Objective Journalism: Michael Gerson Defends a Profession That No Longer Exists

Yesterday, Washington Post columnist and former Bush II speechwriter Michael Gerson played a long slow violin solo over the death of the mainstream media. There’s nothing new in his piece. Dazed with panic as the circle of financial ruin closes in, we’ve heard this song many times before from our ink-stained dinosaurs. And true to form, Gerson can’t break the mold. It’s all there, the rose-colored glasses, denial, and a heaping helping of rationalization.

Once again, from that familiar MSM perch where one can look down their nose at the great unwashed who just don’t understand the magnificent tradition of journalism they’re about to lose, Gerson blames We the People for no longer wanting  to pay for our news and choosing partisan sources “that reinforce and exaggerate … political predispositions.”

How absurd. (more…)

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Tags: ABC, ACORN, Big Media, CBS, Clarence Thomas
Posted Nov 28th 2009 at 11:29 am in Featured Story, Media Criticism | 38002150 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/28/objective-journalism-michael-gerson-defends-a-profession-that-no-longer-exists/Objective+Journalism%3A+Michael+Gerson+Defends+a+Profession+That+No+Longer+Exists2009-11-28+18%3A29%3A33John+Nolte

How the MSM Might Survive: Come Out of the Ideological Closet

Whenever reading Politico, everything should be washed through this filter. You must always keep in the front of your mind that this supposed “news” organization took the time to dig up and publicize dirt on a private citizen whose only sin was asking a perfectly reasonable question of a public figure. Politico’s warning to the everyday American was clear: get in the way of our guy and we will summon all our resources to publicly humiliate you. This all goes to prove that Politico is nothing more than a digital version of the Dinosaur Media — and just as clueless and dishonest as their unholy brethren, especially when it comes to explaining why their counterparts are drowning in the tar pits of obsolescence.

To hear Politico tell it, CNN’s stuck in humiliating fourth place behind FOX, MSNBC and their own Headline News because they’ve made the mistake of not appealing to the great unwashed who prefer partisan bickering and echo chambers:

With the proliferation of media across platforms these days, there’s less shared knowledge among people, who are increasingly heading to niche outlets for information. At the same time, there’s a large appetite for the new media world where the MSM gatekeepers no longer hold as much clout, and “he said, she said” journalism gives way to strong point of view. …

There’s no doubt that the over-the-top, and politically partisan, hosts are having more success attracting viewers on nights when there’s no major news event. (more…)

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Tags: ABC, Breitbart's Bigs, CBS, CNN, Daily Kos
Posted Nov 2nd 2009 at 12:03 pm in Media Criticism, Politics | 24210107 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/02/how-the-msm-might-survive-come-out-of-the-ideological-closet/How+the+MSM+Might+Survive%3A+Come+Out+of+the+Ideological+Closet2009-11-02+19%3A03%3A18John+Nolte

Axelrod and Emanuel Help Shape ACORN Coverage?

1.  Fox News is not really a legitimate news source because it has a ‘point of view’ and

2.  We encourage all legitimate news networks to stop treating them as if they are legitimate.

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Tags: ABC, Andrew Breitbart, AP, Barack Obama, CBS
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 at 11:00 am in ACORN, Media Criticism, Politics | 1945889 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sright/2009/10/22/axelrod-and-emanuel-help-shape-acorn-coverage/Axelrod+and+Emanuel+Help+Shape+ACORN+Coverage%3F2009-10-22+18%3A00%3A48Larry++O%26%2339%3BConnor

The Media’s Complicity: Analysis of ACORN Coverage

The mainstream media were complicit in their coverage of the ACORN scandal. Their behavior was and continues to be an insult to democracy and journalistic responsibility as the Fourth Estate has ignored facts, engaged in one-sided sourcing, and avoided basic and inherently important journalistic questioning.

First, there was avoidance. Some media outlets simply ignored the story. On Sept. 15, five days after the Maryland tape was released, ABC’s Charlie Gibson said, “I don’t even know about it… so you’ve got me at a loss” and said that the story might be “just one you leave to the cables.” But, Gibson was not alone in his lack of knowledge. The New York Times did not cover the story for nearly a week. On Sept. 26, Clark Hoyt, The Times’ Public Editor, acknowledged the paper’s tardiness, but insinuated that the story was lacking in facts:

But for days, as more videos were posted and government authorities rushed to distance themselves from Acorn, The Times stood still.  Some stories, lacking facts, never catch fire…But others do, and a newspaper like The Times needs to be alert to them or wind up looking clueless or, worse, partisan itself.

