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Monday, May 02, 2005
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? I
considered not posting this simply because I have nothing intelligent
to add. (Okay, that's never stopped me before.) As you may already
know, the New York Times today has a report
on the Bush administration's concerted efforts to drag public
television to the right.
The leader of this crusade is the
head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson,
who has a thing for Bill Moyers. Yes, Moyers is an unabashed
liberal. Yet the right manages to overlook the presence of conservatives like John McLaughlin and Tucker Carlson, and the centrist/conservative
(in the old-fashioned sense of being deferential to power)
NewsHour.
It's depressing and dispiriting.
But entirely predictable.
ON NOT GETTING IT. Mitch
Albom is feeling very,
very sorry - mainly for
himself. I'm glad he wasn't fired for his recent lapse of judgment,
even if that lapse was a lot more serious than he seems to think it
was. (Earth to Mitch: it wasn't a "careless mistake." It was
fabrication.)
But he'd have been better off
saying nothing than offering this non-apology apology.
THE EASIER OPTION.
Drudge
claims MSNBC is going to change its name to the NBC News Channel.
Simpler than changing the programming, I suppose.
posted at 11:52 AM |
8 comments
|
link
8 Comments:
>> the Bush administration's concerted efforts to drag public television to the right. <<
Or, he could just be bringing it to the center. (Depending on your perspective.)
Outside of Frontline I don't deal with PBS news much anymore. Wash and Wall St Week aren't as good as they used to be[Gwenn Ifill must go]. I'd never give "Bowtie" a chance. The WSJ show starring P.Gigot--I don't think so. Maybe when Lerher/McLaughlin go,they should take the whole net with them.
DK,
you're the pro so I will defer but I don't see the earthshaking tragedy of Albom. Lazy, yes. Treacly in the Joe Fitz mold even. But evil? I don't think so. The Globe gets cut slack for repeated mistakes which no one with a passing acquaintance with the city would make. Why? Because their intentions were good.I've just learned to live with writers who know Falujah better than Framingham. Does Albom deserve less?
Something called "NBC News Channel" already exists. It looks like some sort of satellite feed to affiliates.
http://newschannel.nbc.com
Re: Albom. I already said I didn't think he should have been fired for that one offense. But let's get a clue here: He made stuff up. There are only two hanging offenses in this business, fabricating and plagiarizing. And Albom is guilty of one of them. I'd let him off mainly because, as far as we know, this is his only lapse in a long career, and because his editors were complicit in this. But let's not go all wobbly-kneed on behalf of Albom, okay?
Ron - The link you provide takes you to a site that is apparently for the internal use of NBC affiliates, to let them know what's coming. Interesting that NBC puts this up on a public site.
Hactackular Howie Cites DK -- What Did you Expect?.
Corporate Media whore Howard Kurtz looks hither and yon for a liberal who has some praise for the banquet of bullshit that Dubya served in last week's press briefing.
Who does he find?
A grand total of 2 pundits including, yes, liberal warrior Dan Kennedy!
And wouldn't you know, Hacktackular Howie quotes exactly the same passage I criticized here in ML.
To Dan, Mike Kinsley and all the other so-called "liberals" who are afraid to fight:
George W. Bush and the Republican Right have nothing but contempt for people who do not think and believe exactly as they do.
George W. Bush and the Republican Right will do or say absolutely anything to gain sufficient power to force their views and beliefs on all Americans, and to eliminate freedoms that do not comply with their extremist ideology.
They will spend millions to smear any individual, attack spouses and children, steal elections, abuse homeland security, expose undercover CIA operatives, and lie without the slightest compunction.
They will join forced with KKK-affiliated racists, segregationists, America-haters, anti-semites, televangelist bigots, and America's sworn enemies.
In this era of corporate media whores and weaklings who call themselves "progressive," it's no surprise that the most rigorous and intellectually honest media criticism is being produced by John Stewart --a comedian.
Contempt by the craven
For at least three years Microsoft has wanted out of its investment in MSNBC. Perhaps it finally severed the connection. GE is loathe to exorcise any losing airwaves, even if they only get 10,000 viewers a night, the current mindset is to play to vacuum. Murdochian it is.
Corporate media whores notwithstanding, nor sleazy press barons, or any other types, it has never been truer than at this minute that "if you build it they will come." Sloth has infiltrated the media/press and no matter how hard the powers may try, shaking the national sludge remains difficult. Way too much WH bullshit. They are buried by volume.
MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
