In 1997 James Fallows wrote a seminal analysis and indictment of the Media Heathers, Breaking the News.
A Random House site on Breaking the News shares several takes on Fallows' scathing report on the state of modern political "journalism":
"Important and lucid...It moves smartly beyond the usual attacks on sensationalism and bias to the more profound problems in modern American journalism...dead-on."
-- Newsweek
"An arresting analysis.... Fallows is a true reformer... [His] points seem indisputable."
-- The New York Times
"An unsparing indictment...ambitious coherent, and convincing."
-- The Boston Globe
"A particularly lucid, intelligent and important critique."
-- The San Francisco Chronicle
A little while ago, on NPR's "All Things Considered" political correspondent Maura Liasson reminded me -- yet again -- just how right Fallows is and what a shallow hack Liasson's become.
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Another Darling of Fox News AND National Public Radio, Maura Liasson.
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In her report on the upcoming Presidential Debate, the second of three between Barack Obama and John McCain, Liasson made us remember that she is, indeed, a darling of Fox News, to wit: when she told us about John McCain she informed us that McCain -
"Must raise doubts about his (Obama's) ability to lead (the United States)."
Maybe it's just me, but I find this loathsome and detestable on so many levels.
Liasson didn't say: "McCain will try to avoid talking about why Americans are rejecting his, and the Republican Party's, economic record, reflected in the meltdown of the economy over the past several weeks."
No, she advised what she believes McCain "must" do.
Liasson didn't say: "McCain will likely try to avoid talking about the economic maelstrom caused by deregulation and a lack of oversight of Wall Street, two of his favorite positions throughout his political life."
No, she advised what she believes McCain "must" do.
Liasson didn't say: "For McCain to sell his economic plan and vision to Americans he's going to have a tall order, given that his and the Republican Party's plan and vision appears to have been at the heart of the economic disaster befalling the United States and spilling-out into the world economy."
No, she advised what she believes McCain "must" do.
Liasson didn't say: "McCain may try to dodge taking any blame for his own, as well as President Bush's and his party's role in creating the unregulated, 'anything goes', Wall Street environment which has now lead to an economic nightmare that's rocking global markets and causing Main Street worries."
No, she advised what she believes McCain "must" do.
Liasson and NPR's "All Things Considered" have now become the WORST form of Media Heather hackery.
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We all "get" that broadcast news is shallow and vapid.
We all "get" that Fox and 99% of the rest of cable "news" are mere mouthpieces for the Republican Party.
What's even more insidious is National Public Radio -- what was once the foundation of Integrity in Reporting -- has now become as vapid as broadcast news and as willing to carry GOP water as Fox.
This is, really, a national tragedy. Not Maura's disgusting "shout out" for her hero, McCain; not for her deliberately ignoring and/or endorsing McCain's own craven ways. No, it's a national tragedy because Liasson and everything about her signals the death of the last real bastion anything resembling mature, objective reporting, on a national level, in the United States.
BenGoshi
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