(more…)

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Tags: ABC, ACORN, ACORN Los Angeles, ACORN Miami, ACORN New York
Posted Oct 21st 2009 at 10:03 am in ACORN, Media Criticism | 18734182 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/bhallowell/2009/10/21/the-medias-complicity-analysis-of-acorn-coverage/The+Media%27s+Complicity%3A+Analysis+of+ACORN+Coverage2009-10-21+17%3A03%3A23Billy+Hallowell

Planting the Seeds: The Politicized Art Behind the ACORN Plan

Everything you needed to know about the unorthodox roll out of the now-notorious ACORN sting videos was hidden in plain sight in my Sept. 7 column, “Katie Couric, Look in the Mirror.” ACORN was not the only target of those videos; so were Katie, Brian, Charlie and every other mainstream media pooh-bah.

They were not going to report this blockbuster unless they were forced to. And they were. What’s more, it ain’t over yet. Not every hint I dropped in that piece about what was to come has played itself out yet.Stay tuned.

When filmmaker and provocateur James O’Keefe came to my office to show me the video of him and his friend, Hannah Giles, going to the Baltimore offices of ACORN – the nation’s foremost “community organizers” – dressed as a pimp and a prostitute and asking for – and getting – help for various illegal activities, he sought my advice. In the past, Mr. O’Keefe created brilliant social satire that rocked his college campus and even made its way on to the talk-radio and cable-news shows, but the magnitude of his latest adventure had the potential to rock the political establishment.

I was awed by Mr. O’Keefe’s guts and amazed by the footage, but explained that the mainstream media would try to kill this important and illuminating expose about a corrupt and criminal political racket, and that the well-funded political left would go into “war room” mode, with 25-year-old Mr. O’Keefe and 20-year-old cohort Miss Giles in the cross hairs. I felt I had a moral obligation to protect these young muckrakers from the left and from the media, and to devise a strategy that would force the media’s hand. (more…)

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Tags: ABC, ACORN, acorn scandal, Bertha Lewis, Brian Williams
Posted Sep 20th 2009 at 7:08 pm in ACORN, Featured Story, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 5858303 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2009/09/20/planting-the-seeds-the-politicized-art-behind-the-acorn-plan/Planting+the+Seeds%3A+The+Politicized+Art+Behind+the+ACORN+Plan2009-09-21+02%3A08%3A32Andrew+Breitbart

ACORN Story Grows But Mainstream Media Refuse to Cover It

From FoxNews.com:

This story has everything you could ever want – corruption, sleazy actions at tax-funded organizations, firings, government ties, sex, hookers. It is a network news director’s dream. Imagine the ratings. But almost no one is covering it.

Bruce Springsteen once wrote: “From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come).” I doubt he expected that story of love gone wrong would become ideal political commentary for the group known as ACORN.

The small scandal showing an embarrassing video of Baltimore ACORN staffers looking like they were giving tax advice on how to set up a brothel, is now national news. — This story has everything you could ever want – corruption, sleazy actions at tax-funded organizations, firings, government ties, sex, hookers. It is a network news director’s dream. Imagine the ratings!

Only almost no one is covering it.

This is the news media in the era of Van Jones and President Obama. The major outlets cover what they want and create the themes they want. When they find something inconvenient, they let it pass. They didn’t like the Van Jones story, so they ignored it. The network news media liked the financial entity known as Fannie Mae, so they ignored that scandalous organization for years. ACORN is getting the same treatment. (more…)

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Tags: ABC, ACORN, acorn prostitute, acorn prostitute video, acorn prostitution
Posted Sep 14th 2009 at 10:27 pm in ACORN, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 2518209 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/09/14/acorn-story-grows-but-mainstream-media-refuse-to-cover-it/ACORN+Story+Grows+But+Mainstream+Media+Refuse+to+Cover+It2009-09-15+05%3A27%3A02Publius