"Talking Points" are destroying real reporting

[garybeck]

it appears this "talking points" thing is going on for both sides. what a bunch of crap. aren't reporters supposed to do their own research? what has become of the media, now even the "opposition" side has to get their facts from "talking points?"

I don't care which side it's on. Talking points are bad for america. folks in the media should do their own reporting. If they want to know what the DNC or the RNC thinks, they should call them up and ask. And if they include information in their reports from these "talking points" they should say so. they shouldn't disguise it as their own research or thoughts.

I think someone on the inside should start leaking the talking points from both sides every day and post them on a website (like Raw Story is starting to do) and compare them to what all the reporters and pundits are saying, to show that they don't have minds of their own and they are just regurgitating what is being fed to them.

then the real reporters, regardless of what side they're on, will be rewarded for doing real work.

[stopbush]

1. Lazy ass reporters are now content to report that there are

talking points.

For just once, I'd love to hear one of them say, "contrary to the talking points, our research shows the opposite to be true."

[justinsb]

2. No one who works for the MSM

with the possible exceptions of PBS, NPR and a few newspapers is a real reporter anyway. If you were a journalist and serious about being a journalist you'd leave and find work in a place that would let you do real journalism. No one who works for CNN, Fox, MSNBC, or the networks has any credibility left as a journalist.

[garybeck]

4. olberman? Hardball?

there is hope. I think if we can expose this Talking Points thing more we can start to blow their cover.

[liveoaktx]

6. My vidclip Talking Points compendium

Talking Points

I had recorded, a long time back, Olbermann waving the sheets of questions he was faxed when Joseph Wilson went on his show last year. It was startling to me at the time that the White House would be trying to influence what a reporter/anchor/whatever would be saying to guests.

[garybeck]

7. good stuff. recommended! NT

[justinsb]

8. Sorry, nope

the mere fact that he works for them immediately strips away all credibility for me.

[HereSince1628]

3. Everyone else is being lazy why not the MSM?

We've pushed group work in schools for a generation. And frequently in my experience, even at an undergratuate college level, most group members look for another person to lean on. Talking points provide that same opportunity to "the group" known as national correspondents, it seems to me just a half step away from all the news agencies relying on the same stories from AP, or Reuters. I am prettey sure that AP and Reuters and the other wire services function as their own "group" spinning out essentially the same stories.

[geek tragedy]

5. Reporters care about access and themselves, not the truth. eom