The Final Countdown

I don't want this to sound like a eulogy, because obviously Keith Olbermann is alive and kicking, but he has now parted ways with MSNBC. I remember there was a time when I had totally given up on the wasteland of cable news -- maybe even all mainstream news -- and then I found a sane, progressive, articulate and unapologetic voice in Keith Olbermann.

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I'm going to miss him. I hope he finds a new home on another forum... though I'm really hoping it's not a sports network. I know he loves sports, but I think such a move might be a waste of his talents.

Keith, don't let this be the end! I'm counting on you!

A Failed Punk

"My name is James, I work in video activism and journalism. I've been approached by CNN for an interview where I know what their angle is: they want to portray me and my friends as crazies, as non-journalists, as unprofessional and likely as homophobes, racists or bigots of some sort. Abby, who works for Anderson Cooper of CNN, a network notorious for journalistic malpractice, wants to lull me into thinking she's my friend so she can us me to hurt my career.

Instead, I've decided to have a little fun. Instead of giving her a serious interview, I'm going to punk CNN. Abbie has been trying to seduce me to use me, in order to spin a lie about me. So, I'm going to seduce her, on camera, to use her for a video. This bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who comes on at five will get a taste of her own medicine, she'll get seduced on camera and you'll get to see the awkwardness and the aftermath. Please sit back and enjoy the show." [Excerpt from document obtained by CNN.]

I thought we had heard the last of the creepy, conservative costume fetishist, but James O'Keefe is back with a dildo boat and a story that could have been ripped straight from a rejected 80's teen flick script.

His recent undercover video scheme was to "embarrass a CNN correspondent by recording a meeting on hidden cameras aboard a floating "palace of pleasure" and making sexually suggestive comments."



The juvenile lameness of this plan is one thing -- that little twit honestly thinks he can seduce anybody? I puke at the thought.

But the horrific misogyny is beyond belief. A 'fake' kidnapping and rape is a clever little prank in his mind? As Cord Jefferson wrote in his blog:

Being males, they didn’t think about how scared Boudreau might be while stuck alone at sea and surrounded by strange men showing her pornography. Being white, they didn’t consider—as I had—the justice system’s especially rigid intolerance for crimes involving white women and black men. They simply went for it—and it’s no surprise their plans were thwarted by a woman.

A very basic definition of privilege is being able to do things without considering the consequences. And like natural gas, one of privilege's most dangerous qualities is that it's easy to miss, even if it surrounds you. James O’Keefe does what he wants every day, and yet he still works to destroy organizations like ACORN—which tried to empower minority voters—because they’re “cheating,” and it’s not fair.

What would be fair is if the MSM stopped treating O'Keefe as if he has any credibility. I would think that after the revelations about spliced ACORN tapes and the bungled Watergate reenactment everybody would realize that James O'Keefe is truly a failed punk.

Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom

Who said print media is dead?

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I'm as skeptical as Maddow about this al-Qaeda magazine. 4chan couldn't have done it better -- "in the kitchen of your mom" could be the internet meme of the year. But think about what that little phrase undoubtedly implies: real al-Qaeda members still live with their moms. Yes, I think there are some psy-ops going on here.

But just in case this is all real, here is my free advice for Inspire. Be really careful who you get your polling data from.

The Splice Job

This is why I read blogs. They relentlessly set the record straight when mainstream news outlets will not.

A few months ago, the MSM and the blogosphere alike were frenzied over the story of the undercover pimp and whore team seemingly getting ill-conceived advice from ACORN on how to setup a brothel. The pimp was played by James O'Keefe, and the whore was played by Hannah Giles, and their infamous tapes were mostly horseshit -- highly doctored and overdubbed horseshit. In fact, O'Keefe had a history of out-of-context edits in his horseshit "documentaries."

But what made the story so sensational was the absurd 70's-era pimp costume. How could low-level ACORN employees be so gullible? Well, The Brad Blog has been uncovering the truth for the last few weeks: O'Keefe never dressed as a pimp in the offices of ACORN. He wore a dress shirt and khaki pants.

