Bias, we ain't got no stinkn bias!

http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/20/documents-show-media-plotting-to-kill-stories-about-rev-jeremiah-wright/

It was the moment of greatest peril for then-Sen. Barack Obama’s political career. In the heat of the presidential campaign, videos surfaced of Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, angrily denouncing whites, the U.S. government and America itself. Obama had once bragged of his closeness to Wright. Now the black nationalist preacher’s rhetoric was threatening to torpedo Obama’s campaign.

The crisis reached a howling pitch in mid-April, 2008, at an ABC News debate moderated by Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos. Gibson asked Obama why it had taken him so long – nearly a year since Wright’s remarks became public – to dissociate himself from them. Stephanopoulos asked, “Do you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do?”

Watching this all at home were members of Journolist, a listserv comprised of several hundred liberal journalists, as well as like-minded professors and activists. The tough questioning from the ABC anchors left many of them outraged. “George [Stephanopoulos],” fumed Richard Kim of the Nation, is “being a disgusting little rat snake.”

Others went further. According to records obtained by The Daily Caller, at several points during the 2008 presidential campaign a group of liberal journalists took radical steps to protect their favored candidate. Employees of news organizations including Time, Politico, the Huffington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Guardian, Salon and the New Republic participated in outpourings of anger over how Obama had been treated in the media, and in some cases plotted to fix the damage.

In one instance, Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent urged his colleagues to deflect attention from Obama’s relationship with Wright by changing the subject. Pick one of Obama’s conservative critics, Ackerman wrote, “Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists.”

Michael Tomasky, a writer for the Guardian, also tried to rally his fellow members of Journolist: “Listen folks–in my opinion, we all have to do what we can to kill ABC and this idiocy in whatever venues we have. This isn’t about defending Obama. This is about how the [mainstream media] kills any chance of discourse that actually serves the people.”

“Richard Kim got this right above: ‘a horrible glimpse of general election press strategy.’ He’s dead on,” Tomasky continued. “We need to throw chairs now, try as hard as we can to get the call next time. Otherwise the questions in October will be exactly like this. This is just a disease.”

(In an interview Monday, Tomasky defended his position, calling the ABC debate an example of shoddy journalism.)

Thomas Schaller, a columnist for the Baltimore Sun as well as a political science professor, upped the ante from there. In a post with the subject header, “why don’t we use the power of this list to do something about the debate?” Schaller proposed coordinating a “smart statement expressing disgust” at the questions Gibson and Stephanopoulos had posed to Obama.

“It would create quite a stir, I bet, and be a warning against future behavior of the sort,” Schaller wrote.

Tomasky approved. “YES. A thousand times yes,” he exclaimed.

The members began collaborating on their open letter. Jonathan Stein of Mother Jones rejected an early draft, saying, “I’d say too short. In my opinion, it doesn’t go far enough in highlighting the inanity of some of [Gibson's] and [Stephanopoulos’s] questions. And it doesn’t point out their factual inaccuracies …Our friends at Media Matters probably have tons of experience with this sort of thing, if we want their input.”

Jared Bernstein, who would go on to be Vice President Joe Biden’s top economist when Obama took office, helped, too. The letter should be “Short, punchy and solely focused on vapidity of gotcha,” Bernstein wrote.

In the midst of this collaborative enterprise, Holly Yeager, now of the Columbia Journalism Review, dropped into the conversation to say “be sure to read” a column in that day’s Washington Post that attacked the debate.

Columnist Joe Conason weighed in with suggestions. So did Slate contributor David Greenberg, and David Roberts of the website Grist. Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism at Columbia University, helped too.

Journolist members signed the statement and released it April 18, calling the debate “a revolting descent into tabloid journalism and a gross disservice to Americans concerned about the great issues facing the nation and the world.”

The letter caused a brief splash and won the attention of the New York Times. But only a week later, Obama – and the journalists who were helping him – were on the defensive once again.

Jeremiah Wright was back in the news after making a series of media appearances. At the National Press Club, Wright claimed Obama had only repudiated his beliefs for “political reasons.” Wright also reiterated his charge that the U.S. federal government had created AIDS as a means of committing genocide against African Americans.

It was another crisis, and members of Journolist again rose to help Obama.

Chris Hayes of the Nation posted on April 29, 2008, urging his colleagues to ignore Wright. Hayes directed his message to “particularly those in the ostensible mainstream media” who were members of the list.

The Wright controversy, Hayes argued, was not about Wright at all. Instead, “It has everything to do with the attempts of the right to maintain control of the country.”

