Who are the main...

[libertypirate]

talking heads trying to debunk voting issues and irregularities?

How many might have recieved payola to buy their opinion?

Ugly

I think this might be the cat getting let out of the bag. Take a look...

All the President's Newsmen

ONE day after the co-host Tucker Carlson made his farewell appearance and two days after the new president of CNN made the admirable announcement that he would soon kill the program altogether, a television news miracle occurred: even as it staggered through its last nine yards to the network guillotine, "Crossfire" came up with the worst show in its fabled 23-year history.

This was a half-hour of television so egregious that it makes Jon Stewart's famous pre-election rant seem, if anything, too kind. This time "Crossfire" wasn't just "hurting America," as Mr. Stewart put it, by turning news into a nonsensical gong show. It was unwittingly, or perhaps wittingly, complicit in the cover-up of a scandal.

I do not mean to minimize the CBS News debacle and other recent journalistic outrages at The New York Times and elsewhere. But the Jan. 7 edition of CNN's signature show can stand as an exceptionally ripe paradigm of what is happening to the free flow of information in a country in which a timid news media, the fierce (and often covert) Bush administration propaganda machine, lax and sometimes corrupt journalistic practices, and a celebrity culture all combine to keep the public at many more than six degrees of separation from anything that might resemble the truth.

....

Mr. Williams has repeatedly said in his damage-control press appearances that he was being paid the $240,000 only to promote No Child Left Behind. He also routinely says that he made the mistake of taking the payola because he wasn't part of the "media elite" and therefore didn't know "the rules and guidelines" of journalistic conflict-of-interest. His own public record tells us another story entirely. While on the administration payroll he was not only a cheerleader for No Child Left Behind but also for President Bush's Iraq policy and his performance in the presidential debates. And for a man who purports to have learned of media ethics only this month, Mr. Williams has spent an undue amount of time appearing as a media ethicist on both CNN and the cable news networks of NBC.

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There is a lot more, check for yourself...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/arts/16rich.html?8hpib

[RaulVB]

1. They get paid a lot

And is OUR MONEY!

[shraby]

2. Every time you complain about a show

that is touting social security reform or any of Bush's agenda, ask them if the host is being paid by the white house. Maybe the networks will over-compensate to avoid being accused by leaning more left. Won't hurt to try.

[RaulVB]

3. Hey, let's not forget to say that to the DNC "PR experts"

Anytime a "leader" is invited, he/she should ask the same question to the show-host.

That would make quite a statement!

[me b zola]

4. Great article

Seemed to pull no punches. I swear I checked to verify it was NY Times!

A related reoccurring thought: As I watch "journalists" interview political figures, I so often hear them ask what seems to be a hard question. Then, the political figure responds with a canned response that doesn't answer the question, just deflects it. Then the "journalist" moves on to the next question, as though they are satisfied with what they have just heard as a response.

True enough, this is not payola (that we know of), but it certainly makes me question their ethics & motivation.

[RevCheesehead]

5. Makes me long for the days of Sam Donaldson.

"Hold on there, Mr. President!"
Now THAT was journalism!

(or for the younger readers: think Murphy Brown)