Everybody was duped including Congress which temporarily cut funding for ACORN.

Giles wants to call the pimp costume footage b-roll, but the pure fiction was promulgated over and over again for months by the mainstream news outlets and O'Keefe himself.

The result of these lies and video edits was a successful piece of propaganda to discredit and vilify a community organization that helps poor people by advocating for affordable housing, affordable healthcare, higher minimum wages, and better schools.

The New York Times has been particularly bull-headed in their refusal to retract their multiple erroneous reports on the subject. In a letter to a Brad Blog reader, Times' Sr. Editor Greg Brock wrote, "If there is a correction to be made, it seems it would start with Mr. O'Keefe himself. We believe him. Therefore there is nothing for us to correct."

Which leaves me pondering, who should get my coveted Porkpuller Prize for weakest effort in journalism? The New York Times? Or James O'Keefe for his blatant and unethical splice job?

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tip/Wag - James O'Keefe & Sean Hannity
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Skate Expectations

Fraud News

Does Fox News just not care anymore? Are they not even trying to be real journalists? Why does it take a comedy show to reveal that Fox's Sean Hannity used film footage from a completely different protest to make the GOP's health care rally appear more heavily attended?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

The news media is in a downward spiral. Nine months ago I wrote about Sean Delonas' vile racists cartoons printed in the NY Post. At the time there was a disingenuous controversy over whether the illustrations were intentionally racist. Well, stop the presses. Sandra Guzman, a former NY Post editor fired after speaking out against the cartoon, is now speaking out against the racist and misogynistic atmosphere at the Post. In addition to her shocking allegations of sexual harassment, she had this to say about the atmosphere in the newsroom:

In the complaint, Guzman said that multiple editors knew that the cartoon was offensive, but didn't do anything about it. It was, she alleges, par for the course when it came to the paper's coverage. Guzman alleged that she had once learned that the Post had planned to run a cartoon in the newspaper depicting Jews as sewer rats. She also alleged that "Charles Hurt, the Post's Washington D.C. Bureau Chief and a high ranking journalist at the newspaper, had confirmed to Ms. Guzman that the Post had such a policy in place, telling her that the Post's 'goal is to destroy Barack Obama. We don't want him to succeed.'"

This is the fraud and paranoia that Rupert Murdoch builds his empire upon.

Leave it There!

I think Jon Stewart is at his best when he eviscerates cable news. Also see Go Fox Yourself.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
CNN Leaves It There
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

Shilling for Dick

Here we go again. Dick Cheney is still defending torture. Dick Cheney still thinks he's above the law. Dick Cheney still thinks he's the one in charge. But now he has a new BFF in Chris Wallace who brings new meaning to the softball interview:

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Oh Chris! Did Dick Cheney let you sit on his lap after the cameras were turned off?

And again, Chris Wallace proved himself an inadequate journalist while leading the discussion following the interview. He cut off Juan Williams from making clear and forceful arguments against torture. He dismisses it all as "purely coincidental" that this country has not been attacked again since 9-11. But John Amato is as sick as I am over the "they kept us safe" line of bullshit:

You see, 9/11 doesn't count. Cheney and his ilk make it sound as if America was being attacked every week and once he started torturing they all magically stopped. Why was the US safe from 1993-2001, without using torture or the Patriot act? And the Trade Center bombers were all caught, but using Cheney's method Bin Laden is still free.

But at the heart of this whole offensive effort by Cheney and friends is the falsehood that somehow the CIA inspector general report shows that torture works. The truth is that the IG report repeatedly makes clear that it does not assess the effectiveness of particular techniques of torture. And even if torture did work, it shouldn't be legalized.

But these guys can't be bogged down with concepts like truth and justice... or journalism. Is there a prize opposite of the Pulitzer? I'll have to look into that, but meanwhile I'm making up my own. The first ever Porkpuller Prize for weakest effort in journalism goes to Chris Wallace. Congrats, Chris.

