Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

GOP Stuck with Monster Trump

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Previous Related Posts:
Trump Triumphant So Far
Palin Endorses Trump
Trump Misogyny - the Schlong and Short of It
Trump Jumps the Shark with Facism
Trump Gives Helicopter Rides at Iowa State Fair
Trump's Hair and Other Viral Memes

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The far-right and their Fox Noise Machine created Trump, and now they know they are stuck with him. If he loses, they lose to the Democrats. But if he wins, they still lose because they have to work with him and kiss up to him forever. There is no way to really win.











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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Media False Equivalence Fails During Shutdown

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The American people think they're a bunch of kids playing in a sand box and neither side is covering itself in glory. I must say this whole business of "I won't negotiate with a gun to your head" is - actually, I'd rather negotiate with a gun to my head than to have somebody shoot me, and I think that's where they could end up if they don't sit down and talk. So both sides really do need it.
~ Cokie Roberts on ABC This Week, via Sam Seder on YouTube

Let's parse what Cokie Roberts said . . . who is the "they" in that analogy? Who is the "they?" It's the Republican Party. She has conceded they are holding a weapon to the head. And who is the person who has the gun to their head? It's not President Obama in this scenario. It's not the Democrats. The Democrats don't lose particularly if the Republicans refuse to stop the government shutdown. They don't lose particularly if the debt ceiling is not raised. It's the American people who lose! They are the ones with a gun to their head! Not the Democrats, not the President.
Under her analogy, the people with the gun to their heads is the American public. And they're not in a position to negotiate with the Republicans. If this is just about winning for Cokie Roberts, then the Democrats and the White House have absolutely no incentive to do this. Because if the Republicans "shoot" the American people in the head, I imagine to the extent that there are benefits, it's going to acrue to the Democrats. Because Americans don't like to be shot in the head. It hurts when you get shot in the head.
. . . We should all remember Green Eggs and Ham (read by Ted Cruz during his filibuster). Maybe if you get shot in the head, you'll like it!
~ Sam Seder, Majority Report



Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein on MSNBC's Morning Joe
This is about the Republican Party and what it's going to be. Is it going to conduct a fact-based, philosophical argument in our political system or is it going to be a nihilistic, hateful, asymmetrical in terms of facts and the truth part of the party, as in Joe McCarthy.
This is about media as well. These poll numbers are about a totally different media culture than we've had in the past.
. . . we need to start covering this story not 50/50 — this much on this side, that on the other — we need to cover it factually. Because there are facts here that will show what this event is about. And where, in fact, is this anger, hatred of Obama coming from? What is the root of this?
. . . It's about truth. It's about fact. It's about a wing in [the GOP] that has no interest in truth or governing or fact and it's bringing the country down. It might not bring the party down. Like McCarthy, it might work. That's the terrible thing.



From Eric Boehlert on Media Matters
CNN often rallied around the GOP talking point that Obama ought to "negotiate" with Republicans because give-and-take is what politics (and compromise) is all about. "Why won't the president come to the negotiating table?" Candy Crowley wondered, while CNN's Carol Costello asked "Why doesn't the president pick up the phone and call John Boehner?"
On the surface that sounds like a reasonable question, and no doubt it represented the centrist position CNN felt comfortable championing, as it hyped its watchdog role of holding both parties accountable. But the query only worked if CNN anchors and reporters completely disregarded the facts of the unfolding shutdown and flushed all the context down the memory hole.
. . . Viewed in full context, the Republican demand was utterly extremist and without precedent in modern Congressional history. Too often though, CNN ignored that defining fact. Instead, CNN offered up a more simplistic, blame-both-sides version where Obama starred as an obstinate protagonist who arrogantly refused to deal with his Republican counterparts.

