Quote of the Day: Media Hysteria

One journalist has a few words of advice for his colleagues:

For your own sake, and that of the republic for which you allegedly work, wipe off your chins and regain your composure. I didn’t vote for him either, but Trump won. Pull yourselves together and deal with it, if you ever want to be taken seriously again.

What kind of president will Trump be? It’s a tad too early to say, isn’t it? The media are supposed to tell us what happened, not speculate on the future. But its incessant scaremongering, the utter lack of proportionality and the shameless use of double standards are an embarrassment, one that is demeaning the value of the institution. The press’ frantic need to keep the outrage meter dialed up to 11 at all times creates the risk that a desensitized populace will simply shrug off any genuine White House scandals that may lie in the future (or may not).

Hysteria is causing leading media organizations to mix up their news reporting with their editorializing like never before, but instead of mingling like chocolate and peanut butter the two are creating a taste that’s like brushing your teeth after drinking orange juice.

It's certainly good advice, but it will also almost certainly be ignored. At least Kyle Smith can say he tried. 

The news media has done incalculable harm to itself throughout this election cycle (and well before it too), but it seems quite fixated on further clueless self-immolation.

The Day After

Well, I gotta admit, I was not expecting that! Trump carried Pennsylvania? Michigan?

The wailing, gnashing of teeth, and the wearing of sackcloth and ashes by distraught Hillary fans proceeds apace around me, but let's get real here: she was a deeply - and, in the end, fatally - flawed candidate. As the incomparable Iowahawk said:

Hillary Clinton got her dream opponent, a barely literate reality show orangutan, AND SHE LOST TO HIM.

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) November 9, 2016

Also, it turns out that smugly, contemptuously belittling, insulting, demeaning, stereotyping, alienating, mocking, and occasionally outright demonizing an entire segment of the American public and then expecting those "deplorables" to vote for you ... doesn't actually work. (Shoot, even a leftist paper like the Guardian figured it out. See this too.)

As for me, I'm just glad that the absolute worst presidential election in living memory is finally over and that I can sort of stand to look myself in the mirror.

One more thing: Drink in the hysterical, disconsolate, Schadenfreudelicious tears of the media as it flings itself into a total meltdown.  It behaved horribly with naked bias throughout this entire business, and any good Greek tragedian would nod sagely to see that in so doing it chose the form of its destructor when it thought it was about to crown its anointed and sail into a paradise of influence peddling and cozying up to the halls of power. You made your bed. Now lie in it.

Still, let's end with a joke, shall we?  

And That's All She Wrote

This pretty much sums up what I think about the entire Donald Trump circus (about which I've purposefully posted almost nothing). 

Arguably one of the few things worse than Trump in all this is the media.  GOOD LORD.

And You Thought the *American* Press Was Nakedly Partisan

As the Washington Post reports:

"With just one day to go until Britain votes in its general election, it looks like the British press has lost what little restraint it once had and launched into open political warfare."

I suppose this at least eliminates the hypocrisy of claiming to be objective and impartial.

Humans of Iraq: Popular Photo Blog Turns War Report

Humans of New York is now in Iraq.  If you're not reading it, you're missing out.

But How Could You Tell That From Normal MSNBC?

Technical difficulties fill MSNBC's news ticker with hilarious gibberish.

LOL: A Comment on Journalism

Ah, the decline of journalism: From Woodward and Bernstein cracking Watergate to Buzzfeed telling me which Disney Princess I'm most like.
— Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) June 25, 2014

Nerd News: Journalism School Misspells Own Diplomas

SPELL CHECK, YO!

The Fall of Piers Morgan

You can read the entire analysis, or you can cut to the chase: "To put it more succinctly, Piers Morgan is a supercilious tosser."  (The inimitable Jeremy Clarkson would agree, I think.)

The Real News Is In Ukraine and Venezuela

Honestly, the media frenzy over Sochi is beginning to look pretty misguided next to horrific reports coming out of Ukraine and Venezuela.

UPDATE: See the story of the Ukrainian skier who left the Games to join protesters at home.

Bawl-ympics: NBC Hits New Low with Emotional Abuse

You know, I didn't post on this last night because my Olympic-viewing buddies and I were in a complete frothing, cursing rage, and I thought it would be better to wait until this morning and see if I were any less mad before commenting.

NOPE.

The crew and I were furious last night when we all sent nasty messages and tweets to NBC, and we're still furious.  We're talking about NBC's unacceptable treatment of skier Bode Miller. I refuse to link to NBC itself, but sports blogs are all over this, aside from Twitter, which had a meltdown.

