Posted on 07/23/2010 2:33:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Don't make excuses for the Journolisters. They subverted journalism and the pursuit of truth for politics and the pursuit of power.
John Tabin has entered the fray over Journolist, the now-defunct secret listserve of several hundred liberal journalists, activists and academics. Tabin agrees that much of what the Daily Caller has reported about this cabal is extremely troubling and reprehensible. To wit:
• the Journolisters' attempt, during the 2008 presidential campaign to kill and bury stories about Obama's relationship with "Reverend" Jeremiah Wright;
• their push to deliberately smear innocent conservative journalists and politicos as "racists" and "bigots";
• their twisted passion to see Rush Limbaugh killed off and dead;
• their intolerant desire to have the government censor and shut down Fox News; and
• their baldly partisan effort to coordinate liberal talking points that would discredit Sarah Palin and John McCain, while helping to elect Barack Obama president.
Now, Tabin agrees that this is all very bad and certainly wrong for journalists who purport to be independent and fair-minded. However, he insists, "these people were buffoons." They were "utterly ridiculous" and thus should not be taken seriously.
I might agree with Tabin if the Journolisters were solitary bloggers venting in the backwoods in lonely isolation. But in point of fact, they were not. The Journolisters are professionally employed journalists who work at some of America's most prestigious and influential newsrooms: the Washington Post, New York Times, National Public Radio, New Republic, Time, Newsweek, et al. Thus, they wield tremendous cultural clout and influence.
Sure, the execution of their efforts may have been "comical," as Tabin suggests; however, their intent clearly was not. It was underhanded, deceptive and antithetical to everything a journalist is supposed to be and to represent.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Rush did some shows where he did sound bites of different sources of the MSM repeating the same phrases and buzzwords over and over. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
I for one think pro-Americans complaining about the Leftist flagburning media. We know they’ve been like that since the 1950’s. Talk radio and the internet have taken up some of the slack, now it’s time for some young conservative journalists to go dig up dirt on the goings-on in Washington and the State capitals. My son is going to write for the school newspaper this year, and I told him to not be afraid to report the truth, even if it gets people mad.
I for one think pro-Americans complaining about the Leftist flagburning media. We know they’ve been like that since the 1950’s. Talk radio and the internet have taken up some of the slack, now it’s time for some young conservative journalists to go dig up dirt on the goings-on in Washington and the State capitals. My son is going to write for the school newspaper this year, and I told him to not be afraid to report the truth, even if it gets people mad.
Like Journolist was a one of a kind listserv. Yeah, right.
I have not heard anyone suggest that there is a connection between the JournoList and the current administration. But if there is, we have a much more serious problem on our hands than a bunch of rogue journalists.
Something to remember the next time somebody discounts the existence of wide-ranging conspiracies. Wiki has a (partial) list of members.
I also wonder about any possible cause of action for libel or defamation any individual slimed as a racist by these loathsome cretins might have. Given the corrosive nature of such charges, it is difficult to believe that the victim of such a libelous charge is powerless under our law to seek redress where there exists clear evidence of intent to maliciously advance the charge of racism against innocents whose only sin was standing in the way of achievement of their socialist utopia.
Any legal eagles in the audience care to opine?
Nothing. The news industry has been engaged in some form of this since the inception of radio, more or less. And it will continue to collude in order to form opinion, rather than inform it. The only antidote is a suitably skeptical and independently minded public, and I don't see that in the cards.
Those claims stand separate from and independent of any collusion on the part of the reporters.
2012?
They are still doing it, now!
A Free Republic poster has compiled the list of known members to date of the left-wing now-defunct JournoList listserv.
http://www.thetreeofliberty.com/vb/showthread.php?t=111736
Someone mentioned "gravitas" on another thread today, so I rummaged around and found it:
"I want to go back. I want to play this montage of "gravitas" I was talking about last hour. This goes back to the year 2000. It's one of the all-time great montages, this happened within a day of President Bush selecting Dick Cheney to be his vice presidential running mate."
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_113007/content/01125114.guest.html
Oh don’t think that there’s no linkage. Recall last year that, for an entire week, every single show in NBC prime-time made some random reference to “green jobs” or “public service” or “environmental awareness”, regardless of how completely unrelated it was to the script immediately preceding and following it, on orders from the White House.
And just because this one was shut down, doesn't mean they're not going to sprout up somewhere else.
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