‘‘We Must Do Something About The Media’’

Ace:

...What we are witnessing is the full and seamless fusion of media power with government power.
...
[Today] the media considers its adversarial function to consist of serving as adversaries to critics of Obama and the Democrats; thus Terry Moran shaming himself by rushing out to ask what right a Senator has to question the Secretary of State on matters of foreign policy.

They do not consider themselves required to exert any adversarial pressure on governmental power itself...

This is dark, and dangerous, and will lead to horrors.  It always has led to horrors before.

Meanwhile: From Europe, a very ‘‘European’’ approach:

A group reporting to the European Commission has recommended the regulation of the media and bloggers. It also called for the creation of several new regulatory apparatus for fining, monitoring and chivvying the Press.
...
‘‘Fair legal regulation is necessary, balancing the new dimension of freedom of expression and the justified rights and interests of other citizens,’’ the group declared in a new report.

‘‘Any new regulatory frameworks must be brought into line with the new reality of a fluid media environment, covering all types of journalistic activities, regardless of the transmission medium.’’

Then the report’s writers take a sharp turn into suggested punishments for hacks who irritate the powers that be, namely fines, grovelling apologies and the ability to stop reporters from doing their job:

All EU countries should have independent media councils. Media councils should have real enforcement powers, such as the imposition of fines, orders for printed or broadcast apologies, or removal of journalistic status.

...
The report recommends the creation of a ‘‘European fundamental rights agency’’ with ‘‘a monitoring role of national-level freedom and pluralism of the media’’.  In addition, we’re told ‘‘a network of national audio-visual regulatory authorities should be created, on the model of the one created by the electronic communications framework.  It would help in sharing common good practices and set quality standards’’.
...
The high-level group [also] told member states that taxpayers should bail out incompetent or irrelevant media businesses, although naturally there would be a beauty contest first (the emphasis is ours):

There should be a provision of state funding for media which are essential for pluralism (including geographical, linguistic, cultural and political pluralism), but are not commercially viable.  The state should intervene whenever there is a market failure leading to the under-provision of pluralism, which should be considered as a key public good.

...
The aforementioned proposals are the tip of an iceberg...

The Europeans are waiting for a mandate.  The Americans have already volunteered.


Related:

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 20:48:43 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Call ’em on it

...Dude, the fact that you’re angry doesn’t give you some sort of a pass from the norms of civil society.  Or, if it does, be prepared to tolerate a lot of things that you’ll find intolerable.  Because, you know, a lot of people are angry. - Glenn Reynolds

What I want to to know is whether ‘‘t[ying politicians]... to the back of a Chevy pickup truck and drag[ging] them around a parking lot until they [see] the light...’’ is viewed as acceptable by the Des Moines Register, and whether they (and their parent, Gannett Corporation) believe the same treatment would be fair if meted out to our less-enlightened newspaper editors and columnists.

Just to establish some boundaries, you know.

RELATED, update (130101 02:00):

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 17:19:33 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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You *could* stop right there...

Glenn Reynolds:

Could it be that the Editorial Board of the Washington Post is a pack of pathetic political hacks

Yes.

Oh wait, he’s not finished...

...pathetic political hacks who’ll engage in racial hate speech in order to advance the White House’s agenda?

‘‘...the White House’s Democrat agenda...’’ FIFY: Offer void when White House is occupied by a Republican.

Apparently, whole swathes of the electorate are illegitimate just because of their birth.  If you really believe that, you’re doing more to promote division than anyone who signs a dumb White House petition for secession. Disgraceful.

They really do believe.  As I said, yes.

LATER, elsewhere (121124):

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 16:30:35 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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...we’d be getting stories like these.

If the mainstream media was based in the South:

• "Should we pay to rebuild NYC?”
• "If a Cat 1 does this what is going to happen when it gets hit by a real hurricane?”
• "What were these people thinking building all this stuff right on the coast?”
• "What idiots stayed behind when they were told to evacuate?”

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 15:00:56 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Why not? After all, they hired Walter Duranty...

Tom Maguire:

(via Glenn)

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 17:24:11 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Fifth Columnists

Mark Steyn

Elderly Soviet propagandists must be wondering why they wasted their time jamming radio transmitters and smashing printing presses when they could just have sent everyone to Columbia Journalism School.

Via: Kate

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 01:54:17 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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When it comes to “Fast and Furious,” blame Bush...

The Associated Press:

Mexican federal police announced Friday that they have arrested a suspect in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, the slaying at the center of the scandal over the botched U.S. gun-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious.
...
In Operation Fast and Furious and at least three earlier probes during the administration of President George W. Bush, agents in Arizona employed a risky tactic called gun-walking...

Andy at Ace Of Spades notes:

Guess whose names they don't mention in the entire article.

But the failure here goes beyond not mentioning anyone named Barak Obama or Eric Holder: AP’s (intentionally?) sloppy language seems tailored to leave the impression that Operation Fast and Furious and the "three earlier probes” were all Bush-administration operations.

There’s nothing like journalistic accuracy.  Too bad this is nothing like journalistic accuracy.


UPDATE, related (120915, 15:30):

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 16:17:30 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Pushing the liberal agenda...

Big Journalism:

"Legitimate Voters Blocked by Photo ID Laws” read the headline of a July 10 Associated Press article. Sounds pretty damning.  It turns out, though, that the article lacked key information about [the] two Indiana voters that might have changed the whole tenor of the story.  The reporter, Mike Baker, failed to reveal that the voters in question actually have photo IDs and have used them in previous elections.

Whoops!  And they also have passports (which work as voter IDs in Indiana).  And the two are also over 65, meaning they could have voted absentee without an ID.  And they were actually allowed to vote provisionally, as the law provides.  Etc., etc,

None of which were included in Baker’s report.

Anyone surprised by this?  Anyone at all?

Via Gary Welsh, who notes:

This is yet another example of why you simply cannot trust anything you read in the mainstream media any more.  These reporters have a leftist agenda, and they won’t allow the facts to get in the way of their predetermined narrative, even if that requires reporting outright lies to the public.

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 17:57:35 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hey NBC, thin skin, huh...?

and so much for freedom of speech...

Elsewhere:

Later (120731 22:05):
(Via Ace sidebar.)

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 17:39:53 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Dear NBC Olympics “commentators”

(Last night’s opening broadcast was like watching a movie while seated between a couple of clowns on cell phones describing every moment to their buddies on the other end.  Catchphrase: "As you just said...”  Ugh.)

Elsewhere:

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 16:21:00 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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