Hayes castigated his fellow liberals for criticizing Wright. “All this hand wringing about just
how awful and odious Rev. Wright remarks are just keeps the hustle going.”

“Our country disappears people. It tortures people. It has the blood of as many as one million Iraqi civilians — men, women, children, the infirmed — on its hands. You’ll forgive me if I just can’t quite dredge up the requisite amount of outrage over Barack Obama’s pastor,” Hayes wrote.

Hayes urged his colleagues – especially the straight news reporters who were charged with covering the campaign in a neutral way – to bury the Wright scandal. “I’m not saying we should all rush en masse to defend Wright. If you don’t think he’s worthy of defense, don’t defend him! What I’m saying is that there is no earthly reason to use our various platforms to discuss what about Wright we find objectionable,” Hayes said.

(Reached by phone Monday, Hayes argued his words then fell on deaf ears. “I can say ‘hey I don’t think you guys should cover this,’ but no one listened to me.”)

Katha Pollitt – Hayes’s colleague at the Nation – didn’t disagree on principle, though she did sound weary of the propaganda. “I hear you. but I am really tired of defending the indefensible. The people who attacked Clinton on Monica were prissy and ridiculous, but let me tell you it was no fun, as a feminist and a woman, waving aside as politically irrelevant and part of the vast rightwing conspiracy Paula, Monica, Kathleen, Juanita,” Pollitt said.

“Part of me doesn’t like this **** either,” agreed Spencer Ackerman, then of the Washington Independent. “But what I like less is being governed by racists and warmongers and criminals.”

Ackerman went on:

I do not endorse a Popular Front, nor do I think you need to. It’s not necessary to jump to Wright-qua-Wright’s defense. What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. In other words, find a rightwinger’s [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically.

And I think this threads the needle. If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down, no matter what we choose, we lose the game they’ve put upon us. Instead, take one of them — Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists. Ask: why do they have such a deep-seated problem with a black politician who unites the country? What lurks behind those problems? This makes *them* sputter with rage, which in turn leads to overreaction and self-destruction.

Ackerman did allow there were some Republicans who weren’t racists. “We’ll know who doesn’t deserve this treatment — Ross Douthat, for instance — but the others need to get it.” He also said he had begun to implement his plan. “I previewed it a bit on my blog last week after Commentary wildly distorted a comment Joe Cirincione made to make him appear like (what else) an antisemite. So I said: why is it that so many on the right have such a problem with the first viable prospective African-American president?”

Several members of the list disagreed with Ackerman – but only on strategic grounds.

“Spencer, you’re wrong,” wrote Mark Schmitt, now an editor at the American Prospect. “Calling Fred Barnes a racist doesn’t further the argument, and not just because Juan Williams is his new black friend, but because that makes it all about character. The goal is to get to the point where you can contrast some _thing_ — Obama’s substantive agenda — with this crap.”

(In an interview Monday, Schmitt declined to say whether he thought Ackerman’s plan was wrong. “That is not a question I’m going to answer,” he said.)

Kevin Drum, then of Washington Monthly, also disagreed with Ackerman’s strategy. “I think it’s worth keeping in mind that Obama is trying (or says he’s trying) to run a campaign that avoids precisely the kind of thing Spencer is talking about, and turning this into a gutter brawl would probably hurt the Obama brand pretty strongly. After all, why vote for him if it turns out he’s not going change the way politics works?”

But it was Ackerman who had the last word. “Kevin, I’m not saying OBAMA should do this. I’m saying WE should do this.”

Glad to see you back

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

What's with the troll insinuation?

If memory serves haven't you spent the last four or five years of arrested adolescence matriculating with regard to media? And when I post a link to reporting which exposes the heretofore denied ulterior motivations and machinations of media players pursuing a coordinated campaign of disinformation under the guise of journalist freedom and integrity; that prompts you to go out of your way to post such a response. You aren't capable of anything more that the baseless insinuations of trolling or troll like behavior?

You ought to delete your post lest someone who has help pay for your years of schooling, room and board see's what that investment has returned and compounds their disappointment further.

Wow man... like a moth to the flame...

Hope you enjoy your current visit to the forum

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

regarding schooling:

1. improper use of semicolon. ( you should never link two dependent clauses with a semicolon; instead, link only two independent clauses with semicolon. [ wich i just did for you, as an example. ])

2, help. improper tense. suggested usage: helped.

3. see's. no possessive to be seen here. "sees" is proper form of the verb.

back to your post, thanks for letting us know about this diabolical conspiracy that has been launched by the "lamestream" media. we will all rest easier.

