GE/NBC with Brian Williams did two things tonight of interest to the Kos community. We'll take the second item first: GE/NBC/BW invited viewers to e-mail them, and aired a couple of e-mails--quite possibly a move to try to appeal to the wired set.
But ahead of that, predictably, Brian Williams carried a story on Ned Lamont's victory over Joe Lieberman. Only the story was skewed with a megadose of Republican spin--featuring dominant interpretation by--not Democrats--but republican strategist Grover Norquist. But, for journalism, it was not just falling prey to the republican spin--but the gross incompetence of news researchers by not at least putting in a warning label in the newscrawl (jump)
An objective journalist would have at least mentioned some of the major details about Norquist that any 5 minute google-search would have turned up. So for starters, you can e-mail Brian Williams and his "research staff" some reminders about Norquist:
1) Norquist is so tied to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff that Norquist himself is the subject of a federal investigation. If you want to quote sources with dubious credibility, you should at least warn the public in the newscrawl, at the very least. Reminder: Abramoff's investigation is a very Republican Affair.
2) Norquist is on the board of directors of the National Rifle Association. Having an extreme conservative commenting on Democratic politics, and criticizing Lamont supporters as left-wing extremists, at least deserves to have the source better identified. As seen by the voting, some people are still not convinced that the war is the major issue--as in the 1960's, they will wait until kids start coming home to their neighborhoods in body bags before they get really upset about it.
3) Norquist is connected with Newt "Contract for America" Gingrich, the zoologist-turned-legislator whose string ran out sometime after Ronald Reagan's "Revolution" was discovered to be double-dealing behind the scenes with Iran, in the arms-for-hostages deal.
Maybe Kosers can e-mail Brian Williams the contact information for Howard Dean, Rahm Emmanuel, Ted Kennedy, or Nancy Pelosi. And by the way, Williams and his crack staff did not mention that GE owns some key defense and contracting facilities in Connecticut, and thus, as they say down South, the corporation has a "dog in the race."
I expect Media Matters for America, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) and other media watchdog groups will point out some of the discrepancies by the establishment media in their pro-Lieberman coverage of the loss. But, since Brian Williams is asking for e-mail, it might be useful for their staff to be reminded that the web community is watching, and as are as unhappy about the irresponsible press as they are about irresponsible legislators.