The Grand Pity Party
This really burns my ass ...The White House, the courts, and the Federal Communications Commission all took hits from broadcast journalists Thursday night, who said they were feeling under fire from a manipulative and even malicious government.
Note the absense of the justified attacks from us bloggers...
NBC News President Neal Shapiro set the tone, telling a roomful of top journalists gathered for the Radio-Television News Directors Foundation awards dinner in D.C. that the press is under attack as never before from the executive and judicial branches, which he says are pursuing journalists with "actual malice" just for doing their jobs.
It's time to "sound the alarm," he said. That call was picked up by other speakers and punctuated with applause from the crowd.
Hey, Neil! Exactly how much "NBC Nightly News" Gannon coverage have you overseen lately?!? How many of the 1,500 (and counting) coffins draped with an American flag have you tried to catch within your fisheye lenses?!? The answer is next to nill and now that you, your journalists, and your corporate taskmasters are being slapped around during the day by the government and then taken to the woodshed every single night by us bloggers, you want to turn around and play the victim? We've got the most secretive Administration in history that is working overtime with apparachiks, partisan hacks, blatant propagandists, and "wannabe journalist" man-whores whom walk hand in glove in disinforming the American people while people like you don't do jack shit about it. Perhaps it'll cross your mind someday soon that your refusal to actually do your job is directly purportional not only to the existance of Bloggers but to the massive ammounts of scorn you recieve from them as well. Although I don't speak for DailyKos, Billmon, or John Aravosis, I do speak for myself and -- as far as I'm concerned -- if you and your salaried journalists were doing your job ... MY ASS WOULDN'T BE HERE!!!
"This is what reporters do," Taricani told Shapiro ...
Ahh, yet they neglect the tenacity and the testicular fortitude that 20 or 30 years ago would've brought down such a secretive administration down to its knees -- be it conservative or progressive. If JFK or Nixon were to have barred the media from filming the coffins containing our dead soldiers, if either of them were to have planted fake journalists who may or may not have used his services as a hooker in order to gain scoops or access to classified information, if either of them would've penalized you from asking brutal questions and telling the American people the raw truth, you folks would seen these mightly interesting developments as justification to go ahead and film away, to pick apart the unthinkable idiocy, and continue to ask those pesky fucking questions the elected elite don't want to answer all the while wrapping yourself with the "Freedom Of The Press" protections outlined in our Constitution.
These are the things that reporters DID.
Why aren't they doing them NOW?!?
ABC's Sam Donaldson, master of ceremonies, said he had never seen such "vitriolic animus" toward journalists, save for the waning days of the Nixon administration. Donaldson said he hears commentators from the right and left trying to convince the public that the mainstream press cannot be trusted. It's time to "fire back," he said.
Donaldson said he wasn't advocating suppressing commentary, punctuating the point with: "Let every flower bloom." But he suggested that if some flowers were blooming thanks to a load of manure, that should be pointed out, too. "They should have to answer to those who think they got it wrong."
Excellent, Sammy! Now, if you would be so kind and risk your lucrative salary by giving your corporate taskmasters the middle finger they so rightfully deserve instead of attending these back-slapping sessions among your fellow journalists which strike me as being akin to a support group ("Journalist's Anonymous", anyone?), perhaps there is hope for you and ABC News yet! Alas, I don't think there is hope for you. Afterall, your line above about commentators from both sides of the isle convincing the public that the MSM can't be trusted - although accurate - it also borders on insulting our intelligence. I don't need Michael "Gimme a Number 1, Super Sized, With A Coke" Moore nor do I need Blondie Bin Coulter to convince me of anything because I've got a brain, I can think for myself, and I'm definately capable of reading between the lines and drawing my own conclusions, thank you. Bloggers are proof that the MSM can't be trusted. Aside from PayPal contributions and advertisements, the majority of Bloggers are doing FOR FREE what you and your colleagues aren't doing despite your 6 or 7 figure salary. So, yes - it is indeed time to fight back. You should start by putting your money where your mouth is.
Veteran CBS newsman Ed Bradley took up the charge in his acceptance speech for the Leonard Zeidenberg First Amendment Award (named after the late B&C correspondent).
Bradley talked of the pressure by government and corporations to "control the message," saying journalists must fight those efforts. "There is a price to pay," he said, for representing the people.
*looks at the general Blogosphere*
Gee, Ed! What took your brain so long to give you that idea?!?
For his part, Liberty station group President Jim Keelor, winner of the First Amendment Leadership Award, had a bone to pick with the FCC. He told the audience that at the same time he was notified of the award, he was making the seemingly First Amendment-unfriendly decision not to air Saving Private Ryan on his ABC affiliates. Sixty-six ABC affiliates preempted the Veteran's Day airing of the film, saying that they could not be sure its four-letter words would pass muster with the FCC. It wasn't for the potential fine, said Keelor, adding "We had some spare change." It wasn't the five stations he had up for renewal at the time, he said, adding "though that thought did
cross my mind."
Is that your REASON, Mr. Keelor, or is that your EXCUSE?!?
It was to send a message to the FCC that the indecency crackdown has gone too far. "The FCC is getting more political every day," he said.
Translation: "We've offered our usual cheap bribes but all the Senators are balking ... even that Tom DeLay!"
If the {FCC} crackdown continues, he said, broadcast networks will be second-class citizens.
Broadcast Networks are allready second-class citizens.
They've got their own complacency and apathy to thank for that.
posted by Sizemore at
6:26 PM
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