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On The Irrelevance Of Traditional Media Reporting
The NYT's Frank Rich and PressThink's Jay Rosen have both done tremendous post-mortems on Michael Hastings' McChrystal-shattering report in Rolling Stone Magazine. While Rich focuses more on the implications of the whole affair, and the containment of the fallout, possibly including its repercussions on the war in Afghanistan, concluding boldly that McChrystalgate "gives us reason to hope that the president’s first bold move to
extricate America from the graveyard of empires won’t be his last", a much more relevant observation that both authors target in on is the future of reporting, and journalism in general, in the US and elsewhere. Both frame their arguments based on statement by Politico, subsequently deleted, which was spot on, in describing the media-establishment relationship. To wit: "as a freelance reporter, Hastings would be considered a bigger risk
to be given unfettered access, compared with a beat reporter, who would
not risk burning bridges by publishing many of McChrystal’s remarks." In other words, never again expect a (beat, but one can generalize) reporter who is invited to political press shows to break anything of importance, and most certainly never expect a columnist (or certainly an analyst) invited on CNBC, or someone who writes books describing his high-level access to financial professionals, to ever again have anything insightful or relevant to say about the very system that is supposed to be supervised, yet ends up paying his or her bills. Which is why we will forever be happy to operate in the shadows of the establishment, where bridge burning is the norm not the exception. If that means a Penguin book deal lost now and then, so be it.
Rich, most ironically, as his employer the NYT is known all too well to harbor precisely the kind of establishmentarians he vociferously rails against, is brutal in his indictment of the collapse of modern reporting:
It’s the
Hastings-esque outsiders with no fear of burning bridges who have often
uncovered the epochal stories missed by those with high-level access.
Woodward and Bernstein were young local reporters, nowhere near the
White House beat, when they cracked Watergate. Seymour Hersh was a
freelancer when he broke My Lai. It was uncelebrated reporters in Knight Ridder’s Washington
bureau, not journalistic stars courted by Scooter and Wolfowitz,
who mined low-level agency hands to challenge the “slam-dunk” W.M.D.
intelligence in the run-up to Iraq.
Symbolically enough, Hastings was reporting his McChrystal story abroad
just as Beltway media heavies and their most bold-faced subjects were
dressing up for the annual White House correspondents’ dinner. Rolling
Stone has never bought a table or thrown an afterparty for that
bacchanal, and it has not even had a Washington bureau since the
mid-1970s. Yet the magazine has not only chronicled the McChrystal
implosion — and relentlessly tracked the administration’s connections
to the
“vampire squid” of Goldman Sachs — but has also exposed the shoddy management of
the Obama Interior Department. As it happens, the issue of Rolling
Stone with the Hastings story also contains a second installment of Tim
Dickinson’s devastating dissection of the Ken Salazar cohort, this time
detailing how its lax regulation could soon lead to an even uglier
repeat of the Gulf of Mexico fiasco when BP and Shell commence offshore
drilling in the Arctic Ocean.
And Jay Rosen puts the finishing touch (in his slamming condemnation of what he sees is the creeping "capture" of Politico):
And that’s exactly what Gordon Lubold and Carol E. Lee
did. They revealed one of political journalism’s state secrets: beat
reporters have a motive to preserve key relationships, so they often
don’t tell us everything they could, which makes them more reliable,
more predictable, in the eyes of the powerful people they cover. They
were being good Politico people by asking: how could McChrystal and his
staff be so unsavvy?
We find nothing surprising in all these revelations, and in fact they have served as the springboard for Zero Hedge's creation and subsequent evolution. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle applies to the daily world, there is no reason why it should not apply to journalistic analysis: the second you interfere with your object, the object changes its nature, and in turn, changes the observing subject. In the real world, there is a far simpler word for this - capture. Some "journalists" who relish in merely having hot line access to the Blankfeins of the world, put their integrity and professional credibility on the back burner, and believe that in breaking "fed" stories, end up doing the world a service, when all they do is serve the agenda of someone much bigger (and far more monied). Whether the end payoff is remuneration, or just an invite to Goldman's Christmas party, is in the eye of the beholder. Which is why, fewer and fewer people rely on the mainstream media to truly break anything of significance any more, due to precisely the catch 22 of impairing one's sources, whose livelihoods traditionally rely on the status quo. It is in interacting with those who have been burned by the system, usually located in the dark corners of seedy, undisclosed dive bars, and thus much harder to reach, than the corner office of 200 West (or that long forgotten 270 Park address...yes, it does exist), that true journalism is created. And it is not the fear to burn bridges, but the fear not to, that begins one's downfall into that big place known as journalistic mediocrity and irrelevance.
Rant aside, Jon Stewart probably said it best:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| McChrystal's Balls - Honorable Discharge | ||||
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Yawn, tired old media, yawn.
When the National Enquirer becomes more reliable and "investigative" you know there are serious problems.
Yes, or Al Jazeer.
I occasionally read aljazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/
from which I get: G20: Battles within and outside
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/06/201062571713780493.html
G20: Battles within and outside G20: Battles within and outside"Today, Europe wants to cut, while America and China want to spend.
Jan Randolph, head of Sovereign Risk Country Intelligence at Global Insight, said the US worries that leading economies will "collectively withdraw these supports too soon there could be an economic relapse, just like what happened in the 1930s that extended the great depression."