. . . journalists have been suckered into embracing "balance" and "neutrality" at all costs, and the consequences of their choice in an era of political extremism will only get worse and worse.
. . . Blaming everyone — Congress, both sides, Washington — is simply the path of least resistance for today's political reporters. It's a way of avoiding conflict rather than taking the risk that the public — or their editors — will accuse them of being unprofessionally partisan.
. . . So, no, the shutdown is not generalized dysfunction or gridlock or stalemate. It is aberrational behavior by a political party that is willing to take extreme and potentially damaging action to get its way. And by not calling it what it is, the political press is enabling it.
~ Dan Froomkin on Al-Jazeera

As a matter of journalism, any story that presents the disagreements as a "standoff," a "showdown," a "failure of leadership," a sign of "partisan gridlock," or any of the other usual terms for political disagreement, represents a failure of journalism*** and an inability to see or describe what is going on....
. . . This isn't "gridlock." It is a ferocious struggle within one party, between its traditionalists and its radical factions, with results that unfortunately can harm all the rest of us -- and, should there be a debt default, could harm the rest of the world too.
~ James Fallows, The Atlantic

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Thursday, September 19, 2013

Chuck Todd Admits that Truth Isn't Part of His Job Description

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On ACA Obamacare:
Republicans have successfully messaged against it. They don't repeat the other stuff because they haven't even heard the Democratic message.
What I always love is people say, ‘Well, it’s your folks’ fault in the media.’ No, it’s the President of the United States’ fault for not selling it.
~ Chuck Todd of MSNBC on Morning Joe

Chuck Todd: It's Not Media's Job To Correct GOP's Obamacare Falsehoods
. . . During a segment on "Morning Joe," former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) speculated that most opponents of the Affordable Care Act have been fed erroneous information about the law. Todd said that Republicans "have successfully messaged against it" but he disagrees with those who argue that the media should educate the public on the law. According to Todd, that's President Barack Obama's job.
~ Talking Points Memo

Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley and Edward R Murrow turn in their graves.
~ JosephE. on TPM

So, Rocky the Flying Squirrel believes he should just repeat whatever the Teabaggers tell him. Got it.
~ Trippin on TPM

What a disgusting and scathing indictment of the Press by Chuck Todd. The media has no intention of ever doing their job, let alone reporting on the truth! Yet we knew all this already. That's why the media's number's are just slightly above those of Congress.
~ DocRock on TPM

It's sad that NBC's White House correspondent thinks his job is merely to convey politicians pronouncements, with no care about whether they are true or false. In fact, scrutinize claims, particularly those from powerful officials, is an essential part of journalism. It's embarrassing to have to cite elementary principles to one the nation's most influential reporters, but Todd should consider reviewing the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics, where, under the heading "Seek Truth and Report It," the very first tenet implores journalists to "test the accuracy of information from all sources."
~ Steve Rendall on Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting

Truly: Todd’s quote reads to these eyes like a resignation letter. If you can’t rouse yourself to meet the minimum requirement of a cub reporter covering a school council meeting — ask if that thing Councilmember Doe just said, was, you know, actually true? — then perhaps you should take a bit more time with your family.
Or rather:
Yo! Chuck: you’re stealing paychecks from the Peacock and wasting everyone else’s time. Go home.
~ Tom Levenson on Balloon Juice

Todd’s point is that he is only here to let each side put their message out there, and the best message wins. What Todd described isn’t journalistic neutrality. It’s laziness and indifference to factual reporting.
. . . Todd is the political director for NBC News. His attitude about the letting Republican lies slide guides the political coverage at NBC News.
~ Jason Easley on PoliticusUSA

It’s true that it’s not the press’s job to “sell” White House initiatives, but it absolutely is the job of the press to separate fact from fiction and communicate the truth of any matter as opposed to simply being a dutiful stenographer who reports, word-for-word, each side’s spin and calls it objectivity.
~Chez Pazienza on The Daily Banter

Holy mother of mercy, is my man Chuck Todd really saying if a lie is unusually successful, it must eventually be accepted as something like the truth, and that the job of journalism is to stand by and let that happen? (Someone should write a book.) If he is actually saying that, then my man Chuck Todd should be fired because he doesn't know sweet fk-all about journalism....
~ Charles P. Pierce on Esquire

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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Obama Speaks to the World on Syria


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Obama Wins on Syria ~ with Media Derp and Sour Grapes - Updated!

