Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Disgusted with the news media

Oh C-span, my darling, how I've missed you.

The hospital didn't have C-span, so I had to watch the convention filtered through one of the cable networks. I clicked back and forth between CNN and MSNBC. Frankly, both made me want to hurl Little Warrior's orange juice at the tv.

Long, long ago, I was the editor of my high school newspaper. Our journalism was ruthless with even the slightest hint of slanted journalism. "Look at the word you used here," she would say, making you scrutinize what you wrote. "Can you find another word that doesn't indicate a judgment?"

Are those days gone? Do teachers not teach this anymore?

Stories that purport to be straight news get their little digs in. Like the story about how Bill Clinton has to support "the man who forced his wife from the race."

Last night, I heard one CNN talking head talk about how the reason Hillary wasn't the VP nominee was because Michelle wouldn't let Barack. He held forth on this for a few minutes. Wolf Blitzer finally asked what he based that on. "Oh, just my gut feeling." And that was that. Apparently "gut feeling" passes for actual substantiated reports these days.

I agree with the person who never claimed to be a journalist, Jon Stewart:

"Stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America."

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