When to spend and how much? These are not new debates.
Politicians in the great depression of the 1930s and the stag-flation period in the 1970s fought elections on these very questions."
____
and occasionally, spiegel
http://www.spiegel.de/international/
from which I get Germany Warns US Not to Become 'Addicted to Borrowing'
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,702849,00.html
__
I wish I could read Spanish or get a good English translation of a major Spain newspaper.
Anybody know?
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/06/20106710195865856.html
I would have to see his dis-charge too better understand what this Ex-Marine has going on in that tattoed Head of his... but by and large the larger media outlets serve whomever pays the bills, just like Congress or the Senate vote along with the Lobby Dollars Collected.
A little more info on Kenneth O'Keefe.
Interview immediately after release.
He also appears several times in the footage smuggled out of Israel.
@Muir...
The In Case You Missed It News Feed (or facebook page) aggregates news from sources all over the world (that's how I found ZH) and has become the first feed I check each day.
Apparently, days before McChrystal was fired, he issued a report on Afghanistan that was not good.
Thank you.
I've added newsfeed.
I find it deeply ironic that I have to watch RT (Russia Today) to obtain meaningful information about what is really happening in the US. The 5 corporations who control more than 90% of the main steam media make certain that nothing of real substance reaches the the great unwashed. Instead, we receive disinformation or white house talking points disguised as journalist, such as the crap spewed by Mika Z. I know she is lying as soon as she opens her mouth, regurgitating for the masses, the same old tired mental pablum. MSM , Fuck all of you.
I would love to see Tyler or Marla on one of the Sunday shows. Imagine tyler sitting next to Juan Williams? That would be the trigger.
While I was watching Dan Rather this morning on the Chris Matthew's show I couldn't help but wonder how the long time 60 minutes investigative reporter who blurted out something like "looks like it was taken down with explosives" when WTC 7 came down had been suppressed. In light of the overwhelming evidence that 911 was an inside job presented by the 1200 plus Architects and Engineers for 911 Truth and other similar groups it is amazing that we here nothing from the MSM. Absolutely no one seems to want to break ranks on the most important story of our times.
Nice way to divert a thread early in the process; you trolling fuck.
Diverting a thread about irrelevance of traditional media reporting by citing evidence of what basically amounts to a Coup D'etat that the media totally ignores? Did you sleep through high school physics?.
I could rant but the only thing I will say is; I don't give a flying fuck about 9/11 or whether it was an internal coup or a terrorist attack. Ive seen hell; and you're not in it [yet], and this aint it [yet]. Constant recycling and morons proclaiming to know the "truth" are a fucking riot; you know jack shit; the only thing you know is what those 2 neurons in your brain can absorb; which is not much by what I can see.
This was clearly a thread diversion; and congrats; you have pulled it off successfully; but it doesn't have anything to do with this topic; not even fucking close.
Maybe I should apologize then for diverting zh readers from your very important commentary like the one below.
Do you think that what you are saying is anything new to anyone here; why the fuck do you feel you need to recycle the data that is out there for almost 10 years now. 100M people [thats in the US only] are aware of the anomalies in the 9/11 official report; and I dont and We dont fucking need you to tell me/us that shit again. As for high school physics; did you even go to high school or is the foundation of your knowledge purely based on discussing "The Truth" on ATS forums.
About the time Eisenhower was warning about the Military Industrial Complex I was being taught to cower under my elementary school desk in case the A Bomb struck. Unfortunately for our financial oligarchy the Russians went broke (first). 911 provided a perfect transition from the fear induced insanity of cold war profiteering to the fear induced insanity of the "Terrorist Industrial Complex". Having the three huge buildings collapse on TV was pure genius. The Oligarchs got 2 new wars and billions and billions from renewed profiteering. The better part of my education happened during my 19 months as an infantryman with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam. I learned not to cower under my desk.
+1
I usually enjoy your posts CB.... you are totally over the top on this and IMO wrong.
Cheeky Bastard is right on all counts. Just because you are 14 (and the world is new to you) doesn't mean you can pass off old dredges as intellectual thought and not get called on it.
Call it a day and read a book. Contribute something meaningful. Show some intellect.
sigh.... e-peen much??
the facts of 9-11 are very much in dispute and they have never been addressed by the traditional media. in a thread discussing the lack of honest reporting and the trustworthiness of the media 9-11 is an appropriate topic. i felt that CB's aggressive nature was a little strong in this instance and said so. end of story.
now, that being said... who the fuck do you think you are? if you disagree with me then you show some damned intellect and put forth a viable arguement. you don't know me or my reading list nor my point of view. i mostly lurk, read, learn from other peoples points of view and in this case i stated MY opinion.
I will not speculate about your impotence or your small withered mind. if you feel that your internet tough guy attitude is "contributing something useful" , well Sir, you are a tool. now you can junk me, you can curse me, you can flame away... I really don't care. and to reiterate my point of view for you PISS OFF.
Edit: Nevermind, after looking at your post count and the nature of your comments I have come to understand that you have entirely too much time on your hands and no kittens to drown... if you ask nicely perhaps Marla can get your icon redone in a nice cornflower blue...
http://www.disinfo.com/2010/06/%E2%80%9Cthe-official-911-story-accept-without-question%E2%80%9D/
Here's a new one. Bet I could find a new one on JFK as well. Transparency would prevent the need for the foil hatters who look into both of these for their own and our education, experiencing a lot of futility along the way; who's really crazy the tin hatter or the person who just gets tired of truth hunting and falls in with the herds' simple thesis(s).
