[dirtboy]

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."

Well, there's an easy way around that problem. Start being fair and even-handed.

[happygrl]

bttt

[Howlin]

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."

Sweet! Perhaps that explains why they were so nasty at the presser this morning.

Fineman also predicted that "if Roger Ailes and Fox had done something like this, you know, the world would be on fire."

Predicted? That's a known fact.

[Lunkhead_01]

So now when she is indicted, she can claim she was insane?

[Brilliant]

She wanted to save us from Bush, but ended up doing something infinitely more valuable--she saved us from Dan Rather and CBS News. The Lord works in strange ways.

[Mr. K]

nope - no bias at seeBS

[Revolting cat!]

So why is Little Mary in hiding now? Why not come out and say "I want to save the world from a George Bush presidency"?

[EGPWS]

"save the world from a George Bush presidency,...

I haven't heard such rhetoric from the liberal left since the late, great, Ronald Reagan was President.

The similarity in their reactions to Dubya' is a good sign which is very comforting in an abstract sort of way. : )

[Chummy]

"...CBS News producer Mary Mapes became 'obsessed'..."?

Well, beyond this obvious thought, are we to assume and accept that she was allowed to perform cart blanche, and that no one at SeeBS offered any oversight?

It's a culture of loonie left bias.

[orangelobster]

This idea of "saving the nation from Bush" is quite common in many of new york's professional offices. Since election day, 2000 seemingly rational people transform into venomous secular church ladies at the mention of Bush and immediatly attack the person that dares breath the word Bush in a positive light. It really has gotten so extreme that we are starting to see the first cracks to the ruling establishment in the form of the rathergate exposure. Expect a tidal wave of additional scandals as psychotic leftie controlled organizations decide to come clean.

[KellyAdmirer]

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."

Come on, Howard, there wasn't an "editor" who should have stopped the story. Mapes has a direct line to Rather. There is no "editor" in between. The only "editor" who could have injected some reason into this partisan exercise was Dan Rather, but he was either too stupid or too partisan to do anything but go along.

[MEGoody]

Mapes is obsessed with hatred for Bush, and has thrown out all semblance of objectivity and journalistic integrity. If CBS doesn't fire her, they can never again proclaim themselves to be an objective news source.

Of course, we all know they aren't. But at least in the past, they tried to hide their bias.

[jmstein7]

BUMP!

[kcvl]

I don't NEED anyone to save me from President Bush. I am perfectly capable of deciding how to vote all by myself. That just proves they think they are smarter than the rest of us.

[Dolphy]

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 was a fairly simple matter to come out swinging at CBS instead of apologizing and deferring to Rather and Mape's reputations. The CBS story, at its core, was an exercise in bad journalism, bad fact checking and bad sourcing, made worse by its failure to mention the other side of the story when it finally went to air. The national media wasn't hurt by what Rather did, it was hurt by not gunning him down immediately for breaking every rule of their profession.

[Asclepius]

... 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 ...

Here is the spin, epitomized. Mapes was a rogue agent, obsessed, out of control; the CBS debacle was an abberation, a case of professional journalists led astray by the wiles of a mad producer. Hang Mapes and the problem is solved. Mapes is the human sacrifice being offered to mollify the viewing public.

This is bullsh*t. The institution itself is responsible. Mapes was only a single player in an organization based on a culture of center-left-establishment bias. Example: Was Ran Dather a patsy or a rube? Then hang him too. He should not be allowed to masquerade as a journalist.

[Stellar Dendrite]

BTTT.

[devane617]

Now the MSM is on the "Mapes is crazy" bandwagon, further relieving Rather of any responsibility.

Remember you heard it here, Rather will walk away clean, and Mapes will take the fall.

[CurlyBill]

Fineman is a liberal and a Clinton apologist. Coming from him, this speaks volumes.

[cripplecreek]

Grand justifications like saving the world makes liberals dangerous.