Even for the Whore Media, This is a New Low..

[DemocracyInaction]

Remember the front page DU (and post) by Skinner (owner of this website)going ballistic (and rightfully so) about the damn bullshit piece in NY Times and the crap of Fox News?? He hit back with 'examples' from the Land of Freeperville and the garbage they spew. One of his examples was people there talking about how the tsunami was the revenge of God!!

Well, late this afternoon I caught an ad on MSNBC about either an outright program they are going to air or major subject of one of their programs about "Some Say the tsunami is the revenge of God"!!! My jaw droppped. They have NO goddamn right to even bring this up as a "subject" on national tv. This is NOT journalism. It is simply playing to right wing garbage. In a word, what kind of FACTS can they present? Are these pigs now going to tell us that they sent one of their mindless clowns to interview God and get the facts?? This is a prime example of how 'news' has become a propaganda tool for manipulating the mindless minions even worse than anything the Soviets or the Nazis were capable of doing. No wonder we are lambs going to our own slaughter and singing happy songs all the way. Unbelievable!!!

[rodeodance]

1. seems to me that I heard something like you were talking about also

today-but it was in the context of some the islanders (Asia) believing in this.

[jdj]

20. NPR did the Godspiracy theories too.

Kooky Tsunami Godspiracy theories are perfectly allowable. Heathen tsunami conspiracy theories, on the other hand, are a mortal sin.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Repeat after me, it is not whore media

it is the Stenography Corp... remember framing... and this is even worst than whore media... it trigers images of... weak reporters and secretaries dutifully taking notes.

:-)

As to the rest... you are right, but I trust the stenography corp will continue to dig, even deeper... hey they may even strike gold or oil one of these days.

:-)

They are using industrial sized hole diggers and back hoes

[tkmorris]

6. Nah.............won't sell

It's a great idea and I personally like the term but it won't ever go mainstream. You have to keep it VERY simple to get people to use it. I'd bet half of the adult population in the US doesn't know what a stenographer is and a quarter of those that do will have learned it from a unhealthy fixation on Scott Peterson and Kobe Bryant on television.

[OrwellwasRight]

17. Stenography Corp sounds like they are trying

to make money by selling stenography. I'm not sure it is powerful enough to persuade. I think Lies, Inc. gives a better picture of what they are selling. Wouldn't most people be more angry about lies than about stenography?

[LSparkle]

3. They should rename these phony "news" channels

and call them "talk TV." Faux and MSNBC aren't "news" anymore ... and CNN is almost as bad.

[rock]

4. Yep

I suppose we may as well get used to it.

[zbdent]

5. ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, etc

tiny little subsidiaries of the Republican Broadcasting Network . . .

[AlCzervik]

7. Please see my thread from last night

i understand your outrage totally.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2909809&mesg_id=2909809

[DemocracyInaction]

9. chimps--I just read your post---that is absolutely horrible

It's even more horrible that these bastards are trying to make money by attracting viewers to shit like this. Tell the little children over there that it's "god's punishment". No wonder we are hated around the world. We are slime. And we should wonder if our "aid" is turning minds and hearts in the world. NO IT IS NOT because they saw how our initial reaction was throwing pennies while other nations threw millions, had observances, etc. I hope "Joe" gets broadcast and quoted in the Arab press. Let the world see what shitheads we really are. I'm so ashamed to be a Christian anymore.

[wildeyed]

8. And were the four hurricanes that hit Florida last year

revenge of god, too? Maybe the folks in FL need to think long and hard about what they did to make god so mad at them.

[DemocracyInaction]

10. wildeyed---I think I know what they did............

don't you??? HAHAHA

[wildeyed]

11. Well I could make a wild guess!

:evilgrin:

[beanball]

12. The spelling

God is always spelled with a capital GGGGGGGGG.

[Skittles]

13. we can "spell" it however we f***ing please

for example, I NEVER capitalize the word 'republican'.

[ghostsofgiants]

14. Technically it's a grammar issue

"God" has a capital g because it's used in the context of being a name, a proper noun, and as such should be capitalized. I rarely capitalize it though.

[SemperEadem]

16. no.. it's spelled 'gawd'.

that's the beauty of living in a free society--I can spell it any damn way I want.

[demwing]

19. No it isn't

Unless you're talking about THE God. But if you're say "He looked like a god" or some such comment, there's no need for capitalization.

[OrwellwasRight]

21. Only if you are talking about a single "God" you believe in.

If you are talking about the "gods" of Greek mythology (who almost nobody believes in) or the multiple "gods" of any number of polytheistic languages such as Paganism (whom many believe in), or somebody else's monotheistic "false god," no capitalization needed. Christian believers must also capitalize Him and His, but nonbelievers are under no such constraint.

That is my understanding of the grammar rules.

[demwing]

22. that about somes it up, except for one question...

Must we also capitalize Godzilla?

[OrwellwasRight]

23. Yes, unless you believe that Megalon is the one true monster. nt

[wildeyed]

24. Well the post was, um, in jest.

So I thought it would be more respectful not to capitalize, since it was a joke and I wasn't talking about the real God or god or gawd, however you want me to spell it.

