American Press ignoring Wisconsin protests

English language Russian TV explains that American press is ignoring the Wisconsin protests - even downplaying the importance of this war.

Nasty Bitch

How long before this gets physical? People can get hurt when you preach hatred and Sarah Palin is instigating just that. God forbid, but this could lead to assassination attempts against candidates or members of the press as some of the more rabid supporters of John McCain get into their six-packs. I'm getting nervous - this isn't just politics any more - it's hatred and it's fear-mongering. Mark my words - this is big trouble.

From the Washington Post...

Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

McCain - An Angry Old Man?

The following from Joe Klein at Time read more by clicking on the link...

The story of the day out here in Minneapolis is the McCain campaign's war against the press. This has been building for some time. Those of us who have criticized the candidate--and especially those of us who enjoyed good relations with McCain in the past--have been subject to off-the-record browbeating and attempted bullying all year. But things have gotten much worse in recent days: there was McCain's rude, bizarre interview with Time Magazine last week. Yesterday, McCain refused to an interview with Larry King, for God's sake, because Campbell Brown had been caught in the commission of journalism on CNN the night before, asking McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds what decisions Sarah Palin had made as commander-in-chief of the Alaska national guard. (There was an answer that the unprepared Bounds didn't have: she had deployed them to fight fires.)

So what's going on here? Two things. McCain is just plain angry at us. By the evidence presented in the utterly revealing Time interview, he's ballistic. This is a politician who needs to see himself as the man on the white horse, boldly traversing a muddy field...any intimations that he's gotten muddied in the process, or has decided to throw mud, are intolerable.

The second thing is more insidious: Steve Schmidt has decided, for tactical reasons, to slime the press. He wants the public to believe that there is an unfair--sexist (you gotta love it)--personal assault going on against Palin and her family. This is a smokescreen, intended to divert attention from the very real and responsible vetting that is taking place in the media--about the substance of Palin's record as mayor and governor.

Our Press Is Pathetic

On the Today show this morning, Arnold Swarzenegger was irritated about last night's Republican debate because none of the candidates addressed any of the details of their plans for the country - and none of the press asked any detailed questions.

Here's another take - "What Are They Waiting For?"

Did You Know - Impressionable Press

From September, 2007 Playboy, p.45, Marginalia-

Martin Kaplan, Associate Dean at the University of So. Cal. Annenberg School for Communications...

"Straight news is not what it used to be. It has fallen into a bizarre notion that substitutes something called 'balance' for what used to be called 'accuracy,' or 'truth,' or 'objectivity.' That may be because of a postmodern malaise in society, in which the notion of a truth doesn't have the same reputation it used to, but, as a consequence, straight journalists both in print and in broadcast media can be played like a piccolo by people who know how to exploit that weakness."

Freedom of the Press

Another of our freedoms shot to shit - President Bush is now buring freedom of the press. From The Progress Report...

"ADMINISTRATION - SOLDIERS BARRED FROM TALKING TO MEDIA AFTER BUSH'S SPEECH: A day after President Bush announced an escalation plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq, he spoke to 300 soldiers in a "teary-eyed" address at Fort Benning, GA. The Washington Post notes that the White House chose Ft. Benning hoping for "an unreservedly enthusiastic reception" to the President's speech, since military bases have usually been "reliable backdrop[s] for the White House." But instead, soldiers gave him only a "quiet response." The Los Angeles Times added that he "received a less enthusiastic reception than has been the case on his past visits to military bases to promote his Iraq policy" and the New York Times observed that the soldiers "clapped politely but showed little of the wild enthusiasm that they ordinarily shower on the commander in chief." Additionally, reporters were prohibited from talking to the soldiers -- many of whom will be deploying to Iraq soon -- after the speech, to "ensure that there would be no discordant notes." Wall Street Journal reporter Yochi Dreazen wrote that "reporters were shooed out of the dining hall by White House aides and public-affairs personnel from the military base, who said that soldiers were now off-limits to the media." Only hours later, after "an angry confrontation with both White House and Fort Benning media-affairs personnel," did the base offer to make a "small number" of selected soldiers available. Reporters, however, had to skip the opportunity because the press plane back to Washington was leaving in less than an hour."

Video - Presidential Humor

The President takes a stab at being funny with the press corps. Probably the saddest moment is when he makes fun of the guy wearing sunglasses - the guy is legally blind.

Poster

The mainstream media seems to have done a lot less invetigative journalism while Bush has been in power. Were they intimidated?