High school physics?? Did you even take 3rd grade math? Moron.
You make a pretty good troll yourself Cheeky.
If you haven't seen it:
http://www2.ae911truth.org/flashmov11.htm
repete: If you actually believe this nonsense, then you are almost as big a douchebag as Frank Rich.
I agree this is off-topic, but let me direct it on-topic, as I am elderly and recall exactly what the media was like back in the early '60s.
During that time, every publication except the most extreme right (Liberty Lobby, financed by the Koch boys) published major discrepancies, anomalies, and fictions, pertaining to the Warren Commission (JFK's assassination).
These included such mainstream mags as Ladies Home Journal, Vogue, Reader's Digest, etc., etc.
Today, that meta-tool, Ariana Huffington, won't even allow the suggestion that questions might exist about 9/11 on her website (same with DailyKos, etc.).
This is an extreme change from yesteryear.
And yes, anyone unfamiliar with highschool physics and functionally illiterate at the basic science level (or has a Ph.D. in Fantasy Physics, where theories are based upon theories based upon theories and nothing quantum mech-speaking, has yet been proven) won't understand why the existence of resistance should slow a collapsing building -- instead of having a steady-state collapse of three structures (one of which is of completely different design from the other two).
Not only is MSM media irrelevant its a fucking travesty bordering with propaganda bordering with sociopathy and the culture of presenting manufactured lies as "news". It resembles the newspapers which were owned by the Russian Oligarchs in the 90s; their main goal is to promote personal interest and to stir unnecessary riffs between individuals/institutions who have mutually opposing views.
It makes me wanna vomit and shatter a brick into someones face; and since I'm not very good [any more] at brick-kung fu-fighting and vomit is yuck; I avoid it at all costs. The soon the PC filters mixed with ideological views make most of the body of a story; you know truth can only be find in traces.
I think it's always been this way. It's just that the internet has brought us so much more, unfiltered information that we are able to see what's being hidden, edited out, and manipulated.
Perfectly said, CB.
This is why I only watch Fox News, specifically Beck and Hannity. They are the last vestiges of a "fair and balanced" media, without an agenda.
But I disagree with your claim that mainstream media is irrelevant. To you (and others with a brain), it might be. But there are millions of easily seduced Americans who rely on various media bobble-heads to tell them what to think. Unfortunately, the media is often a mirror of its citizens, which would explain why the media is shockingly and breathtakingly idiotic.
"It restates the negativeness of the universe. The hideous lonely emptiness of existence. Nothingness. The predicament of Man forced to live in a barren, Godless eternity like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void with nothing but waste, horror and degradation, forming a useless bleak straitjacket in a black absurd cosmos."
Ah, if only human existence were as idyllic as all that.
It is not an accident that Fox News' ratings far outpace those of any other news outlet.
No it is not an accident, given that one person usually only watches one channel at a time. That channel usually reflects their political bias. So let's review the TV news channels available to most the public:
Right-wing bias:
-Fox News
-Fox Business
Left-wing bias:
-CNN
-CNN Headline
-CNN International
-NBC
-MSNBC
-CNBC
-CNBC Asia
-Bloomberg
-CBS
-ABC
-ABC Newsworld
-Al Jazzera
-PBS
-BBC
-BBC USA
Again, it is not suprise/accident that Fox News has more viewers that any other single outlet.
BTW, USA network is the most watched network on cable and it is owned by NBC (Comcast/GE).
There is no left, there is no right. There is only BS!
There are many flavors of BS, and I'm sure both of us have one that we find more palatable.
I can't quite put my finger on it, but for some reason I find Meygan Kelly's analysis so much more interesting than Joy Behar and Rosie O'donnell's. LOL.
first, most here at ZH feel this is beyond left and right and the traditional partisan lines keep us trapped...look how well a Presidency and Congress controlled by all Repubs from 2000-2006 did for true conservatives, libertarians and deficits hawks: increased deficit greatly by huge spending on things like non-competitive drug pricing give-away super profits to Pharma members to give seniors drug coverage in Medicare Part D, reduced personal liberties and govt privacy intrusion, including massive data mining and govt wiretapping of Americans without any check and balance of warrants, etc...and look what Dem Prez and all Dem congress have delivered for progressives, no single-payer like Canada or complete govt run like Britain or mixed like France any of which they would have been happy with and dearly wanted, but rather the health care reform all Dems deliver is not what rank and file Dems wanted, instead, it is basically same thing as Medicare Part D, big expensive sell-out to health insurance by forcing people to buy their product, regardless of price insurers chose to jack it up to, and paying for it with taxpayer dollars to subsidize the buying of it. Progressives also bitterly disappointed on financial reform, geithner/summer treasury people, escalation in Afghanistan etc...
So always thinking we will get what we want if only Prez/Congress was all Dem or Repub is a trick bag. The wealthy elites and crony big businesses and corrupt govt always get what the want, the rest of us, small businesses, uncorrupt businesses, regular working folk, pay for it.