( i kind of like reverend wright; isn't he a veteran? )

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

Yeah! Just like Adolf Hitler!

I only graduated high school, left home at age 17 and began a career learning how to and killing communists so that today I can have someone more aptly suited enrich their own miserable existence by proof reading for grammar and punctuation my contributions here.

P.S it’s “lame stream” two words and the word is spelled “which” not “wich” or are you still engaged in that peculiar infatuation aping your favorite McCarthy supporter? Someone somewhere must be proud!

wow, godwin's law and ad hominems. nice work.

McCarthy? yes, Joe McCarthy is a hero. the baseball manager, managed the yankees from '31 to '46, won four straight world series, from '36 to '39.

i picked 23 days in the office pool.

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

You must have known him intimately!?
Looks more like someone who keeps biting off more then he can chew ...

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BillyBob, it has become the norm on here that when a few of the "obsessed" members disagree with someone, the only rebuttle is to call you a troll. I find it best to watch them waste their lives forcing their opionions on others. Best just to sit back and enjoy the show, funny as hell. And when someone criticizes your formation of a sentence or says "you spell bad" their done, but just don't realize it. Why stoop to their level? I see your passionate about your believes, why waste your time on these people.

Obsessed? Don't think so... I don't mind BillyBob one bit, and welcome his opinions. However certain threads seem fairly obvious that they are simply created to illicit responses from those who disagree politically. The "Tea Party Racist" thread is anther great example of that, which I would also characterize as a troll thread. As I've said many times before, bias in journalism is nothing new. IMO spinning it into a conspiracy theory of sorts is a politically charged stretch, but I see that OD's normal political commentators have taken over at this point

Just needed to clear up that my "troll post" wasn't intended to be a personal attack on BillyBob by any means, simply MY opinion on the thread CONTENT, which I still adhere to. I'm glad to see you back BillyBob, along with your posts/opinions - good reading.

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Troll thread? It's a relevant, in the news topic. Did your TV go out or something?

Journalism bias is a breaking story, yes. This post seems to have gone completely unnoticed in this thread, but frames the whole thing rather nicely: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=2510759&postcount=35

Maybe I'm just not the least bit surprised by this stuff anymore. :shrug:

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Then how is it you've failed to post similar insinuations regarding the “Tea Party Racists” thread? You've obviously been aware the thread existed, you now cite it as "a great example" of threads "simply created to illicit responses from those who disagree politically" a "troll thread", in fact you even posted to that very thread but despite what you want everyone to believe now, you made absolutely no effort to include in your post any "troll' references, no troll pictures regarding that original poster?

The truth is and my response to your post in that thread hopefully illuminates what was that you simply and reflexively jumped on the opportunity to disparage the posting of a thread for which despite your avocation you had virtually nothing of substance to offer. Now the claim is “wasn't intended to be a personal attack on BillyBob by any means” and was “simply MY opinion on the thread CONTENT”, despite the post containing not a single syllable as to any “CONTENT”. It’s not about whether you like or dislike anyone it’s whether people can muster the character and conviction to treat others as they would want others to treat them. This is not a religious ideal or platitude, because when an individual finds themselves in circumstance where there are no rules, no enforcement, not pressure to act a certain way, what does remain is their internal understanding of self which might be all they have to draw upon when deciding how to act.

The truth is I couldn't care less who you are or what you think, but I would never and I mean never stoop so low as to use what "Troll and Rant" have become too many on this forum simply a means to limit yours or anyone else's speech. Of late there has been both an increase of the use of this tactic and almost a concerted effort by one faction to pile-on in doing so. The ultimate goal in these cases is to delegitimize the speech and speaker and almost more insidiously to excuse/encourage the disparate application of infraction discretion which unfortunately has increasingly become the norm.

The fundamental truth is that ultimately everyone is deprived when that happens. I’ve only been here 8 or nine years and have never once ever contacted an OD moderator or complained that someone’s posting is delegitmit or should be removed. I have always argued that moderation should be a last resort, should be impartially administered and transparent as possible; as result I have made and lost allies and enemies in both of the ideological camps, as well as moderators past and present.

As has been stated many times no one should fear the expressed opinions of another, no one forces anyone to consider them and certainly no one forces anyone to agree or disagree with them.

My self-commitment/principal is to never delete or substantively alter my posts, it hopefully encourages me to be more thoughtful and consistent about what I do post knowing that it will be there always for others to agree or disagree with and hold me to account for; it’s like life where there are no take-backs, no un-ringing of a bell once rung.

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