Thursday, May 10, 2012

Smart Guy

A quick post today - two things to say:

1. If you haven't ready articles by Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi yet - read them.  He is one of the best political writers at calling it like he sees it - and more often than not - he's totally on point

2. Taibbi was on CNN today - and said journalists do not think election will be close, only say so to ‘Sell Advertising’ - and he's right.  In just about every poll out there - Obama is beating Romney by double digits - and even beating him in some swing states.  BUT according to the media - this race is oh so close. A great example of the media will play up any story and throw in some added suspense just to pad their bottom-line - even if the story isn't true...


Take a look CNN interview with Taibbi below:

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/matt-taibbi-journalists-do-not-think-election-will-be-close-only-say-so-to-sell-advertising/


Friday, May 4, 2012

Comedians Know Best

Say what you want about the guy - but Stephen Colbert might be the best journalist in America - and he's not a journalist...

Colbert was on The Today Show this morning - in an interview to promote his new "childrens" book.  However - David Gregory first talked to him about the Presidential race and about the politics that Colbert loves to bash every night.

Gregory asked Colbert what he thought the election would come down to - what would be the deciding factor - and Colbert jokingly replied - “It comes down who has been crueler to a dog...Apparently it comes down to whether or not it’s crueler for an adult man to strap a dog to his car and then drive for 12 hours, or for a 10-year-old boy to eat dog given to him by his stepfather. As far as I can tell that’s the biggest differentiation.”

And while this was clearly meant as a joke in typical Colbert style - if you really think about it - it's not much of a joke at all...it's the truth.

Over the course of this endless election cycle - there's been very little talk on issues that actually matter - but a ton of talk on theater of the absurd kind of material.

Early in the process - Herman Cain's inability to keep his junk in his pants turned into a bigger "political issue" than the economy.  The same can be said for Newt too.

And then fast forward a month or two - and a giant bomb is dropped on the American political landscape.  Mitt Romney - the man who could be President - strapped his dog to the roof of his car for 12 hours on a family roadtrip.

Don't get me wrong - anyone who knows me knows I am a complete sucker for dogs - and have had them all my life.  I think what Romney and his family did was deplorable - and Romney really should be arrested for animal cruelty and then some.

BUT - with an economy in turmoil - a broken healthcare system - an environment on the brink of diaster - and our nation involved in never-ending war in Afghanistan - should the media and our society really have allowed "Doggate" to have become such a large issue in the 2012 campaign?

And then - like you knew they would - the Republican Party found a way to strike back at President Obama and the Democrats..duh duh duhhhh.

As a child - on a family vacation to Indonesia - President Obama ate dog that was given to him by his stepfather. It should be noted that like many countries in Asia - dog is a food eaten in Indonesia.

Republicans latched on to this story - and fired back at Obama and the Democrats with all their might - how can a man be President if one time when he was a little child - he tried the native food of his family's homeland?

The point is - neither President Obama eating dog - or Mitt Romney being an animal abuser - are issues that are going to help America overcome the several hurdles it is facing.

And yet - since these have been made into huge issues - and the real issues have had comparatively less debate - Stephen Colbert might be right.

When Americans head to the polls in November - they may very well be forced to decide who to vote for based on who hates dogs more...


See The Today Show interview with Stephen Colbert at the link below:

Colbert Today Show Interview

Say It Like You Mean It

David Frum was a close advisor to the Bush Administration - and was Bush's speechwriter and special assistant between 2001 and 2002.

His time at the White House is probably most memorable for creating the now infamous "axis of evil" term that Bush lived off of for the next 6 years.

Frum is an interesting character. Growing up in Canada - he was originally about as liberal as you could get. He was very active in the liberal party in Canada as a politically active teenager. However - he had an ideology shift and became a Republican around the time he was 20 years old.

This shift in ideologies gives Frum the unique ability to see the political world from both sides - and see political media coverage from both sides.

In recent years - Frum has been incredibly outspoken on the current state of the Republican Party - arguing that it has become a party that essentially works for Conservative media powerhouses like Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.

Similarly - he argues that at the heart of Conservative media - is this need to create conflict out of seemingly nothing issues.  According to Frum - creating these wedge issues is what drives the success - or failure - of Conservative outlets like Fox.

I'm not trying to only bash on Fox here - in recent years - MSNBC and CNN have become very similar - making little things coming out of the Republican Party seem like major issues.

And this is another problem with news media in the US today.  These networks - and talkshow powerhouses like Rush  - are creating issues out of non-issues and basically controlling debate in America.

In a 2010 interview on ABC's Nightline - Frum famously said, "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we're discovering we work for Fox. And this balance has been completely reversed. The thing that sustains a strong Fox network is the thing that undermines a strong Republican Party."

The very notion that a political party and a media outlet could be so inexplicably linked is incredibly scary - and is a consequence of the destruction of real journalism and news in America...

Take a look at this David Frum interview from last year on CNN - he really sums it up well..


Thursday, May 3, 2012

The Mainstream Miss

Every day - a cable news outlet will latch on to one story and run with it all day.  Soon - the other networks will follow - so they can say they had the best coverage on the same story.

For instance - today - a lot of the talk was about last night's episode of Rock Center on NBC - where Brian Williams went inside the so-called Situation Room in the White House - and re-capped the events leading up to the death of Osama Bin Laden.

MSNBC of course lauded the episode for it's hardcore journalism. Fox News of course attacked it, President Obama and NBC for turning the killing of Bin Laden into a political issue.  And CNN chimed in a little too.

Meanwhile - actual news - news that Americans should care about - was happening - but no one was broadcasting it.

For instance - a new study released today revealed CEO pay has increased 127 times faster than regular worker pay over the last 30 years.

That is a startling statistic - and one of the statistics behind why there is so much income inequality in America.  It is one of the reasons President Obama and the current administration wants to create comprehensive tax reform. And despite how startling this fact is - no one talked about it today.

This isn't just an exception. This is the norm.  Mainstream media in America misses so much actual news everyday - news that matters - while they repeat over and over again the one story they think is the most important thing ever...

The Fox on The Left

Mediaite published a story today talking about how Al Qaeda thought MSNBC was "neutral" until it decided to fire Keith Olbermann. The original article link is below...

http://www.mediaite.com/online/osama-bin-laden-thought-msnbc-neutral-until-keith-olbermann-firing/

This got me to thinking - has MSNBC really ever been a neutral cable news network? Sure, maybe 10 years ago it was - and maybe at it's inception that was the goal. But let's be honest - MSNBC is not a neutral news network. MSNBC has become the Fox-Not-News of the Left. 

It's no secret Fox News is the mouth of the Republican Party - pretty much every word that comes out of the network is critical of President Obama or the Democratic Party in one way or another.

But the same political favoritism can be said of MSNBC. Chris Matthews and Lawrence O'Donnell and the rest of the crew attack the Republican Party on a regular basis. 

This is the problem with cable news media in America today.  There is no news.  What settles for "news" are political talking points from either the Left or the Right, and a constant stream of opinion and criticism.

As a result - those who watch "the news" form their own political beliefs based on half-truths and misinformation - which in turn leads to one incredibly uninformed and misguided electorate...

Where has true journalism - a straight narration of the facts and of the issues - gone? Because it sure isn't on America's television screens....