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Related Posts:
Obama Speaks to the World On Syria

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War Weary Public is Tired of Weary Cliches











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Just Dumb Luck and Nintendo Games













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Give Putin and Russia Get All the Credit








It’s tempting to enjoy the moment, that is, the humiliation of President Obama and the short-circuiting of his war push by a brilliant coup conducted by Vladimir Putin, that sly old dog and ju-jitsu expert, along with Russia’s ally, Syria.
President Obama might as well not bother giving his Oval Office speech tonight, because the chances that Congress will approve Obama’s Authorization to Use Military Force are zero, and the possibility that the United States will go to war against Syria without congressional support are now less than zero.
~ Bob Dreyfuss on The Nation

The administration’s policy in Syria is ad hoc. The president implied this was all in the works, that at the G20 he and President Putin worked this out. That’s ludicrous. They’re making this up as they go along and that’s obvious, I think. The second thing that is clear is that this strengthens Russia and humiliates the United States. Putin is riding to President Obama’s rescue. He is entirely dependent upon the goodwill of Vladimir Putin, who does not [have] our interests at heart.
~ Tucker Carlson of Fox quoted by The Nation as back-up

What happened was Kerry went off message and, as has been his wont as Secretary of State, off the reservation, and violated the cardinal rule of official press conferences: He answered a hypothetical question in a hypothetical way. He blurted out a pie-in-the-sky, hyperbolic idea—getting rid of "every single bit" of the chemical weapons scattered across Syria "in the next week"—but everyone seized on it as a realistic proposal. It's not.
. . . here are two clear winners in this slow-motion train wreck, and they are not Obama or Kerry. They are Assad and Putin. Both wanted, for their own reasons, to avert a military strike, and a military strike was averted. Putin insisted on a diplomatic solution while doing everything to make a diplomatic solution impossible, and now he gets his phony, unenforceable diplomatic solution. Assad wanted to go on killing his opposition, and he will continue to do so.
~ Julia Ioffe on The New Republic




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It Just Won't Work ~ Obama has Pre-Failed














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Sunday, September 1, 2013

Obama Baffles Media by Ordering Congress to Vote on Syria


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He's calling Congress's bluff - 'You want in on this? Fine.' And I can tell you the House vote on this is going to be tricky. There's going to be splits in both parties.
~ Chuck Todd on MSNBC

Doesn't this project weakness?
~ Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC

It puts him in a very tough spot. And they aren't going to take it up right away. Congress is coming back September 9, that's when they take it up. It's unclear what happens if he doesn't get the vote. Presumably he might still go ahead with the strike.
~ David Gregory on MSNBC

. . . the president has really rolled the dice right now. So there's not going to be any imminent U.S. strike until Congress comes back. It doesn't look like they're coming back before September 9th, so military action not going to take place this weekend or next week unless Congress comes back early. No indication, as I said, they will. But this is a major decision by the president. He is rolling the dice that the house and the Senate will support him. If the Senate does and the house doesn't, he didn't say what he would do.
~ Wolf Blitzer, CNN

. . . we are waiting for Congress to come back on September 9th. And I kept wondering during the coverage as I thought, you know, we would not have this extended coverage quite frankly this evening. After I heard the president, I said well there goes the news. It's two weeks, at least, before anything would happen until Congress meets.
. . . There was -- some people are concern because right after this, the president and John Kerry went to play golf right after his announcement. That's not great optics, is it?
. . . listen, I'm not saying that the president doesn't deserve to but the optics are very important. George Bush was criticized a lot for optics.
~ Don Lemon, CNN

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Monday, August 5, 2013

Reince Priebus Warns Networks Not to Show Hillary Clinton Movies


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From The Hollywood Reporter
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus has fired off a letter to NBC and another to CNN informing the two networks that they risk being blackballed as debate partners if they don’t abandon plans to air programs about Hillary Clinton ahead of her presumed run for president in 2016.

. . . In one letter to CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker and another to NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt, both obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Priebus writes: "If you have not agreed to pull this programming prior to the start of the RNC’s Summer Meeting on August 14, I will seek a binding vote of the RNC stating that the committee will neither partner with you in 2016 primary debates nor sanction primary debates which you sponsor."

In both letters, Priebus attempts to paint the Clinton projects as little more than length, free campaign ads. In the letter to Greenblatt, he notes that David Cohen, who is an executive VP at Comcast, NBCUniversal’s parent company, has been a major donor to Clinton and other Democrats.















