Letters to the Editor
Fraud Guy
Published Letters: 336
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Hankest
[Read the article: National journalists believe you should trust them]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have been amused by your quasi-Socratic questioning of Glenn's post, but I believe the term is "asked and answered", and has been for several pages.
The question I think that needs to be asked of you, however, is whether you distrust the media? You do not need the proof that you claim to be asking of Glenn to make a statement on that. I can state that I trust the media less, and in part for the reason Glenn stated, as well as many examples from my locality. I have also watch the dawning of comprehension when people I know figured out that the CMSM was misrepresenting information to them, again, in part because of the Iraq cheerleading.
Without asking for further proof, can you clearly state your opinion on the matter?
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Media crosspollination
[Read the article: Do national journalists agree with Gary Kamiya?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]ramoncreager, you reminded me that it used to be that you would read the newspaper to get the full information on what was reported on the TV news; the idea was that there was a limited amount of time to develop stories on air. Then, it seemed like TV was merely repeating what was already in the papers (except for the breaking news that had high visual appeal and some consumer segments). Now, it appears that MSM is mainly self-referential, and outside sources do not exist to them; i.e., if we do not feel it is fit to discuss, we won't (or in the Post/Reed story, unless we do). This is a profoundly corporate mindset, where something doesn't exist unless the leaders (political, business, media) say it does. I have encountered this repeatedly in my corporate work, where I will repeatedly point out problems that are occurring (morale, fraud, process), but, despite ROI and documented effects, no action occurs until and unless a high enough manager confirms or states that there is a problem (usually taking credit for discovering it at the same time).
The internet allows many little (in the corporate minds) people to join together and point out all of the many things that we see that are wrong, as opposed to waiting to be told what is acceptably wrong. But it often takes enough noise to be heard at the management level to get them to take action.
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Nixon era press better?
[Read the article: Do national journalists agree with Gary Kamiya?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]IIRC, someone pointed out in an earlier post that the WH reporters during the Nixon era also let many stories pass unremarked, and it was the then low-level reporters Woodward and Bernstein who broke the big story. SSDD (different decade).
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Local media
[Read the article: Do national journalists agree with Gary Kamiya?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]TRenee and Paul Rosenberg,
The local media are just as sloppy, in my experience, as the national outlets.
I was recently part of a local zoning fight to stop the $1.87 million purchase of an estate to be used as a group home for unescorted alien children. The costs (purchase and per diem) were ridiculous, the plan was inappropriate for the neighborhood, and there were numerous safety issues elided by the plan supporters in public meetings.
Four different local print sources covered the zoning board hearing, with over 100 residents attending (usually they are held in a board room with room for the board + 10 or so attendees). All of the reports followed the same pattern: pro-plan, anti-plan objections, pro-plan responses to objections. This kept up in the local papers for about 3 months. At one point I sent a (unpublished) letter to the editors explaining that by using that format, the papers were favoring the pro-plan group by default, and I did see changes to the format (but only after the county development and full board voted down the proposal).
I used to accept the local papers as neutral until I went through their spin machine, and also found out that most are owned by the larger regional and national chains, who set the tone for the content.
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American Standard
[Read the article: Weekly Standard: Bush has "near dictatorial power"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Quick OT story; had a whirlpool tub from them, where the front panel was the wrong size--we had to open up 4 tubs at the Home Depot until we found one that fit. Then, while looking at the pipes, I saw that they were "fabrique au Canada". So the American Standard was neither American nor Standard.
Kind of like how a compassionite conservative isn't, or how our decider isn't (couldn't even pick his own VP).
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I recall....
[Read the article: Weekly Standard: Bush has "near dictatorial power"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think it was Washington, who stated that the power of the Veto was only to be used when the President felt that the legislation voted by Congress overstepped its Constitutional bounds. If Bush feels that Congress has the right and authority to pull funding from the current military effort, then by what logic does he feel that he has the right to override Congress' Constitutional authority?