To quote Gypsy from MST3K, “Working like a dog.” For a wonder, I’ve been able to do a lot of catch-up. The wretched neocon Ugnaught is no longer in my hearing range. The NYC radio station hosting him and the rest of their demon horde of screaming heads has changed their audio stream. So I’m getting a much needed vacation imposed on me.
But I have a lot of work ahead of me. Lots of editing, e-mailing, scheduling, researching, note-taking. One of these days I’ll actually get to do some writing. God, my kingdom for an intern.
I haven’t completely bowed out of the media monitoring thing. For one, someone has got to slay the poisonous beast that cable news has become. Wolf Blitzer has gone from Gulf War luminary to Bushco stooge. It should be of no surprise to anyone, I suppose. But I was reminded of it this morning, courtesy of Media Matters for America. If you follow the link, you’ll get an idea of why I sent this to CNN:
I’m writing in response to the November 21 installment of “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.” It’s a bitter reminder of why I stopped watching CNN on a regular basis. After this, I won’t forget again.
The Nov 21 program was brought to my attention this morning while reviewing the website for Media Matters for America. MMfA posted a transcript and, later, video excerpts of a segment with US House Representatives Loretta Sanchez, Jesse Jackson Jr, and Martin Frost along with radio personality Al Franken.
Instead of moderating the discussion, host Wolf Blitzer was leading it. Instead of eliciting opinions from his panelists, he tried to muzzle them. He was pushing a premise when he should have been testing it. He asked leading questions and repeatedly defended their subtext, often at the expense of the panel’s analyses. He had already decided that his opinion, not those of his panel, was the focus of that segment.
When panelists openly challenged the news media’s effectiveness, and specifically that of CNN, he shut them down. He didn’t explore their points or even tried to disprove them. Instead he openly dismissed them. Further, he also did a poor job of encapsulating those points, distorting or exaggerating their arguments as a result.
Mr Blitzer’s abilities as an impartial journalist have proven lackluster. Unfortunately such blatant partisanship and poor skill has become typical of the entire network. CNN has become a major source of disappointment and anger for me, a former longtime CNN viewer since 1981.
But I will win — for I am good and the Mads are evil! But how?!?!?!