On your media list, the only objective way I can think to evaluate that is to look at polls and look at opinions on these various channels. Look at say, Israeli conflicts, HCR, military plans etc, and then see if what is on these channels is generally to the left or right to majority opinion. Some 80 percent of Americans think what Obama did with BP escrow fund was a good thing while only 5 percent strongly oppose it. So in this case, CNN's coverage which either way with the issue, pundits on both sides, and Fox's almost complete agreement with Obama-extra-legal-boot-on-neck-of-BP line would both be well to the right of the country on this issue, and frankly, MSNBC coverage would be most in line, even if some to the left, with public opinion on this issue. It was continuously reported that HCR was opposed by majority of people in polls, which was true by a small margin, but a decent chunk of those reporting opposition, when asked, said they opposed HCR reform from the left, felt HCR was too rightest solution, wanted Public Option, wanted single-payer, etc...so if added up the people in US that were supportive of HCR and the people to the left that wanted a leftier solution, you'd have the majority of folks either support HCR as it ended up or having opinion to the left it, leaving a minority of people opposed to HCR from right/Fox perspective. I could go on.
Being a flaming progressive, I could say that MSNBC is not left enough for me as they refuse to report on obvious lefty issues such as exposing paper-less electronic voting machines as a threat to democracy because public does not get to see software, does not get to count vote in public....and I could say, save Dylan Ratigan, they do little good left financial reform reporting that the likes of ZH, and Huff Post sometimes, does, and I could list all the other channels as to the right of me and call them conservative because they are to the right of me...sound kinda silly doesn't it, but it the mirror of what you said.
This is why I only watch Fox News, specifically Beck and Hannity. They are the last vestiges of a "fair and balanced" media, without an agenda.
ROFLs.
Beck - "I wouldn't tell you to invest in gold...if I hadn't have invested in gold myself."
You - "This guy has no agenda! I'm buying gold!"
Oh, don't worry -- I'll just flag this as junk myself. I have no agenda!
"...Beck and Hannity. They are the last vestiges of a "fair and balanced" media, without an agenda."
hahahahahahahahahaha......the people get what they deserve, no wonder we have shitty media.
BTW, Frank Rich always has substantive columns, and I always read him. I can't say that about most MSM writers, lib or conservative (e.g., I'd rather have a root canal than listen to the "Shields and Brooks" segment of the Newshour)..........
"It resembles the newspapers which were owned by the Russian Oligarchs in the 90s; their main goal is to promote personal interest and to stir unnecessary riffs between individuals/institutions who have mutually opposing views."
Well stated.
They all went to the Columbia School of Journalism I guess. They all ask the same lame ass questions. The same seeking of adoration and approval of their peers. The same twitching elbow when making some meaningless point. The same rocking from heel to toe when commenting "live from the scene" on the previous stupid observation made from the studio.
"That's right Biff. I spoke with a very senior law enforcement official and he suspects the tunnel discovered under the border may have also been used for illegal drug and human smuggling." Well there's a shiny penny...whew boy...damn that's Pulitzer Prize winning shit right there.
Probably I'm most annoyed with the much abused affirmative head nod. Like the old toy dog's we over 40yrs. old used to see in the back windows of cars.
Then we get to what I believe is your larger point. The constant "gotcha journalism" to keep the masses concentrating on each others throats instead of elsewhere. Very effective...so far.
Regards.
nmewn,
I moved to reading British newspapers, imagining them more independent.
All the same party-line rags.
As a shocking example of social engineering, please check out this story in the telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/7856186/Mark-Zuckerberg-goes-on-charm-offensive.html
Suckerberg with a halo!
The fourth estate has crumbled into dust.
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
Oh regional Indian,
I have marveled, from an individualist standpoint, at the ease with which people freely give over their personal information, names, photos and all, to a corporation and then bitch about the government having cameras everywhere and the census being too intrusive...LOL.
My habit in the morning is to scan the US headlines (ESPN, Fox, Bloomberg, CNN "giving them" five minutes of my time daily) to see what the orchestrated word for the day is and then hit the blogs (Hotair & Huffington among others) where I'm sure something will catch my eye on current events. We all have our own likes and dislikes but they must be tested to remain valid, part of that is posting here at ZH for me.
I have to say european news outlets have better coverage of US news than US outlets quite often, but my time is limited & habits are hard to break. Der Spiegel is one I have read in the past and found acceptable to me. If I'm not mistaken they were the first to break the story of the bombing of the nascent Syrian nuclear facility being set up with North Korea's help, which one would think noteworthy for a US citizen. If I recall correctly a week passed before it appeared in the US news.
Besides ZH, financially, Rolfe Winkler (even though it's Reuters) does a pretty good job of aggregating, one among many though;
http://blogs.reuters.com/rolfe-winkler/
Agreed.
I cannot fathom why any American bothers with any American non-media (with the possible exception of McClatchy newspapers).
The international news, and specific sites on the Web, are the only places one finds some nonfiction today.
In America, there is no media....
cheeky, your a blast.
good skill set to have, though.
david bonderman has a private Kung Fu
teacher for his sons. he also travels with the family.
empower thyself†
I don't get the junks, you go Cheeky...Americans really do not like to admit their TV news is way limited...
Who would've guessed that insulting your boss was a bad career move?
... agreed ... but how much bullshit and frustration must it have taken to bring a general of McChrystal's rank and significance (and laser-like discipline) to say the things he said to a reporter. McChrystal's beliefs must have been shat upon to such a degree that he allowed himself to say the things he said.
