proposals in Order to the Regulation of the Press which urged a strict control of the printing trade.[5] Perhaps for views expressed in this work, which was well received at Court,[6] he was appointed Surveyor of the Imprimery (Printing Press).[7] Thereafter, also appointed Licenser of the Press, he retained both positions until the lapse of the Licensing of the Press Act in 1679.[8] (The latter was not, however, a continuous appointment. At one time, L’Estrange was deprived of his post as Licenser by Joseph Williamson; but when anti-Royalist pamphleteering began to turn the city against Charles II, L’Estrange was recalled to this position.[9])

As Licenser and Surveyor, L’Estrange was charged with the prevention of the publication of dissenting writings, and authorised to search the premises of printers and booksellers on the merest suspicion of dissension.[10] L’Estrange excelled at this, hunting out hidden presses, and enlisting peace officers and soldiers to suppress their activities. He soon came to be known as the “Bloodhound of the Press.”[11]

Careful monitoring and control of nonconformist ideas and opinions succeeded in not only checking seditious publications,[14] but also in limiting political controversy and reducing debate,[15] which was largely the purpose of the Licensing Act of 1662 and Roger L’Estrange’s appointment.

See also.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licensing_of_the_Press_Act_1662

The Licensing of the Press Act 1662 is an Act of the Parliament of England (14 Car. II. c. 33), long title “An Act for preventing the frequent Abuses in printing seditious treasonable and unlicensed Bookes and Pamphlets and for regulating of Printing and Printing Presses.” It was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863.

The Act was originally limited to two years. The provisions as to importation of books, the appointment of licensers, and the number of printers and founders were practically re-enactments of the similar provisions in an order of the Star Chamber of 1637.

Printing presses were not to be set up without notice to the Stationers’ Company. A king’s messenger had power by warrant of the king or a secretary of state to enter and search for unlicensed presses and printing. Severe penalties by fine and imprisonment were denounced against offenders. The act was successively renewed up to 1679.

Under the powers of the act Sir Roger L’Estrange was appointed licenser, and the effect of the supervision was that practically the newspaper press was reduced to the London Gazette. The objections made to lines 594-599 of the first book of Paradise Lost by the archbishop of Canterbury’s chaplain, acting as licenser, are well known. The act expired in 1679, and for the remainder of the reign of Charles II, as in the reign of George III, the restrictions on the press took the form of prosecutions for libel.

The power of a secretary of state to issue a warrant, whether general or special, for the purpose of searching for and seizing the author of a libel or the libellous papers themselves - a power exercised by the Star Chamber and confirmed by the Licensing Act - was still asserted, and was not finally declared illegal until the case of Entick v. Carrington in 1765 (St. Tr. xix. 1030). In 1776 the House of Commons came to a resolution in accordance with this decision. The compulsory stamp duty on newspapers was abandoned in 1855 (18 Vict. C. 27), the duty on paper in 1861 (24 Vict. C. 20), the optional duty on newspapers in 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 38). From that time the English press maybe said to date its complete freedom, which rests rather upon a constitutional than a legal foundation. It is not confirmed by any provision of the supreme legislative authority, as is the case in many countries.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47336#s8

Licensing of the Press Act 1662

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

[dfwgator]

Sounds straight out of Herr Goebbels calls to shut down the “Jewish Media” right after the Nazis took power.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"This goes way back. Al Gore never actually said he "invented the Internet,"

EJ, did you complain when the MSM pushed the narrative that Sarah Palin said she could see Russia from her backyard? Did you ever mention that it was Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live that said this and not Sarah Palin? Just askin...

[Condor51]

Hey, 'E. J.'. Do you have a head injury or maybe dementia?

It was that right wing network CNN that covered the Sherrod 'story' almost 24/7. And it was the 'right wing' NAACP that demanded her firing, which demand Barry bowed to.

Fox didn't touch it until after she was fired. And .... (cue scary music and hide the children EJ) ... Glenn Beck even took her side for her 'redemption' when he did mention her on his TV show.