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CNN Films, a division of CNN Worldwide, commissioned a documentary about Hillary Clinton earlier this year. It is expected to premiere in 2014 with a theatrical run prior to airing on CNN. This documentary will be a non-fiction look at the life of a former First Lady and Secretary of State. Instead of making premature decisions about a project that is in the very early stages of development and months from completion, we would encourage the members of the Republican National Committee to reserve judgment until they know more. Should they decide not to participate in debates on CNN, we would find it curious, as limiting their debate participation seems to be the ultimate disservice to voters.
~ CNN Response to RNC Threat, emailed to Hollywood Reporter

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Sunday, March 17, 2013

CNN Has Loads of Sympathy for Poor Convicted Rapists in Steubenville Case

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The way some media outlets covered the Rape conviction in Steubenville, Ohio on Sunday:

BBC News
Two high school football players in the US state of Ohio have been found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl.
Trent Mays, 16, and Ma'lik Richmond, 17, attacked the girl after a drunken party in the town of Steubenville. Both wept as the verdict was read out.
The case came to light via text messages, online videos and social media posts made the morning after, attracting nationwide attention.
The two were sentenced to at least a year in juvenile detention.
Mays was sentenced to another year for taking pictures of the naked victim, and the judge said both might stay in detention until they reach 21

AtlanticWire
On the fifth and final day of a long and emotional rape trial recounting a drunken and violent evening, Judge Thomas Lipps delivered a guilty verdict on all charges Sunday morning in the Steubenville rape trial, calling the situation "profane" and "ugly" as the boys cried aloud and were handed the maximum sentencing. The Ohio attorney general said a grand jury would convene around April 15 to "bring finality" to a case that captured the attention of a nation — and that "additional charges could be filed" after 16 people, most of whom were students at the post-football game parties last August, had refused to talk to his investigators.

Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond — stars on the Steubenville High football team and 17 and 16 years old, respectively — were found "delinquent," which Lipps informed the boys in front of him was "similar to a finding of guilty in an adult court." Richmond was sentenced to a minimum of one year in a juvenile rehabilitation facility and a maximum of until he turns 21 on a juvenile charge of rape; Mays, who was also found delinquent on a charge of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, was sentenced to a minimum of two years and a "consecutive" sentence that could last until he turns 24. As the lead prosecutor said there was "no remorse" for the victim from the convicted, Mays cried out in the Ohio courtroom and frequently returned to his handkerchief as his attorneys consoled him. Lipps said the boys "might be dealing with emotions" since the consequences "were now dawning on them."

Dan Wetzel on Yahoo Sports
Rape, experts say, is a crime of power and control more than sex. Underlying all of that is arrogance, and in Steubenville it was taken to the extreme.
Throughout this trial, the two defendants and a parade of friends who wound up mostly testifying against the defendants, expressed little understanding of rape – let alone common decency or respect for women. Despite the conviction, the defendants likely don't view themselves as rapists, at least not the classic sense of a man hiding in the shadows.

"It wasn't violent," explained teammate Evan Westlake when asked why he didn't stop the two defendants as they abused a non-moving girl that Westlake knew to be highly intoxicated. "I always pictured it as forcing yourself on someone."
That was part of the arrogance.
Arrogance from the defendants. Arrogance from the friends. Arrogance within the culture.

And the way CNN chose to cover the Rape Conviction in Steubenville, Ohio, on Sunday ~ by sympathizing with the perpetrators who assaulted a young girl:




From CNN Transcripts:

CROWLEY: Again, this case was played out in juvenile court, that is why there was a judge, no jury. He decided on the verdict, as well as, you heard there, talking about the sentence.

We want to go now to CNN's Poppy Harlow. She is in Steubenville, and has been covering this trial.

I cannot imagine having just watched this on the feed coming in. How emotional that must have been sitting in the courtroom.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've never experienced anything like it, Candy. It was incredibly emotional -- incredibly difficult even for an outsider like me to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believe their life fell apart.

One of -- one of the young men, Ma'lik Richmond, when that sentence came down, he collapsed. He collapsed in the arms of his attorney, Walter Madison. He said to me, "My life is over. No one is going to want me now."