Beck the Blogger

I admit I'm not a big fan of The View, but every once in a while Whoopi Goldberg makes the show worthwhile like this morning when she called Glenn Beck a "lying sack of dog mess":


(YouTube Video)

I love seeing Glenn Beck squirm like that. I'm surprised tubby didn't start to cry like he does on his own show. But the most revealing bit was the exchange he had with Barbara Walters.

Walters: You are an investigative reporter.
Beck: No, I'm not.
Walters: Well, you're a reporter.
Beck: No, I am not.
Walters: So you check no facts at all?
Beck: Uh, no. I am a commentator. I am a commentator. I comment on life.

He's an overpaid blogger! I comment on life too, but I'm pretty sure I spend more time checking facts and looking up relevant links than he does. Did you notice how Elisabeth Hasselbeck was mighty quiet? I know she is the conservative voice on The View, but damn, I hope she's catching on that Beck pulls crazy crap out of his ass all the time.

Oh, and you know who else doesn't deserve a professional pulpit and should stick to blogging like the rest of us? John Yoo. The author of the infamous "torture memos" has been given a monthly column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The MSM is failing us, and they can't figure out why they're going bankrupt. Maybe the problem starts with their morals.

Brawl Street

"You say the name of a stock, and Mad Money's Jim Cramer tells you whether to buy or sell." — Lightning Round OT.

"I understand you want to make finance entertaining but it's not a fucking game." — John Stewart, March 12, 2009.

I'll try to go easy on the wrestling metaphors, because what I saw last night on The Daily Show was actually real journalism. Jon Stewart's interview with Mad Money's Jim Cramer was adversarial but civilized... barely. Here is part 1:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

But the real inquisition begins in part 2. I cheered when Stewart rolled out this 2006 video from TheStreet.com TV. The 2006 Cramer boasts that short selling (and crushing the average investor) is very "satisfying." Then the 2009 Cramer squirms. Watch:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Stewart makes it clear that he is holding all financial news shows to the same standard. They should all illuminate what's really going on in the market. They should all strive for journalistic integrity. But Cramer and his show are the face of this financial crisis. The man obviously has some fine market acumen, but the seriousness of guarding people's wealth is incongruous with the hyper theatrics of a show called "Mad Money."

Finally, in part 3, Cramer tries to defend his show saying, "the market was going up for a long time, and our real sin, I think, was to believe it would continue to go up a lot in the face of what you describe..."

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The final handshake and Cramer's promise to be a better person were nice touches. Of course, it's not the end. Today I see Cramer's long defense from his pay-to-read blog shared on Hullabaloo. He's trying to do a bit of damage control, but in the end, the blogosphere will just dig harder.

But let's not forget there is nothing unique about Jim Cramer. The larger issue is about media cowards who never investigate claims made by CEOs or government officials. Too many stars of cable news lazily amplify lies and mislead the public leaving the real reporting to comedians.

No Coincidence

Image via I Can Has Cheezburger.

Is it just a coincidence that a few weeks after hiring Samuel Wurzelbacher (aka "Joe the Plumber," aka leftover baggage from the McCain campaign), Pajamas Media is shutting down its blogger advertising network? Apparently the blog advertising market is crashing along with everything else.

Of course, there is also the possibility that companies didn't want to advertise on wingnut blogs. The free market is funny like that.

I guess PJM saw themselves as some kind of superhero in tights (err Pajamas) exposing liberal bias and stomping out the traditional media. Instead, they got Joe the Pretend War Correspondent ranting about how reporters shouldn't report, the media should be abolished, and everything would be better if Americans kept on cheering. Funny how the antiquated liberal media handily discredited him.

PJM is still trying to define a future for themselves. Their lineup of webcasts looks like remnants from Bush's military analysts program... but on second thought, no military analyst was as stupid as Joe the Shlump... except, well that Rumsfeld guy had some insane moments.

But I digress. Many Americans don't know much about news outside the US, and PJM might find their niche in making those average Joes feel smart.

Counterculture Time Machine

I bought myself a cool little present this week: Rolling Stone Cover to Cover: The First 40 Years ($32 on Amazon.com). It's 4 DVD ROMs containing issues 1 through 1006 of Rolling Stone Magazine. The archive consists of full image scans, so you get every cover, every photo, every advertisement, and of course every article.