Facts are stubborn things sometimes, aren't they 'EJ'?

[fierobeer]

For ONCE I agree with the WP.
Letting crazy people like Orly Taint rant in order to “balance” normal views isn’t fair and balanced.
As practiced by some media outlets, its nothing more than pandering.
To the lowest common denominator.

[crescen7]

EJ D. is utterly hopeless.

The video in question wasn’t a “doctored”, it was exactly what it purported to be. The fact that there was a broader context doesn’t mean the video was “doctored.”

“doctored” would be like taking a 4 second motion made by Rush Limbaugh on his ditto cam and looping it to accompany a 20 second statement to create the impression that he was mocking Micheal J. Fox.

“doctored” would be like showing Pelosi and John Lewis walking past a group of anti-ObamaCare protesters, muting the sound on the clip, and providing the narrative “shouting racial slurs” in the report.

EJ D. is a hopeless stooge - but stumbles onto something in his last two lines.

“If Obama hates the current media climate, he should stop overreacting to it”
-and perhaps fueling it with his media driven Presidency.

“And the mainstream media should stop being afraid of insisting on the difference between news and propaganda.”
-that would really be nice change of pace

(By the way, didn’t EJ’s English 101 class teach him not start a sentence with “and” ?)

[reefdiver]

Look at E J and His “teachable moment.” He must listen to Rush too

[driftless2]

Whenever I read articles by some liberal maggot like Dionne complaining about right-wing "bias", the first word I conjure up is hypocrite. Scoundrels like Dionne are insisting that FOX treated a nut like Shirley Sherrod unfairly. How so? Because supposedly she is not the racist she described herself as being in her earlier days? Listening to more of her speech and subsequent interviews, She sure sounds like a race-baiting, quasi-fascist.

Secondly, when have people like Dionne ever shouted against unfairness when the lib media (much, much stronger than the conservative media) routinely printed or aired lies about conservatives like Sarah Palin. The sound of crickets was all you heard from the likes of Dionne.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Hey EJ. Obama fired Ms Sherrod, not Fox News.

[The_Media_never_lie]

The smearing of Shirley Sherrod ought to be a turning point in American politics.

This is pure b.s.

I cannot get over some things Ms. Sherrod said.

1) White men killed my father. Did she really have to say "white" men did it?

2) "Glenn Beck wants to return us to slavery."

3) When she was making her "racist redemption" speech, why did the NAACP members in attendance not protest the racist teaser? I would not feel comfortable attending an NAACP meeting while white.

There is something about this story that just doesn't pass the smell test. I think enquiring minds may uncover the truth before long.

The way the press is playing the "Saint Shirley" routine reminds me of the Saint Susan McDougal routine when Ms. Mcdougal chose prison over the alternative of testifying against the Clintons (probably a good choice, the reason she is still alive today).

[FrankR]

The lamestream press is a "mirror" of society...yep...they get everything exactly bass-ackwards, just like the reflection in a mirror.

Actually it was shirley-shirley-bo-birley's confederates who got the "race ball" rolling by threatening to "kill some crackers, and their babies."

Then that sensational new group, "Pelosi and the RaceBaiters" revived their oldie of "spitting racists in the tea party crowd". Their back-chorus - the NAACP - then came out with their stanza of "Tea Party racists sing dis song, do-dah, do-dah..."...and the Great Race Debate of 2010 began.

Actually Shirley Sherrod should be re-named Shirley "Charade" with stories that the left is putting out about this whole thing. One would logically think that if there is "more" tape...or an "unedited" version of sherrod's speech, the left would be playing it ad infinitum to spear the right...but nothing but smartass remarks are coming forth from the left...go figure.

Only in bizzaro-land could a population of people see sherrod's race-filled speech and say other people are the "racists", just because they made it public.

But now the racebaiters have pulled out all the stops, because Shirley-Shirley-Bo-Birley has taken all the lead out of their pencil...the myth that "blacks can't be racists"...when all of America plainly sees that she is.

