Posted by
Peter V. Bella on Sunday, December 30, 2007 9:53:45 AM
MEDIA EGO MASSAGE
Richard Wolffe, White House correspondent for Newsweek:
“They want us to play a role that isn’t really our role. Our role is to ask questions and get information. … It’s not a chance for the opposition to take on the government and grill them to a point where they throw their hands up and surrender. … It’s not a political exercise, it’s a journalistic exercise. And I think often the blogs are looking for us to be political advocates more than journalistic ones.”
"The press here does a fantastic job of adhering to journalistic standards and covering politics in general"
Mr. Wolffe, through his insipid comments, has proven once again that the press, or main stream media, are abject failures. They have no real ethics or standards to adhere to, especially when covering politics. The only place to find journalistic ethics and standards is in dusty old text books. They gush over certain candidates like teenage girls talk about boys. How else does one explain the free pass Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama are getting in the media versus the criticisms of the Republican candidates.
Fact checking and verification are the relics of ancient history. They take what is given to them and regurgitate it to the public. If it wasn’t for press releases most journalists would actually have to work for a living.
The press, in general, has lost its objectivity. It appears that they are nothing more than the public relations arm of the political parties.
If the press is doing such a great and fantastic job, then why are major newspapers hemorrhaging money? Why is the New York Times becoming the laughing stock of the media and Wall Street, instead of the go to source? I guess if your job is on the line, you will say or do anything to preserve it.
Major media has lost its way. They have created this mystique that it takes special training and education to be a reporter. Look, anyone can be a journalist- it takes no real education to ask who, what, where, when, and how- and stories are written by copy people, so it takes no talent either. If you are a TV reporter, you only need second grade reading skills to read the teleprompter. The media created this aura of self appointed- not elected- watchdogs of government. They are really attack dogs. Some of the greatest reporters never saw the inside of a J school, let alone a college.
They criticize, but hate criticism. They claim fair and balanced, but there is none. There is no longer a line, fine or otherwise, between reportage and editorializing.
The only real media left is sports reporting. That is a sad state of affairs.