I'm certainly no classic-rock music buff, but I have a fascination with the political articles. Reading the stories on Nixon, Watergate, Vietnam, G. Gordon Liddy, and Patty Hearst is better than any history lesson, because reading opinions on events as they were happening, without the benefit of hindsight, erases the distance between then and now.

This little time machine also reminds me that corruption and lies have always been a malignant part of politics. But... and maybe my view is skewed because I'm only studying one magazine archive... it seems the reporting was so much better back then. Consider that when Dan Ellsberg and recently deceased Anthony J. Russo leaked Pentagon Papers to the New York Times, their actions actually sparked controversy and hastened the downfall of a president. Now, despite the various Senate committees, blogs and books pointing to corruption, lies and forgeries of the current administration, we still can't get rid of Bush!

Anyway, if you like perusing this kind of counterculture material, but don't want to invest in the RS collection, you might want to check out The Realist Archive Project. It's another unexpurgated slice of history.

Dick Moves

“Politics is just show business for ugly people” -- Jay Leno

The theme this week, courtesy of the McCain campaign, is that Barack Obama is a celebrity. Of course, before starting this new narrative, they scrubbed the McCain web site! Yes, McCain and his people are slowly learning about the Internet. However, they desperately need to learn what a Google cache is:

March 1, 2007

Article Excerpt

NEW YORK (AP) - Republican Sen. John McCain said he will officially enter the presidential race ... with a formal announcement in early April after a trip to Iraq.

The Arizona senator discussed the timing of the long-expected announcement with reporters at an awards reception Wednesday evening a few hours after taping an appearance on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman."

On the talk show, McCain told Letterman: "I am announcing that I will be a candidate for president of the United States," then added that he would give a formal speech to that effect in early April.

He later told reporters that he would visit Iraq first and that his campaign would be about "whether I have the vision, experience and knowledge to lead the nation."

Former New York Gov. George Pataki introduced McCain to reporters before the Irish-American 10th Annual Awards reception Wednesday night. Asked about polls showing him trailing former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, McCain said: "We keep doing the best we can. We're very happy with the way things are going."

There had been no doubt that McCain would eventually become a full-fledged White House candidate, and he had been expected to make his candidacy official in the spring.

The 2006 midterm campaign had just ended when McCain took the first formal step toward a presidential run in November. He formed an exploratory committee and gave a speech casting himself as a "common-sense conservative" in the vein of Ronald Reagan who could lead the party back to dominance after a dreadful election season by returning to the GOP's core principles.

A political celebrity, McCain is considered a top contender for the nomination.

McCain's own press release last year referred to him as a celebrity. But the humor doesn't end there. In a nationally televised ad, McCain attempts to equate Obama's fame with that of the annoying, narcissistic socialite Paris Hilton. I wonder how Paris Hilton's parents feel considering they donated $4600 to the McCain campaign. Jon Stewart describes this dick move:



So why does the GOP air these ads? They know that simply by raising a question like "is Obama arrogant," it will be debated over and over again in the media. Media Matters explains how these narratives emerge:

But attacks don't just stick and narratives don't just emerge. The only reason that the topic of the week was whether Obama is presumptuous instead of whether McCain is a liar who will do anything to get elected is that the news media decided to make Obama's purported flaws the topic of the week -- even after debunking the charges upon which the characterization is based. It's as though the news media -- so concerned about lies (that weren't really lies) in 2000 -- have suddenly decided that it doesn't matter that the McCain campaign is launching false attack after false attack. That it's the kind of thing you note once, then adopt the premise of the attack.

So even after an attack has been debunked, the MSM devotes an extraordinary amount of time to the lie repeating it like some kind of he-said-she-said lover's quarrel.

When a claim is proven to be false, don't call it "misleading." Call it a lie! And then move on to some other ugly business. There's plenty out there.

Baracknophobia

Baracknophobia: "The Irrational fear that behind the mild-mannered persona, Barack Obama is intent on enslaving the white race... The sickness manifests itself as rumor, most often in the form of the only email your grandmother has ever successfully been able to forward."