McChrystal was instrumental in the cover-up, or attempted cover-up of the Tillman murder, wasn't he. I don't know that we can really speak to the integrity of his "belief's." My guess is he received a lucrative offer from the private sector and decided to bail.
Tillman ... I would agree. I tend to see McChrystal more in the light of God & country than an opportunist. (His Tillman story would be something like: He died honorably in combat ... rather than getting killed accidentally by friendly fire.)
remove the accidentally and you've got it.
I don't know the story well enough then ... was this that Tillman was going to expose that the USA was aiding and abetting the growing and distributing drugs? Or, do I still have it wrong?
I don't think the motivation was ever determined. The examining physician declared it a murder and I believe that Jones concurred that something was going on because his comrades burned Tilman's clothes and his diary after the event.
Nobody makes a career move by getting fired.
Gen McChrystal ran his mouth and got fired--he could have resigned his commission but he didn't. All you tinfoil hat people should, for ONCE, appreciate the simplest explanation for something which, for this case, is: a big ego general ran his mouth about his boss to a reporter, and got fired. End of story.
Geoff-UK
No one ascends to the top of the Pentagon food chain without learning how to control his mouth, especially a special forces officer. All, and I mean all reading material that a general reads is closely monitored. The WH already knew of his contempt. He interviewed with Rolling Stone because he KNEW his story would be spiked by the MSM. He needed to get his message free of editorial prior restraint. McChrystal knows that the US has lost Afghanistan, and will be withdrawing very rapidly once the USD goes into the shitter and there is no money to pay troops or payoff warlords. So, my belief is that the good general decided to leave the sinking ship and let Obama fiddle as it sinks.
I suspect many would agree with me, when given my albeit limited combat experience (two wars, one tour per war, with some hazardous duty in between -- but this provides me with far more experience than most general officers today), when I state that McChrystal simply doesn't strike me as a squared-away general officer.
His command appeared very slipshod, maybe OK with spec ops, but not from a senior command level.
The insipid newsies cite him as some sort of incredible freak, because he actually stayed in shape by running 7 miles a day (I realize that is unusual for the Army) and ate only one meal a day -- given Army chow, probably understandable.
But his command skills appear highly questionable.
Quoting High Wire,
My guess is he received a lucrative offer from the private sector and decided to bail.
My baseless speculation is that the McCrystalhead finally figured out that he was being set up as the patsy for the failure to win (ha!) the Afghan war. Better for him to get the bums rush now, than end up in the history books as the general who lost Afghanistan to the insurgents aka the afghan´s who hate being occupying by a foreign power.
McCrystal claimed he voted for Obama, right? First mistake. Millions of Americans are waking up to find out that they are having Obama's baby, go figure.
BarryO threw his grandmother under the bus during the election. He has no loyalty.
McCrystal and his crew never really took on the president, they just told it like it is from a front line, war machine. And those guys were reportedly very good at their jobs.
Obama can never look at his own gang of smooth talking psudo intellectual syncophants objectively. He fears the military like the police and when one looks to be getting uppity, get rid of him.
The chickens are going to come home to roost on Obammy and the country too.
Are you suggesting that Obama pulled the plug on GrandMum so she wouldn't spill the beans?
No, he called her a racist.
He did not say she was the diiference between a life of scratch tickets, cheap booze and low level con and his current status as Chicago's World Class Con Man (C'sWCCM).
Obammy exhibits the typical behaviour of a narcicist, they bite the hand that feeds them.
don't know about the narcissist Obama part, may likely be true, and does seem describe many who have recently aspired to presidency, Gore, Palin, McCain, Clinton...but do know you are revealing how eager you are to apply personal attacks and sterotypes rather than engage ideas...you say "diiference between a life of scratch tickets, cheap booze and low level con"...so in your mind, it is inevetable that a kid raised by a solid, stable, educated woman, who, for a time, had a decent, solid educated step-dad and decent, stable middle-class life, was a well-behaved kid and decent student before his mom sent him back to HI, will end up as your sterotype of a poor trashy, uneducated person without the extra influence of Grandma and prep school..that's quite a leap.
You might have said without Grandma, Mom would have likely kept him with her in Indonesia til her marriage broke up and/or he went to college and that likely would not have been the best trajectory for a future president, but, please, not exactly a straight line to loser life. But I guess in your mind, given he was black, that is his obvious destiny without herculean help from many people...because apparently, Obama's situation screams destined to destruction without his grandma, whatever.
Please get beyond the personal for a second and consider the crazy idea that maybe Bush Sr, Clinton, W and Obama were all narcissists, all in a conspriracies, all working cross purposes to the greater good of this country...or go on and keep your focus on only on Obama's personal failings....
calling any politician a narcissist is redundant..........like calling them liars......
In that larger cosmic struggle between a crumbling status quo and the elements which will eventually rise up to replace it, just how far does ZH wish to cast its net? Yes, the debt based monetary system is imploding under the weight of debt that is the alter ego to its saved wealth, but there are other, even older Frankensteins looming over the landscape. The various monotheistic religions, positing supra national tribes based their moral ideals, deified, come to mind. As logic and physics long ago understood, the Source would be the essence from which we rise, not an ideal from which we fell, so morality is an evolved code of attractions and repulsions(good and bad), similar to language, by which groups of people co-exist. Given the lack of communication between the various groupings of this belief system and the conflict which seems imminent, it seems a target worthy of deconstruction.
