Media

Along with most who watched, I found the YouTube CNN debate last night to be a great idea, well-executed. The questions were sharp, relevant and reflected fresh thinking that is so often absent in the normal pack of journalism.

They also raised a disturbing question for those of us who travel in the pack: Who needs us? Hell, anybody can be a reporter.

Anybody, that is, who can tolerate the incredibly long hours of tedium, dealing with the hostility of newsmakers and their paid protectors, who don't want you to get your story.  Read more...

The great feature about the blogosphere is that everyone has an equal voice. Of course that’s the great problem too. Because, let’s face it: A whole lot of people who spout off online are cyberspace cadets. They have no Earthly idea what they’re talking about.

So now we come to the CNN-YouTube-debate debate: The Internet faithful are going bonkers. How dare CNN for insisting on deciding which questions to ask? That should be left up to a popular vote.

It’s hard to argue that the traditional media have often frittered away their credibility. They are frequently at the same time establishment elitists and panderers with their incessant coverage of trivialities like Paris Hilton. Read more...

10. Do Democratic primary voters really want candidates like John Edwards and Barack Obama who speak fondly of the Great Society? In a word: yes.

9. Why do we demand from government absolute security against terrorism but are so tolerant about other government negligence that can also result in random harm, such as the broken steam pipe that resulted in injury and death in New York City? Mayor Bloomberg pays no price for failing to maintain an aging and dangerous infrastructure, but would be heavily criticized if the damage were done by terrorists.

8. Isn’t it a risky strategy for a candidate’s wife, Elizabeth Edwards, to attack another candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton? Can’t John Edwards do his own attacking?   Read more...

As a long-term investor in General Electric, this morning I contacted the office of the corporate secretary to the board of directors and sent a letter to be forwarded to the full board. I called for General Electric to put MSNBC up for sale, in a public auction, and to consider offers that are significantly above the current market value of MSNBC.

In the future I might well invite other citizens who might own GE stock (check your own stock and retirement portfolios) to join in a formal shareholder action.

While countless Americans feel disenfranchised and often insulted by current cable news, all shareholders have the right to support formal resolutions that would require change, and to publicly address questions to management and the board of directors at annual meetings. Read more...

10.    How can liberal Democrats be so outraged about President Bush commuting Scooter Libby’s jail sentence (but not his fine or conviction), yet be so sanguine about President Bill Clinton doing basically the same thing (lying to a grand jury)  and escaping any sanction at all? Indeed, he is now the toast of the town and slated to become our next co-president. Shouldn’t a president be held to a higher standard than anyone else?

9.    If the economy is so bad, why are lines so long to buy a new telephone costing upwards of $700? Is this a great country or what?

8.    Did the concern about “too much money in politics” evaporate when Democratic candidates began out-raising Republicans in this year’s presidential campaign?  Read more...

Three people made the news in a big way last week. All received mounds of news coverage. It’s too bad, because none of them really has anything worthwhile to say. It just proves yet again that ours is a celebrity culture where outrageous behavior and opinions are enough to make you famous.

PARIS HILTON got out of jail and gave a one-hour interview to CNN. Unfortunately, she had about 10 minutes of things to say and then began again, and again, and, well, you get the idea. I know she’s an easy target, but her whole life is devoted to personal PR, so she can’t really complain when we focus critically on her. Let’s just say we hope she’ll do more with her life than party the nights away, but we’ll see. Count us as skeptics.

ANN COULTER got into another smackdown with the Edwards family, this time with Elizabeth Edwards, who called her during an appearance on "Hardball." In this case, both used the other for their own purposes. Coulter got headlines, yet again, for boorish and quite offensive comments (this time it was something like, “I hope John Edwards gets killed in a terrorist attack.” Ha ha). Read more...

In this video, John Feehery backs his support for Dick Cheney, in light of The Washington Post's recent series on the vice president.

There are two sides to every issue. Unless, of course, you’re a conservative.

For conservatives, there’s only one side to every issue — and only one point of view that should ever be heard on the airwaves.

Conservatives, in fact, are panicking over a talk radio study released by the Center for American Progress that shows that there are nine hours of right-wing talk radio for every one hour of progressive talk.

Nobody disputes the accuracy of the Center’s findings. But now that the cat’s out of the bag, conservatives are afraid the FCC might take action. So Indiana Republican Rep. Mike Pence has introduced in Congress what he calls the “Broadcaster Freedom Act” — which bans the FCC from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine — and he claims to be picking up lots of cosponsors among fellow Republicans. Read more...

5. LESS discussion of quarterly fundraising totals. When did the chief fundraisers or bundlers become the most important people in a national campaign? The national media is fixated on money in politics (very bad) but covers the subject all out of proportion to its importance. The fact is that past big-money candidates have included John Connelly, John Glenn, Mario Cuomo (he never ran), and Phil Gramm, and none of them ever were elected.

4. MORE plaudits for politicians who are willing to take principled positions at real political cost to themselves. We say we want legislators who stand up for what they really believe, but when they do, we ridicule them for having a tin political ear. I’m speaking of people like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who believes in comprehensive immigration reform, and Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), who believes that troops in the field should be funded, not abandoned. The mainstream media is all too willing to join the “How dumb can they be?" chorus even as they lament the lack of “principled” political figures.  Read more...

Am I wrong or do you agree that Paris Hilton would be a terrific TV anchorwoman? I mean, she has what it takes: She's blond. And she clearly has the intellect for it.

Yes, I know. That was a cheap shot. But cheap shots seem to be all around us. Take the New York Times and its series on Rupert Murdoch.

Far be it for me to defend his media. But the charges that they pander more than report are old news. And so are the accusations that Murdoch compromises them in the name of his business interests.

But here we have the New York Times fitting into print a series that regurgitates those charges just when Rupert Murdoch just HAPPENS to be involved in a bidding struggle to obtain one of the Times's main competitors. What an amazing coincidence. What an opening for Murdoch's people to claim that the reports were examples of precisely the same conduct they were alleging.  Read more...