NBC seemed bound and determined to hound Miller until he broke down on camera ... and when he did, they still followed him like a flock of voyeuristic vultures.  It was absolutely disgusting to see this pack of heartless ratings-grubbers openly exploit a man's raw grief over the death of his brother.  It was abusive.  It was wrong.

Miller took the high road and tweeted this:

I appreciate everyone sticking up for me. Please be gentle w christin cooper, it was crazy emotional and not all her fault. #heatofthemoment
— Bode Miller (@MillerBode) February 17, 2014

I beg to differ. It was her fault, and it was NBC's fault for making this sort of thing acceptable, and it was NBC's fault again for choosing to broadcast this interview over and over.  SCREW THIS HORRIBLE NETWORK.

But lest we all forget the really important part: Congratulations, Bode, on your bronze medal and making skiing history!

PS: See too this point.

Quote of the Day: Seymour Hersh on Modern Journalism

The old Pulitzer Prize winner is none too pleased with the current state of things.  Here's a piece of it:

"... the New York Times still has investigative journalists but they do much more of carrying water for the president than I ever thought they would … it's like you don't dare be an outsider any more."

A Cartoonist Vs. the AP and James Rosen Scandal

Indeed.  Click to enlarge for more detail.

All the President's Men

Quote of the Day: Eric Holder's "Off the Record" Meeting

Here's an understatement:

"There is an uncomfortable irony in the fact that an attorney general investigating his policy for spying on the media is asking the media to keep his words secret."

Y'THINK?  Besides, when you find that media outlets from the New York Times to Fox News are refusing to go to your meeting, you're doing it wrong.  As for the few outlets who are going to the Holder meeting, they should probably leak everything immediately.  

The Washington Post Jumps the Shark

You all know that I appreciate beautiful shoes as much as the next girl, but really, Washington Post?  When we have Scandal-a-palooza blowing up all around us on multiple fronts, with ramifications for everything from press freedom to foreign policy, this is what you print?  

I personally don't give a good gorram if this person, as the news story drools, "wears Manolo Blahniks and Christian Louboutins into the Oval Office."   She is not Carrie Bradshaw, and this is not Sex and the City: White House Edition.

I am pleased to note, though, that when I read the story, the very first reader comment on the bottom was this:

6:55 PM EDT
Without a doubt, the stupidest piece I've ever read in the Washington Post.

Stupid with a side of sexism.  All together now to the WaPo: PFFFFFFFTTTTTTT!!!!!

Quote of the Day: On Obama and Journalism

From the guys at TechDirt:

The Obama administration has used the Espionage Act against more cases of whistleblowing to the press than all other Presidents combined. 

... Obama said that "journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs," but that the "focus must be on those who break the law." Oh really? Then why did your own DOJ claim that a journalist was an aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator for reporting on a leak -- just like tons of other reporters?  

President Obama sounds like someone campaigning against his own policies. Either Eric Holder and the DOJ have "gone rogue" or the President is hastily pretending that his administration is not doing what it clearly has been doing for years.

Quote of the Day: "Welcome to Dumb and Dumber."

Via the Other McCain, this quotation by CBS journalist Bob Schieffer is about Scandal-a-Palooza, and it's quite long (hence the fold), but it's worth a look:

Horsin' Around: "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved"

Today we have the most exciting two minutes in sports!  Eat and drink and be merry, as you enjoy accordingly.  

While I do love roses myself, I prefer not to run for them myself ... but I think I know which horse I'm rooting for!

Thank Goodness It's a New Week

Last week was almost unremittingly horrific: the Boston Marathon bombing, the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas, the earthquake in China.  The admirable behavior of decent common folks who rushed to help in bad circumstances was almost (but NOT) outshouted by the incredibly awful behavior of some news media and partisan pundits looking to score cheap points.   Let's not give any more time to people behaving badly; instead let me encourage you to donate to one of the many charities who are working in the aftermath of these disasters.

The highlight of the entire week of dread is that the bombing suspects did not escape.  Add the funeral of Maggie Thatcher, not that it happened, but that it was a reminder of that great lady, the first woman to be head of a major Western nation.  We're all emotionally exhausted.  Here's looking forward to a new week, as I wish you all the very best.  I'm not feeling too well, so there might not be too much posting.

Cultural Illiteracy at "the Newspaper of Record"

This is why I don't take "serious" newspapers seriously.  Besides, here is a quotable observation: "It’s difficult to take the Times' copious critiques of Catholicism and religion in general seriously when it is as illiterate as this on the most fundamental of Christian doctrines."  Well, DUH.