You have to love the pundit montage where every one of them says "why would the government give access to any media outlet that doesn't consistently toe the party line."
I mean, what else is there to know (from their own mouths no less) about why the MSM sucks?
Of course, after developing this theme nicely but before it all becomes too painful, Stewart suddenly turns the story into "Hey look! someone on Fox News said something stupid! Fox News!"
Way to go Jon, truth to power buddy. Can we see that a fourth time?
But no, damning evidence of MSM incompetence does not equal evidence supporting any particular tin-foil conspiracy theory.
----------“”We find nothing surprising in all these revelations, and in fact they have served as the springboard for Zero Hedge's creation and subsequent evolution.””---------------
Zero Hedge has become my first news source replacing Drudge. You folks have done a stunning job and are an asset that was missing and absolutely necessary to keep the American public informed so that they can better self govern themselves. I still read Wash Post, WSJ, and NY Times, but the information can not be taken at face value. The responses to ZH by the big boy’s emails critical of ZH articles makes me comfortable that there is good oversight of ZH to make it a most reliable source/resource. If the story is sticky, it is jumped on and we the readers can see the attack and response.
In the mid 1940s when my grand father took me to the Saturday morning cowboy movies, there was always the theme of integrity, bravery, honesty, and skill. The forerunner of John Wayne. In today’s World where spin and deception have become the norm rather than the exception, you folks are essential to the saving of America. They man wearing the white hat.
At the formation of this nation, the gathering of the brilliant minds with vision and universal positive values is taken for granted. Few understand the very low odds of this occurring.
Not to sound like a feeble old fool (which is some what accurate), you young folks may be in that cutting edge class. If you can survive the tyranny that may come as the results of your work, you have the chance of being historical icons.
"I still read Wash Post, WSJ, and NY Times.."
Why? Why? Why?????
I read them only to get an idea as to what our ruling oligarchs want the unwashed masses to believe.
It's worth noting that most serious journalists covering the Viet Nam war already knew what happened there. Their editors spiked the story, not from fear of official backlash, but of seriously upsetting readers and viewers. The American public wield more censorship power than the government, simply by avoiding news sources that threaten to jeopardize their world view or turn their stomachs.
Natural selection will automatically eliminate ignorance.
Yes, but it's so damnably slowwwwwwwww!
+1000
And the slowly-building momentum of falling rocks will at some point become a sudden avalance that even takes down many/most of the informed...
"...we will forever be happy to operate in the shadows of the establishment..."
Excellent. In that case, I will forever be happy to operate without a TV or newspaper subscription. Thanks!
They are so sad and used up. Glad we can ignore them.
On The Irrelevance Of Traditional Media Reporting
Damn!
Very good piece.
I wish I could think as clearly as this piece you wrote.
It certainly articulated beliefs that I've had for some time.
Matt Taibbi adds to the conversation on his blog:
"First of all, I want to congratulate Michael Hastings for the amazing job he did on the McChrystal piece. Not only was it a coup for our magazine, but it's a reminder of what journalists are supposed to be doing. For quite a long time political journalism, particularly in Washington, has been reduced to an access-trading game, where reporters are rewarded for favorable coverage of those in the know with more time and availability."
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/matt-taibbi/blogs/TaibbiData_May201...
And for those who never heard JFK talk about secret societies and freedom of the press:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhZk8ronces
Which is why he was eliminated. That and the fact that he tried to mess with the Fed fiat money system. There is absolutely no ambiguity in that speech - he makes it CRYSTAL CLEAR that there is a clique of international oligarchs behind the various "democratic" puppet governments today. Those who do not obey are promptly involved in an "accident". It's funny how that speech has been buried - until now that is. Denial can be extremely powerful, yet when you hear somebody at the highest levels of government say stuff like that, it becomes very hard to deny the truth.
The REAL "conspiracy" is that we live in a free and democratic society. Period.
Actually, it is pretty CRYSTAL CLEAR that he is referring to the Politburo of the USSR throughout that entire speech. It may be easy to misconstrue it into some secret illuminati 9/11 conspiracy now, 20 years after their fall, but in 1960 everyone in the room would have understood he was speaking of the USSR.
Are you being sarcastic or just some gov't troll sent here to post bullshit like that under the name "jesus"?
That's what you think? <cough cough>
So Politburo of the USSR was a "secret society"? LOL!
The REAL "conspiracy" is that we live in a free and democratic society. Period.
Yep The Chutzpah (rhymes with Hooters, see the video clip) level of RS popped to a new level in this media games (+10 two handed sword wielded). And as game munchies, once folks again nibble on Mr. Taibbi's prior articles on the Squid, they will likely take his emissions with less salt and more seriousness.
Without discrediting Rolling Stone, there's nothing to say that this was not a WH planned exit of McChrystal. Under what circumstances would be acceptable if he chose to resign instead? Would that not be more damaging PR for the WH?
Under Rahm Emanuel's watch, I just don't trust anything to chance. In the pinball game they call National Security, the Iran Invasion Multiball is lit.