Very serious crime here. Both found guilty of raping this 16- year-old girl at a series of parties back in August, alcohol-fueled parties. Alcohol is a huge part in this.

But Trent Mays was also found guilty on a second count and that is of felony illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material because he took a photograph of the victim laying naked on the floor that night. Trent Mays will serve two years in a juvenile detention facility. Ma'lik Richmond will serve one year on that one count that he was found guilty for.

I want to let our viewers listen because for the first time in this entire trial we have now heard from the two young men. Trent Mays stood up, apologizing to the victim's family in court. After him, Ma'lik Richmond.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRENT MAYS, FOUND GUILTY OF RAPINGIN JUVENILE COURT: I would really like to apologize to (INAUDIBLE), her family, my family and community. No pictures should have been sent out or should be taken. That's all. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything you'd like to say, Ma'lik?

MA'LIK RICHMOND, FOUND GUILTY OF RAPE IN JUVENILE COURT: I would like to apologize. I had no intention to do anything like that and I'm sorry to put you guys through this. (INAUDIBLE) I'm sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: I was sitting about three feet from Ma'lik when he gave that statement. It was very difficult to watch.

*snip*

CROWLEY: Poppy Harlow in Steubenville, Ohio, for us.

I want to bring in Paul Callan, our CNN legal contributor.

You know, Paul, a 16-year-old now just sobbing in court, regardless of what big football players they are, still sound like 16 year olds. The other one, 17. A 16-year-old victim.

The thing is, when you listen to it and you realize that they could stay until they're 21, they are going to get credit for time served. What's the lasting effect, though, on two young men being found guilty in juvenile court of rape, essentially?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, Candy, we've seen here a courtroom drenched in tears and tragedy and, you know, Poppy's description, I think, you know, sums it all up. But across America scenes like this happen all the time.

I know as a prosecutor and defense attorney, when that verdict is handed down, usually it's just the family and families of the defendants and the victims, there's always that moment of just lives are destroyed. And lives have already been destroyed by the crime. And we got a chance to see that.

But in terms of what happens now, yes, the most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders. That label is now placed on them by Ohio law and, by the way, the laws in most other states now require such a designation in the face of such a serious crime.

That will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Employers, when looking up their background, will see they're registered sex offender. When they move into a new neighborhood and somebody goes on the Internet where these things are posted. Neighbors will know they're a registered sex offender.

It's really something that will have a lasting impact. Much more of a lasting impact than going to a juvenile facility for one or two years.

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The slant of the day's coverage was revealing in two capacities. First, CNN appears to have bet on the emotions of those it could show on camera -- for obvious reasons, the victim's identity has been protected, and the victim's family was not shown weeping in court. Networks know that people crying make for great TV. Secondly, it's telling that this tone continued over multiple segments, despite a cadre of tweets and blog posts deriding the network's earlier coverage.
Later on Sunday, Whitfield wrapped the first segment of her coverage on the case by describing it as "a heart-breaking case to watch, no matter how you look at it." That CNN can find so many ways to look at a rape trial is perhaps to blame for their embarrassing and damaging coverage.
~ Huffington Post

















For readers interested in learning more about how not to be labeled as registered sex offenders, a good first step is not to rape unconscious women, no matter how good your grades are. Regardless of the strength of your GPA (weighted or unweighted), if you commit rape, there is a possibility you may someday be convicted of a sex crime. This is because of your decision to commit a sex crime instead of going for a walk, or reading a book by Cormac McCarthy. Your ability to perform calculus or play football is generally not taken into consideration in a court of law. Should you prefer to be known as "Good student and excellent football player Trent Mays" rather than "Convicted sex offender Trent Mays," try stressing the studying and tackling and giving the sex crimes a miss altogether.
It's perfectly understandable, when reporting on a rape trial, to discuss the length and severity of the sentence; it is less understandable to discuss the end of two convicted rapists' future athletic and academic careers as if it were somehow divorced from the laws of cause and effect. Their dreams and hopes were not crushed by an impersonal, inexorable legal system; Mays and Richardson raped a girl and have been sentenced accordingly. Had they not raped her, they would not be spending at least one year each in a juvenile detention facility.
~ From Gawker

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