The Say Something Nice About A Mainstream Journalist Thread

[Plaid Adder]

I used to give out an award called the Lick Your Own Damn Boots Award (http://www.plaidder.com/ownboots.htm) to a member of the mainstream media that had demonstrated a willingness and ability to question the Bush administration. Both years, however, it was won by a commentator, not a journalist, which tells you something about the state we're in.

But as bad as the MSM has gotten, there are individual journalists out there who are still bucking the trends. Take Seymour Hersh, for example, who keeps writing these exposes of administration foreign policy, for anyone who cares to pay attention, which are based on the kind of research and investigation that bloggers *can't* do, and which professional journalists *should* do but increasingly don't. This is a guy who is still out there being a real journalist, and ought to be appreciated.

So, if you have a MSM journalist--not a commentator, but someone who actually goes out there trying to get the facts and report them--who deserves wider recognition for the work they're doing, post the name here with a little description of what it is that makes them worth reading.

Yee ha,

The Plaid Adder

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Bill Moyers for a LYODB lifetime achievement award.

(now that he has retired)

[Jamastiene]

2. I like Ashleigh Banfield.

I think she is pretty. <holding wide toothy closed mouth grin> Trying very hard to be nice about that bunch of...

[mattclearing]

3. This was my first thought as well.

[Demit]

4. those 2 guys from Knight-Ridder's Washington bureau...they knew

they'd be shut off from access to the powers-that-be, so they started cultivating low-level sources. They got an award last year, and rightfully so. That's old-fashioned journalism--knowing that digging isn't gonna get you the sexy stuff, at least not right away, but that it is gonna get you the meaty stuff.

Er, don't remember their names right now, but they are to be admired. :loveya: guys.

[NewJeffCT]

5. This is tough, but here goes

1) They have a lot of attractive women on CNN & Fox.

2) Keith Olbermann on MSNBC is fair & balanced on his nightly Countdown show.

[NewJeffCT]

9. But, in all seriousness, Paul Krugman is great on economic issues

Krugman of the NY Times is a must read for me each Tuesday & Friday.

[adigal]

6. A number of them

Keith Olbermann

Print Media:

Maureen Dowd
Bob Herbert
Frank Rich
Richard Cohen
Anna Quindlen

Gotta love those Catholic school girls!!!

[WilliamPitt]

7. Walter Pincus at the Post and Julian Borger at the Guardian UK

are absolute must-read writers. Pincus because he is wired in with the CIA (t'was Pincus who unspooled Mueller back in 2003) and Borger just because he lets it all hang out. Borger was the first guy in the MSM to write about the Office of Special Plans and Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski.

[bettyellen]

19. I believe Guckert let it all hang out, too.

I'm just saying maybe you could please rephrase that for those of us still haunted by certain images.

[Minstrel Boy]

22. Read Pincus with a grain of salt

because he is "wired in with the CIA."

He was a front man in the Agency-led character assassination of Gary Webb, following the "Dark Alliance" crack cocaine series.

[Blue-Jay]

8. Not until they say something nice about me.

[newyawker99]

11. LOL!! I love the new squirrel, Blue-Jay!

:thumbsup:

[Bonobo]

10. Real popular thread...not

[peekaloo]

12. Is Russell Mohbiker considered MSM?

He asks questions WE want answers to knowing he's gonna get blown off.

A salute to Helen Thomas,also. Smart, tough, relevant and constantly ignored by the lyin' Bu$hies.

[crispini]

13. Keith Olbermann.

Best TV show around.

And, well, he's not exactly hard on the eyes. :loveya:

[greenmutha]

15. I second this nomination!

KO consistently reports things the rest of the MSM (cWhoreporate news) refuses to cover!

[flyarm]

25. i third that nomination!!

cathrine crier didnt do bad herself!!

http://movies.ziaspace.com/Catherine%20Crier1%20Live-~1.wmv

fly

[Shopaholic]

27. Keith totally rules

:loveya:

[flyarm]

28. keith is the man!!!

he is the only one that would listen and the only one who would report the truth..keith is our champion!!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

fly

[Clark2008]

31. I fifth this nomination

Or just drink a fifth!

:loveya: Keef!

[Cleita]

14. Since the sound byte media are the worst offenders, I think I

will commend Christianne Amanpour for trying to get the truth past the obvious censure she seems to be enduring as a correspondent for CNN. Hang in there Christianne. I know that you report mostly for CNN International that, until Rupert Murdoch chopped it off my satellite service, operated more the the CNN of Ted Turner.

[Blue_In_AK]

32. I love her. She is one of my favorites. n/t

[drbtg1]

16. I really miss Lars-Erik Nelson

He wrote a column in the NY Daily News. Passed away in 2000. Wonder if legitimate mainstream journalism died with him.

[H2O Man]

17. I always admired

Selwyn Raab. His work was high quality, and he had integrity.

[Jacobin]

18. Frank Rich

Jon Stewart (oh, that's right he's 'fake'
Steven Colbert oh, that's right, he's fake

[bettyellen]

20. KO, because he's starting to reach a lot of people.

I think that's most important right now.
He was wonderful last night, the opening 10 min were in depth gannongate. It was a beautiful thing. And if anything's happening w/ Coyners/ Election fraud he's the first one on TV to report it.

[Armstead]

21. Terry Moran -- ABC White House reporter

The White House reporter for ABC.

he's one of the few who actually asks Bush or his toadies tough questions in press conferences and seems to try and do real reporting rather than just recycling press releases.

[Minstrel Boy]

23. If he counts, I'll say Eric Margolis.

I say "if he counts," because I don't know whether he's syndicated in the US. (He's an ex-pat American, longtime Canadian, writing for the right-wing tabloid Toronto Sun.) He knows the Middle East and Central Asia well, has an excellent grasp of geopolitics, and has seen through the neocons from the start.

http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/margolis_home.html

[kittenpants]

24. Wolf Blitzer has always unintentionally made me laugh

[Stirk]

26. Christiane Amanpour has done some good reporting.

She had a good series on Afghanistan, and she seemed to be at least trying to report the news from Iraq. I remember when that missile hit a mall in Kuwait, and Aaron Brown was insisting on repeating the government line that it came from Iraq. Amanpour was the only one saying that it'd come from the bay where the US ships were, and all the locals were saying the same thing. That ass-kisser Brown interrupted her, cut the spot short, and repeated one more time that it'd come from Iraq.

[charlie]

29. Robert Fisk

A fearless giant. Works on the ground in the thick of things, in spite of the dangers. A real ME expert, unlike goofy airport/taxicab anthropologist Thomas Friedman.

[AliceWonderland]

34. Hear hear

My vote goes for Robert Fisk, too.

[shadowknows69]

30. Cronkite was cool

I'd be good. The rest suck. ;-)

[DU GrovelBot]

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