Let me turn your paranoid rant upside down to produce my own paranoid rant. :>)
In a detailed comment a few days ago, geopol laid out how this drama positions Petraeus to be drafted as the GOP's presidential candidate. All he has to do is keep spinning Afghanistan to look like progress, or failing that, like WH incompetence thwarting the military. Obama was played and will continue to be played. (I would expect an old Chicago pol to have more street smarts, but maybe those got educated out of him.)
It is hard to believe that a guy as obviously smart as McChrystal (plus his hand-picked staff) could say all those things to a reporter from a magazine with Rolling Stone's reputation and not know what would happen next. And as things turned out, his public image has not suffered much, and he could have a bright future.
What about advertisers?
Prime example is the one year absence of Barry Ritholz from Kudlow's show until last week. Mysteriously as things started to turn bad again, old Larry invited him on. The truth is that the TRUTH doesn't matter to these clowns. If an analyst, reporter, or commentator has something negative to say that might impact one of the advertisers then these news sources will bypass or ignore them as much as they can if not out right black ball them. That is why gaining control of the internet is so critical so this criticism can be "monitored" to insure "fair" content is disbursed instead of allowing the idea of personal responsibility where the reader or listener in fact dictates the success or failure of the various blogs, broadcasters, etc.
AU 60 Minutes BP Oil Spill Video, 13 June 2010, Removed by BP Demand...
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcvzkrPL9C4
If removed by YouTube get this Zipped file:
http://cryptome.org/bp-axed-video.zip (9.8MB)
Google is corporate america's/USG's bitch. "Don't be evil" my ass.
What do CNBC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, or FOX have to do with "journalism" or "news" anyway?
Those channels, and their programming, are little more than televized Prozac.
PBS
CBS
NBS
ABS
MSNBS
CNBS
CNoNe
FAUX
Yep. Google "The Origins of the Overclass" by Steve Kangas. See Operation Mockingbird.
McChrystal is a side show and nothing more than an overworked bipolar general who forgot to take his medication.
The situation in Afghanistan is not a war but a very expensive global policing operation and nothing more. The traditional media has failed to call the Obama and Bush administrations out on the issue. Instead they keep insisting on keeping silly scorecards on who's winning the war.
The real issue is the deception that the elites use to gain funding for this operation. They know that the people can't handle the truth. War spending cannot be limited and anyone who questions it can be labeled as unpatriotic.
the traditional media has failed to call out the pentagon on this.....I think both W and Obama have been pushed around by them, and Obama, without fear of push back from military would have done something different....he caved to military powers on his decision on Afghan... I though Iraq would be our Vietnam war, but its Afganistan that really is..
+5
The relevancy of ZH will be as fleeting as are all things intellectual. It is imperative to understand the continuum so as not to become attached at any particular point along the way. These diatribes will seem just as worn and dated as do those revolutionaries of all the centuries past.
Fair points all. And I certainly share the sentiments and antipathy of the ever eloquent Cheeky Bastard.
That stated, too many blogs operating outside the mainstream---while not captured by their subjects--- are in fact, captured by their ideology.
No doubt, an MSM beat writer is captured by the political process. And that stinks.
But your typical blogger is similarly captured by the ideology of his or her blog devotee.
As a result, the blogger, too often, isn't concerned with disseminating useful, accurate information. Instead, the typical blogger is actually concerned with validating the ideology of the blog's devotee.
Yes, a captured MSM beat writer isn't providing credible information. But neither is a breathless and pandering blogger who's in the business of validating the worldview of his audience.
What would happen if Mish wrote a story whereby a union actually did some good for its constiutents? Or, if Yves Smith wrote a story condeming East Anglia for refusing to release it's climate data?
"The betrayal!"
Their loyal audiences, whom they have served so well over the years would turn on them in droves. And no matter how much data either of them gave to support their modified stances, it would not matter. There would be no change of opinion, no knowledge gained. All that would happen is they would get audience turnover.
The MSM has a strong incentive to maintain the status quo between the governed and the governing.
The bloggers, however, have an equally strong incentive to maintain the status quo that is the divide between the idelogues of the Left and the Right. And it is this divide which contributes just as mightily to the rape, pillage and plunder of the Middle Class....Because at the end of the madness of the past several years, we still have no credible political alternatives to Obama, Pelosi, McCain and McConnell.
One would do well not to trust any "information provider".
Speaking of jounalistic credibility: How is that H1N1 pandemic coming along? Did the government somehow infiltrate ZH to prevent it from giving us "inside scoop of the pending apocalypse"?
Or, did the story fade out?
Poof.
Doesn't matter, though. Because, at the end of the day, there will still be the die-Hard ZH devotee, as a teary eyed Tom Cruise, standing before Tyler Durden Pitt in a homo-erotic version of Jerry McGuire:
Lip Quiver. "Tyler...you...you validate me". Lip Quiver.
Other than John, not being Jewish enough?! I think that they (over at the John Stewart Show) do a great job de-sensitizing whatever should be pissing us all off enough to at the very least be heard as a people.
We should be laughing, semi-aware and thusly brushing off the issues at hand?! http://www.thedailyshow.com/
The John (less that Jewish enough) Stewart Show caters to a bunch of stoner kids any way… at what point in history has a bunch of stoner college kids made any real contribution for the betterment of the World.
Peace, Free Love and Micro Dots?