One commentator actually has the gall - or the stupidity - to suggest that because a white man alledgedly killed her father, she is justified in being racist. So one minute they say she is NOT racist, the next they say the incident with her father justifies her to be a racist...which is it?

I don't know her father, I don't know the circumstances behind his death. I don't know whether he was dragged off and killed by the KKK, or shot while breaking into someone's house. But either way, that does not make all whites into "racists". That type of stereotyping and profiling is racism, personified.

So dionne, I know you see your life's duty to stir up a race war to help your messiah in the white Party House, but your logic is flawed...no, actually, your logic is STUPID.

[screaminsunshine]

Another reason to not waste mone on Liberal Newspapers.

[conservativeharleyguy]

Al Gore Sarah Palin never actually said he "invented the Internet," "I can see Russia from my house", but you could be forgiven for not knowing this because the mainstream media kept reporting (s)he had.

Isn't that better now?

[sauropod]

The traditional media are so petrified of being called "liberal" that they are prepared to allow the Breitbarts of the world to become their assignment editors. Mainstream journalists regularly criticize themselves for not jumping fast enough or high enough when the Fox crowd demands coverage of one of their attack lines.

HAHAHAHAHAHA HOHOHOHO!! < slaps floor> < gasp> < wheeze>

ROFLMAOPIMPWTIME!

Sock puppet Dionne would have us believe that the mainstream media that has now been exposed as colluding to put Ears in office is "petrified of being called 'liberal'".

Yeah right. My ever expanding, luminous when bare azz....

[abb]

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/media/e3ic193b6eacf48409b4811c7bc21b012cb
Will Nets Break an Old Taboo?
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/07/overture-films-is-over.html
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http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/25/arianna-s-answer.html
Arianna’s Answer
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467304575383193051347282.html
At Tribune Co., Leaving Behind Bankruptcy and Old Ways

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-22/hamptons-newspaper-publisher-brown-says-it-received-two-bids-for-assets.html
Hamptons Newspaper Publisher Brown Says It Received Two Bids for Assets

[The_Media_never_lie]

Another thing St. Shirley said that I'm not buying, is "the night white men killed my father, I decided then and there I was going to stay in Georgia and become an activist".

One would have thought she would have been overcome with grief and sorrow, instead of making career decisions at that very sorrowful time. I feel for her tradgic loss, but I think she is still using it a little too much in the beatification routine.

[sauropod]

Took a look at the 1st link you posted.

What planet do these people live on?

[SES1066]

I think I hear the fog-horn braying of the leftist donkey in high dudgeon mode, hoping that volume will substitute for the lack of facts on his side. Hee-Haw was a comedy show, EJ is nowhere as funny.

[McGavin999]

Awwwww, poor baby. Life must be so tough when you are watching your career circling the drain. Whatever shall he do when he finally gets that pink slip?

Oh, I know, he can clean toilets, he's so used to swimming in crap.

[abb]

What planet do these people live on?

'Pod, they live in a world where they used to control all we saw or read. But no more.

That's why I always use the printing press analogy. The Church in 1500's said the printing press was Evil, as these people say the same about the internet.

They live in a world where they used to could say what was and wasn't news. Just like Pope Leo X told Martin Luther he couldn't post that list of 95 theses on the church door.

He did it anyway. Just like you and I and the rest of us conservatives will continue to write as we see fit.

[ToughLove]

Hmmm, does EJ feel the harsh winds of oblivion blowing ever stronger?

[DontTreadOnMe2009]

He’s mad cuz Journolist wouldn’t let him in.

Cuz .......................

[Oberon]

The smearing of Shirley Sherrod ought to be a turning point in American politics. This is not, as the now-trivialized phrase has it, a "teachable moment." It is a time for action.

One wonders... why now? Why did it take the smearing of Shirley Sherrod to bring us to this inevitable "time for action"?

Why wasn't it "time for action" when the media did this to Robert Bork?

[outpostinmass2]

The same people said the Rev. Wright videos were taken out of context.

So Fox aired the entire video and it proved to be even worse then the excerpts.