The 'Media Party' Is Over

[housewolf]

CBS's downfall is just the tip of the iceberg
By Howard Fineman
Newsweek

A political party is dying before our eyes—and I don't mean the Democrats. I'm talking about the "mainstream media," which is being destroyed by the opposition (or worse, the casual disdain) of George Bush's Republican Party; by competition from other news outlets (led by the Internet and Fox's canny Roger Ailes), and by its own fraying journalistic standards. At the height of its power, the AMMP (the American Mainstream Media Party) helped validate the civil-rights movement, end a war and oust a power-mad president. But all that is ancient history.

Now the AMMP is reeling, and not just from the humiliation of CBS News.

<snip>

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6814405/site/newsweek/

[punpirate]

1. From Howard Fineman...

... this is rich. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. In the dictionary, under sycophancy, it says, "see Howard Fineman." :)

[Clark2008]

5. It also references one to Pinkerton, Miller and Novak. n/t

[The Zanti Regent]

17. Oh, Whoreward, why is your boss forking over all that $$$$ for Bush?

Why is the WHORESHINGTON POST forking over $100,000 for the coronation of El Presidente of the Banana Republic?

Is is so YOU can be first in line to get the first shot of Brown lipstick AFTER El Presidente is coronated?

[EFerrari]

2. I won't belong to any club that'll have Roger Ailes as a member. lol

[flordehinojos]

3. Is Howard Fineman feeling a sudden twinge of conscience?

A sharp pain in his right arm?

WHAT ever possessed him to self (being as he is part of the main stream media) examination?

is it another, a little too late, powell-like mea culpa?

[ribrepin]

4. Howard Fineman--same old subtle basing of democrats

I got news for you Howard, I don't watch you on T.V or Fox News. It's all got a right-wing slant. He doesn't care if Bush has disdain for the main system news media. Howard's counting his payoff.

Just another opportunity to bash anyone perceived as liberal.

[imenja]

6. so how is Fox not MSM?

That always makes me furious. They are the most watched cable station, garner higher ratings than some of the networks, yet somehow imagine they aren't MSM? Bull shit!
The Revolution begins with Murdoch. We need to figure out a way to bring them down.

[RafterMan]

8. FOX isn't MSM

because the people at FOX actually know what they want to do and are doing it well.

The rest of these clowns actually believe they are still real journalists, the way ghosts believe they are still among the living.

[Seabiscuit]

10. Hmmmm.

Do Tweety and InsHannity "believe they are still real journalists?"

[RafterMan]

11. Hannity is on FOX

and Tweety does, I'll bet.

[passy]

9. Fox is infotainment not news.

If you want to know what a country looks like when controlled by Fox or well Sky since it's all part of the Murdoch empire, look no further than Britain. There Murdoch owns the highest selling newspaper (well if you can call it that, it's more like a cheap trashy propaganda pamphlet not worthy of wiping your ass with, (sorry that sounds like ranting but for those of you who know the Sun then you would understand)he also owns the Times which is not the referential newspaper it used to be, it's often the same stuff as the Sun with more respectable layout and longer words).
The largest satellite TV provider is Sky, home of Sky news, a more British version of Fox with less insane ranters, their focus is on how violent and dangerous society is and sports news, really professional in-depth journalism in other words.
Well apart from the low quality of Murdoch's newspapers and TV channels, the problem is that he has Blair's balls in his hands.
Blair only won his first election when the Sun switched sides a few months before the elections.
This happened after a meeting in 1995 between Blair and Murdoch on Hayman Island off the east coast of Australia which Murdoch owns.
Since then it seems that Blair does whatever Murdoch says knowing fully well that if he ever was to cross him he would be out of the prime ministers chair rather quickly. By now Murdoch has enough on the Blair government to unseat it if he wants, (WMDs anyone).
While looking for the name of the island that Murdoch owns I came across this link http://www.goacom.com/overseas-digest/Media/murdoch.html quite scary the power this man has.
As to bring him down I think it will only happen if one uses the methods one uses to fight the mafia, mainly going after accounting fraud and the likes.

[RafterMan]

7. God what an idiot

His example of fraying journalistic standards is Rathergate? And being against Vietnam?

That's so much more important than the tens of thousands of hours of terror programming that caused people to think that if they didn't invade Iraq RIGHT NOW, they would explode. Or the million other things the idiot media have done to disgrace themselves.

What a sorry bunch. No wonder FOX is eating their lunch.

[sorechasm]

13. Sounds like a resignation letter to me

Is Howard applying for a new job to work for DU? Considering that his acknowledgment of "fraying journalistic standards" is old, old, old news, I don't think he'll make the cut.

The article would have seemed more sincere if he had defended rather than torpedoed such statements as:

"Still the notion of a neutral, nonpartisan mainstream press was, to me at least, worth holding onto. Now it's pretty much dead..."

Way to stay on top of things Howard. It should never have been a 'notion'. Journalistic standards should have been a CONVICTION.

[rodeodance]

14. fineman was talking the other day about Ailes--saying that Ailes set

Fox up against Dan Rather (something personal it seems). What this does not talk about is now we have Fox (and others such MSNBC) as the leaders.

...by competition from other news outlets (led by the Internet and Fox's canny Roger Ailes),....

[Stevepol]

12. If the MSM would cover REAL news they'd thrive.

Can you imagine if the MSM covered the vote fraud which is happening right now, probably the biggest scam and con job in world history, certain in American history. They've got all the info they cd possibly ask for. All they'd have to do is report it. They wdn't run out of FACTUAL materials for years on this one subject alone. CBS was given Greg Palast's info about the ex-felon list and the huge disenfranchisement of B voters in FL just weeks into the recount in 2000 and they did nothing, called Jeb who denied it and therefore they called off the research. Instead, Rather reports on a piece of evidence about Bush's service record which is poorly vetted (tho based on facts). Why? They just have no sense of proportion. Take what looks like the easy way out, don't do any research if you can avoid it, and avoid anything that might rock the boat and offend the Repubs. If they'd just report FACTS, they would have ratings, they'd have people watching, and the advertisers wd be there. They're too afraid of offending the corps and the Repubs. They have only themselves to blame. The people are ready, the world is ready, the only thing lacking is their courage.

[sorechasm]

15. Amen Stevepol

Get a clue MSM. Did MSM not notice that the Democrats raised as much money as the Repububs in 2004, only with ten times the number of donors. We got money too (and integrity to boot).

[usrbs]

16. Howard Fineman: Still Searching for the Perfect Shade of Lipstick

Fineman has nerve talking about the media's image. He's almost a role model for the same. Wolcott has plenty to say about him here.
http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2005/01/howard_fineman_1.php


One great quote:
One supremely, fatuously blithe sentence says it all. Writing about the media's bloodhound pursuit of the truth about the war in Southeast Asia and Watergate, Fineman, lolling in the comfort of hindsight, observes, "The crusades of Vietnam and Watergate seemed like a good idea at the time, even a noble one, not only to the press but perhaps to a majority of Americans."

[Cocoa]

19. "a demure pile of Howard Fineman's fingernail parings"

ROFL already, right from the beginning.

I'm SO GLAD this Fineman crap is getting so much attention on the Web. :-)

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. Did he just out Ken Starr:

"thanks in good part to information supplied by GOP investigators."

That's what he said in reference to the Monica Lewinsky situation.

Are there any penalties for a special investigator who intentionally leaks information?

[shrike]

20. Howie the whore, look in the mirror n/t