The American Public was not the brightest crayons in the box to begin with… and the education system here has in fact been successful at accomplishing what it was designed for… dumbing down, even further… the American Public.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx4pN-aiofw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE
because the masses in all Countries… are stupid as well. Not just here in America but the World over the masses are encouraged and dare I say taught / learned to be most stupiderestly…
Austerity??? German then? Makes for the cute sound bites, that the wanna be high brow pseudo-economist crowd here would regurgitate all over these boards… Buy Gold! The Nazi’s had it right… Austerity Bitches!!! Yada, yada fucking yada…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONCrE4IoSsY&feature=related
Other than John, not being Jewish enough?! I think that they (over at the John Stewart Show) do a great job de-sensitizing whatever should be pissing us all off enough to at the very least be heard as a people.
We should be laughing, semi-aware and thusly brushing off the issues at hand?! http://www.thedailyshow.com/
The John (less that Jewish enough) Stewart Show caters to a bunch of stoner kids any way… at what point in history has a bunch of stoner college kids made any real contribution for the betterment of the World.
Peace, Free Love and Micro Dots?
The American Public was not the brightest crayons in the box to begin with… and the education system here has in fact been successful at accomplishing what it was designed for… dumbing down, even further… the American Public.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx4pN-aiofw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE
because the masses in all Countries… are stupid as well. Not just here in America but the World over the masses are encouraged and dare I say taught / learned to be most stupiderestly…
Austerity??? German then? Makes for the cute sound bites, that the wanna be high brow pseudo-economist crowd here would regurgitate all over these boards… Buy Gold! The Nazi’s had it right… Austerity Bitches!!! Yada, yada fucking yada…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONCrE4IoSsY&feature=related
MSM=Propaganda Ministry
These precious few days left until we reach November...and the puppets of the oligarchs are pushing legislation as fast as the schedule allows to change the face of America, fearing a substantial loss in votes and power once the General Election arrives. The latest: an unexpected and believed to be unpopular development as the US Senate gives a green light to an Internet "kill switch" and a red light to free speech. Pakistan has been censoring all criticism of Islam on the Internet; obviously, banning criticism of Islam will never happen here but censorship of criticism of "special relationship allies" could be on the offing; Lieberman is on the case. The Internet has become the citizens' voice; would America's citizens give, under a government that was originally designed to operate at their consent, permission to be silenced? Silence, lest we forget, would be the death of the nation.
Obama Internet Kill Switch Plan Approved by US Senate | 2010-06-25 | TECHWORLD
A US Senate committee has approved a wide-ranging cybersecurity bill that some critics have suggested would give the US president the authority to shut down parts of the Internet during a cyberattack. …
Senator Joe Lieberman and other bill sponsors have refuted the charges that the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act gives the president an Internet "kill switch." ….
The committee unanimously approved an amended version of the legislation by voice vote Thursday, a committee spokeswoman said. The bill next moves to the Senate floor for a vote, which has not yet been scheduled. …
Instead, the bill puts limits on the powers the president already has to cause "the closing of any facility or stations for wire communication" in a time of war, as described in the Communications Act of 1934, they said in a breakdown of the bill published on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee website…
On Wednesday, 24 privacy and civil liberties groups sent a letter raising concerns about the legislation to the sponsors. The bill gives the new National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications "significant authority" over critical infrastructure, but doesn't define what critical infrastructure is covered, the letter said. …
http://news.techworld.com/security/3228198/obama-internet-kill-switch-pl...
What we really need is a Lieberman Kill Switch.
This is precisely the case. The "reporters" from the MSM basically don't want to burn bridges as the only way they delineate, or one up, one another is by being the "select one" that some politician or beltway beauracrat chooses to pass along government approved "leaks" and pre-processed "scoops". Why anybody boyhers watching any of the major media resources boggles my friggin' mind. In fact I always get a chuckle when they mention their "hard news" reporting.
ZH is still the best, but Stewart is pretty dang hilarious.
he's a dirtbag.
The Bigot on Comedy Central: Jon Stewartand the Crucifixion of Helen Thomas
http://salem-news.com/articles/june092010/jon-stewart.php
Well said.
Along the same lines, 6 or 8 months ago, Mickey Kaus over at Slate.com remarked about how captured the major media outlets are. As an example, he cited the, he said numerous, times he's been at some kind of social event at which he's chatted up reporters. According to Kaus, they almost always seem to have some fascinating unreported nugget of information to share. But, Kaus remarked in exasperation, it seems to stay that way as the price of access was not saying what you know.
People ... I worked in MSM for over 20 years, with a degree in psychology. Why do you think we call it "programming?"
Excellent! +1000
This is a bit older, but powerful (if a little too focused on Freud). There may be some who have not seen it, and it is truly a must see on the road to understanding the role and function of the media:
http://www.archive.org/details/AdaCurtisCenturyoftheSelf_0
Not yet available via Netflix or iTunes, I'm afraid...
Well Said Tyler!
Can you please make this required reading for LEO?
As the truth is not in him..
I am coming to the conclusion that "Leo" is just a fictional persona designed to elicit outrage, controversy, and antagonism, thereby generating increased site traffic and hence revenue via ZH advertisers.
In short, "Leo" is merely the Jon Nadler of ZeroHedge.
Great Point AKAK
Your more than likely spot on as nobody can be that big of a shill.