Don't make media the national scapegoat- Pittsburgh columnist takes Stewart to Task

[RamboLiberal]

-----

During the rally, Mr. Stewart broadcast a montage of dueling talking heads from MSNBC and Fox that was intended to show a moral equivalence between the two that only an idiot would take at face value.

Without making any distinction between the commentators, Jon Stewart made an argument that is ridiculous to anyone who actually chooses to watch, say, MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" over Fox's "Hannity." Political ideas and philosophies have real-world implications. Presenting them as morally equivalent is the height of shallowness when the fate of great initiatives like health care reform or comprehensive climate change legislation are at stake.

In a blissfully ahistorical way that only a comedian -- or a columnist -- can engage in without shame, Mr. Stewart indicted cable news, and by extension the rest of "Big Media," for instigating fights in the school yard of American democracy. If only Ed Schultz, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck would tone it down, America could get back to the business of being a light unto the rest of the world, he would have us believe.

----

As much as Mr. Stewart obviously dislikes Mr. Olbermann's schtick, he's closer to the spirit of the over-the-top pamphleteer and honorary Founding Father Thomas Paine than any of his antagonists at Fox.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10306/1099880-153.stm?cmpid=bcpanel2#ixzz148e2oOit

[TwilightGardener]

1. Boy, the media dogs are sure yelping this week--Stewart must have

touched a nerve. Good.

[left coaster]

2. Agreed! "Journalist"..heal thy self, yo! nt

[emulatorloo]

3. So you think Maddow or Olbermann's show is the same as Hannity's show?

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Anyone who thinks that either never watches Olbermann and Maddow, or ALWAYS watches Hannity.

[bulloney]

19. It's the "They do it too" red herring you get from the RWers.

For every market that may carry Olbermann, Maddow, or Ed for THREE HOURS a day, there are hundreds of markets that carry RW propaganda 24/7.

It's like a serial robber pointing to a first-time offender and saying, "He does it too."

[TwilightGardener]

6. No. However, MSNBC and CNN have their bad journalistic moments when it comes to

reporting news--I'm looking at the overall picture, rather than taking offense over one of my preferred commentators being caught in a wide net.

[left coaster]

8. I too am referring to the bulk of "journalists". nt

[Bluenorthwest]

12. Maddow was not included, now was she?

But you include her as if she was. And that right there, along with your word gaming of the other poster, is the problem and subject at hand.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. If the left did not have at least a FEW screaming heads, I would have ended my life already.

The idea that the likes of the FAUX NOISE talkers could be the only ones out there to point out, LOUDLY, what is going on, makes me want to puke.

Not having countervoices from the very beginning of RW talk Radio is part of what got us where we are today...on the brink of what could be a Third World Country type of government. The RWingnuts have gotten more RW and nuttier than ever.

Ignoring the likes of the RWingnut talking heads in not the answer. Never was. Never will be. Ask John Kerry.

The leftsiders MUST compete with equally loud and pointed voices if we are to be heard at all. To slink meekly into the corner and make the assumption that the public will be able to distinguish between lies and truth has already been proven a HUGE mistake..over and over and over and over.

The mere fact that there are people like Feingold and Boxer whose seats are threatened, proves that too many people do not vote with whatever intelligence they were given.

The media as a whole pretty much sucks, with a few outstanding exceptions. In my opinion, those exceptions lean left.

[RamboLiberal]

10. +1 don't forget it's only been a few short years

Liberals have even had a small presence on TV/radio to deliver an opposing view and the truth.

Even now on radio it is still 90%+ blanketing the country, even bright blue cities, with nothing but 24/7 of hate radio. And on TV Faux still gets twice the ratings of MSNBC.

[old mark]

7. They are ALL a bunch of money grubbing whores, and deserve NO respect...

Watch the news on BBCAmerica for a few days, and see what real news is all about...we used to have that in the US, but this morning's "news" was featuring important information on contestants on "Dancing With The Stars"...I guess nothing else is happening today.

mark

[emilyg]

14. I do.

[stray cat]

9. A responsible media - reporting facts and not he said she said

would change politics. Can you imagine if politicians, media and guests were forbidden to come back on the air or were fined if they lied or exaggerated or took something out of context?

[emilyg]

15. Reporting facts

died many years ago.

[Bluenorthwest]

11. Journalist gets poked, starts talking about morals

Dear journalist,
You have failed your job description for many years now. You sat by while torture and hysteria came to rule the day. Shut up and learn a lesson.
That montage was not 'intended to show a moral equivalence' in any way, shape or form. That faith based sort of hysteria needs to go the way of the rest of the shout'n lexicon of the bully boys from the Sports Department.
The author is too stupid to know what he saw, and instead whines like the 7 year old girl who was rightly given the media courage award.

[JohnWxy]

13. It's much more than Limpballs, & Bugger Beck. NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS all M$M played a very important

part in disinforming the public.

Many wentto the polls mad at Obama because of the poor results from the Stimulus. As far as coverage from M$M goes, Obama and the Dems were the only people in D.C. passing legislation. How many times since Obama was elected have you heard M$M Talking Heads utter the word "filibuster"? Almost nobody who gets their news from network tv even knows that the GOP worked mightily, filibustering 80% of major legislation during Obama's first year, to insure failure of Obama in everything he did, including repairing the economic damage caused by Republican policies.

The Repubs filibustered every stimulus bill, every unemployment extension bill, they even filibustered the Small Business Aid bill (which they wrote) - and it was revenue neutral - would not affect the deficit!

Thanks to M$M people didn't know about this. How many knew that the original stimulus was downsized by a third to keep Repubs from filibustering and delaying it. A delayed stimulus would have been no stimulus at all.

All of Corporate GOP-tv is responsible for the disinforming of the people. In the end this strategy of fooling people to get and maintain power wont' work because the GOP always fucks it up when given power. Because they don't have ideas only tactics and only respond to the demands of the business world, without any over-all strategy, except that of furthering Corporate Feudalism.

[Skittles]

16. another one who doesn't get it

[The Uncola]

17. As much as I enjoy the Daily Show...

... quite frankly, Stewart really doesn't have a very good handle on what it's going to require to stop this Nation's steady march toward fascism. The evil bastards we are fighting are NOT going to stop with their lies and greed, EVER. Passively letting them shout us down has gotten us in the fucking mess we are in, any more than it would have Hitler. I for one, plan on being MUCH less civil in my dealings with the assholes. Try and "curb" me and see what happens, Teabaggers.

[tavalon]

18. A scapegoat would make it sound like they are being blamed unfairly

They helped spur on the low information voter who was angry but didn't know who to be angry at. The conservative media (which makes up well over 80% of the media in the country) assisted the Republican/teabagger abomination to make that angry mob work against itself. To vote against it's interests yet again. I blame them (not Olbermann) and I blame them with plenty of evidence to back it up.

[smiley]

20. Screw Tony Norman

Back in 2004 I was living in Pittsburgh and read Tony Norman's column quite religiously. After the 2004 election and the Ohio results and the total lack of media coverage I emailed Tony Norman asking him to write about ohio and the many discrepancies of the in the results. I didn't really expect a reply from him, but loe and behold, I got one. And his response was to basically call me an idiot for even questioning the results of the election. Furthermore he said there was absolutely no evidence to show the election was stolen in Ohio. My response to him was that the total media blackout of the discrepancies in the exit polling data was at least enough circumstantial evidence for him as a member of the "fourth estate" to write a column about. Needless to say I never read a column by Tony Norman which discussed the Ohio results.

And his initial response to me basically made me think this guy is an ass. I feel that even more now after reading his latest sob story.