[SemperEadem]

15. Hey, ID isn't science, but that doesn't stop the neocons.

you have to remember that they are 'preaching to their choirs' with regards to cable viewership of the 'news programs'.

[demwing]

18. No no no, not the revenge of GOD, its the Revenge of GODZILLA

I have photgraphic evidence:

Godzilla hiding behing the advancing tidal wave:




A police sketch of Godzilla creating aquatic disatser:




Godzilla caught at the scene of the crime:



There you have your proof.

Here's my challenge. I dare anyone to challenge me- IF YOU DARE!

[mattclearing]

25. It just goes to show that news as we know it is over.

"God Wipes out Asian Shores for Christmas" sounds like an Onion headline.

[jswordy]

26. I completely disagree, as a "media whore"

The job of a journalist is to report current events. If some say the tsunami is the wrath of God, then that's a damn story, whether you like it or not. If enough people said the tsunami was the wrath of Bozo the Clown, THAT would be a story.

The desire of some people to wrap news coverage around their own views and dismiss everything else as "garbage" is an interesting phenomenon. Please resist it.

Further, most of the superior-sounding critics of the news media have absolutely no idea...NONE...of what it takes to be a journalist or what one goes through to gather and present the news. It's doubtful these high and mighty critics would agree to live the kind of lifestyle it takes to feed the demands of 24/7 news coverage.

Are there places where the news media can be improved? Absolutely. And that is why the news media is one of the most introspective industries in the United States. We are constantly second-guessing ourselves and trying to improve coverage. Are we perfect? Hell no, we're humans like everyone else. But we are held to a standard that is light-years above what the Average Slob out there is held to in his or her job. Believe me, it is an intense lifestyle. Errors are rapidly and harshly dealt with, and it matters little that you alone are doing the jobs that four people did just 5 years ago.

Then there is the unremitting and constant harranguing of the dissatisfied like yourself and others in this thread. Believe me, in this biz you learn rapidly that hardly anyone will ever be satisfied with what you do, from your boss to your readers and listeners. "Good job" is very rarely heard. "You made a mistake!" is heard much more often.

And it never ends. The job is never finished. It's a "you did that a minute ago, NOW what have you got?" kind of profession.

Walk a mile in my shoes as a "media whore," and then come back and criticize my profession. Easy to take pot-shots in your pajamas. Much harder to do it while engaged in the grinding process of news gathering and dissemination.

-30-

[OrwellwasRight]

27. As somebody who works with journalists,

and somebody who reads journalism, I have an idea "what it takes to be a journalist." And for many, sadly, it is not much. (The following in no way applies to you. I have no intention of impugning you or your work. I have no basis to do so and no desire to do so.)

Journalism is NOT reporting everything people say. If it were, the news would be filled with the rantings of "UFOs killed JFK" conspiracists, LaRouche for President cultists, and people afraid that the Council on Foriegn Relations is a Jewish banker's plot to take over the world, and etc. However, some time ago, people investigated these theories, didn't find enough evidence to sustain them and stopped reporting them for the most part.

Many of today's journalists do not appear to know how to investigate. "Watergate"-type scandals are happening under their noses, but they don't have the energy, interest or know-how to follow the clues. Instead, all they do is regurgitate battling press releases, giving equal creedence to each, then move on to the next story.

John Stewart did a great satire of this form of journalism just before the election. And NPR did it this morning in its electoral college story that is a perfect example. They had a sound bite from Stephanie Tubbs Jones and a sound bite from Tom DeLay, and that was it. No reporting of the facts, including the fact that many irregularities DID occur in Ohio, such as a shortage of voting machines in black precincts that caused four hour waits to vote, but no similar shortage in white precincts.

That is a fact that supports one-side over the other, but you wouldn't know it given the he-said she-said reporting. All contentions are not equal, and it is not "journalism" to pretend that they are.

[pdxmom]

28. The problem is more with the "news" programming itself

There aren't news shows any longer. There are opinion shows on networks that promote themselves as news-based. I want straight, hardcore reporting. And I want them to cover all the news, not just what they think will increase ratings and bring in $$$.

CNN is a great example. People said there wasn't enough news or interest out there to fill a 24-hour channel. They proved them wrong and covered news all over the world. Now, they pick one story and cover it 24 hours a day, and let everything else fall to the side. And it's more opinion rather than reporting.

[Tactical Progressive]

29. If enough people?

If enough people say the 2000 election was stolen, is that news?

If enough people say there is no evidence of WMD, is that news?

If enough people say that 9/11 was Bush's failure, is that news?


The answer is no, they weren't news, even though they are each more credible and each is more broadly believed than the examples you gave.

No, they aren't news, even given the minor consideration that they are real-world truth and not silly 'the tsunami is the wrath of God' fairy-tale fantasy.

Just another of the media's many glib rationalizations for becoming such an absolutely shameful excuse for what once was a profession.

Shot down easily with simple recollection.