Yes, well, substitute "grandmother" with "mother" and that's my experience. The first time I heard any of the crazy rumors about Barack Obama, it came from an email from dear old mom. I don't know what hurt more -- that my mother actually was seriously worried about the claims, or that all the wisdom I tried to pass on to her about avoiding internet hoaxes and rumors was lost.

Last night the Daily Show aired a montage of the smears that the Internet, the mainstream media and my mom have pushed upon us:



The only smear I hadn't heard before was at 5:45 into the video. It's Fox News comparing a Barack Obama speech to a Mario Cuomo speech. The two speeches had three words in common: to, of, we. The Fox reporter asks "is that plagiarism there?"

Never mind the fact that the two speeches aren't even vaguely similar. Never mind the fact that both candidates use typical political rhetoric. It's the Fox technique that deserves analysis. Ask a question rather than stating a fact. "Is that plagiarism there?" Or as The Onion put it, "A Statement Followed By A Question Separated By A Colon: An Effective Journalistic Technique?"

Of course, if Fox News makes a false statement, they could be accused of slander, but they can't be accused of slander for asking a question. Sounds tricky, but let me try:

The Mainstream Media: Can They Be Trusted?
Fox News: Just Stirring Up Trouble?
Fox Reporters: Are They Retarded?
All Fox Reporters Have Assholes: Is That Where They Pull Their Stories From?

The formula is easy to master, and raising the specter is all it takes to hook the average viewer. Then repeat the innuendo over and over again. And that's how the media diverts our focus from the real issues.

Ambush Reporting

Hidden cameras, one way mirrors, catching criminals in the act -- these were the original tactics of ambush reporting pioneered by 60 Minutes. A new generation of reporters and infotainment channels have redefined the ambush interview. I prefer to call the new style "bullying" because it has nothing to do with reporting, journalism, or integrity.

I've written about one Fox News ambush boy before. His name is Porter Barry. I've also written about a journalist who I really respect. His name is Bill Moyers. Let's see what happens when the two meet at the National Conference for Media Reform:



It's no surprise that Moyer's intelligence, composure, and wit beat Barry's obnoxious, repetitive talking points, but the highlight of the argument is when, at about 2 minutes into part 2, Moyers asks this key question: "Is Rupert Murdoch responsible to the American people?"

I say of course he is responsible. Murdoch is the major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation. News Corporation owns many newspapers, magazines, studios and television channels around the world. And the man has been accused of violating editorial independence and destroying once respectable newspapers with his tabloid style sensationalism. That's not my idea of free press.

Bill Moyers once said "There is no more important struggle for American democracy than ensuring a diverse, independent and free media. Free Press is at the heart of that struggle.”

But I would like to hear Porter Barry's opinion, so I hope he does go on Moyer's show next week to offer his insight on the media's responsibility to the American people. I'm sure it will be fascinating.

Battle of Bumper Stickers

For the last several months I've been watching Bill Moyers Journal every Friday on PBS. In the world of journalism, he is a veteran. I watch his show and feel like I've turned the dial back 40 or 50 years to a calmer, more reasonable and more respectable news media. He's definitely not a hot-head like Bill O'Reilly. He's not obnoxiously argumentative like Sean Hannity. He's not even a funny man like Jon Stewart. Bill Moyers is simply a real journalist.

Last night Keith Olbermann interviewed Bill Moyers and the main topic was the mainstream media. Moyers talked about the dangers of the corporate media simplifying the deep and profound problems we face in the US. He called it a "battle of bumper stickers." However, he felt encouraged when the voters saw through the whole gas tax holiday issue, and he feels that the internet might be the antidote to the herd of the mainstream media:



His most recent book, Moyers on Democracy, is a collection of his speeches on what is happening with our country -- the assault on our Constitution, the undermining of our electoral process, the class war inherent in the growth of economic inequality, the dangers of an imperial executive branch, and the attack on the independence of the press. "The gravediggers of democracy will not have the last word.”