Is anyone just embarrassed for the WH press corp?

[cally]

So, I've read the coverage that * is losing it so I decided to tune in and watch the repeat of the * "press conference". I watch them just laugh at inane jokes, take obvious attacks/bullying as a joke. I keep wondering if they are adults. Forget politics for a second, but this is embarrassing for any professional to act so subservient.

I just don't understand how we got here. I know most of the standard arguments from the left and I've read many alternative analyses, but how did professionals let themselves act as sycophants. These folks are not normal adults.

[tularetom]

1. David Gregory tried to make a point but * blew him off

Immediately thereafter the next reporter * called on should have said, "I'll hold my question until after you answer the last one" thereby putting the burden back on *. If he refused to do that or ended the conference he would've looked even more childish, petulant and defensive than he already did. I don't know why these reporters aren't smart or aggressive enough to do that.

[cally]

7. I agree, the entire press corp should

support each other but they don't. I still remember, I'll look it up if someone doubts me, a reporters recollections of the 2000 election. I think it was Dana Millbank, but he said the reporters on to campaign found it fun to bash Gore. How could any reporter find it fun to bash a Presidential candidate? That is just so scary.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

8. Dana Milbank Can Go Fuck Herself....

And yes, I know dana is a guy.

[bobbieinok]

33. I read (at Malloy's site, I think) after Nov 2000 that Cokie Roberts

said on TV that the reporters had a story line for W and for Gore.....W was this nice guy, maybe not super smart but a real fun guy.....Gore was a jerk, a know it all

And anything that didn't fit the story line was NOT reported. And I read that she said this with zero embarrassment, that that was just the way things are.

[CarlVK]

29. Actually, Gregory made his point beautifully.

First by eloquently stating his vexing question, and then by letting Der Chimpenfuhrer sputter and spin and fume until he looked like a complete childish ass.

Well done, sez I. Sometimes the best way to humiliate a shithead is to lay the bait and then let THEM cook their own goose.

[bklyncowgirl]

35. His colleagues Lauer & Williams did the same thing

Give the little bastard enough rope to hang himself.

Is someone spiking the coffee over at NBC or did GE lose out on some big contract to Halliburton?

[theophilus]

2. I've heard one theory that applies to "talking heads" on like CNN

and other networks. It says that, once upon a time, before a person could become a news anchor they had to work themselves up through the system. They saw the news business from top to bottom. Along the way from mail room to anchor desk they actually learned how the world works. These folks had names like Murrow, Huntley, Chancellor, Cronkite, etc.

Nowadays, the networks pay big bucks to folks that look good and can read the "news" in a pleasant manner. They are usually young. They have not worked up through a news structure of any kind. They are more like movie stars. They will do anything to keep their cushy jobs.

Maybe this applies to the White House press "corpse". I don't know. Helen Thomas would be one to ask. I know she laughs at the great Leader's jokes. She knows the score. I think humans are just like that. They will laugh with their captors before they are stood before a wall and shot. We're weird.

[Warpy]

6. I've made that point before, too

The old reporters were working class types who started out as stringers, worked their way through school (usually on the GI Bill), kicked and clawed their way through the ranks until we finally started to see them on the air or their bylines on the front page of the newspaper.

Now they're kids who start in the news room at desks with computers and telephones and do all their work right there, never knock on doors, never gain real world experience, just have that J-school degree plus the attractiveness of youth going for them. No wonder they sit and wait for press releases to drop into their laps; no wonder they take faked news from the White House dirty tricksters at face value. They've never learned anything else.

Tough working class types doing real investigative work are now restricted to blogs. We haven't lost them completely, but the larger culture sure has.

[Cameron27]

16. Excellent point

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

9. Helen Thomas Couldn't Get A Job With Today's Press....

She's there because she's from the "old guard." You know, the ones who are actually journalists. If she was 30 now, they wouldn't hire her because she's objective, asks tough questions, isn't just another blonde/redhead BIMBO..

[elehhhhna]

14. The plasticized, dizzy Beauty Pageant runners-up of today

are the Million dollar anchors of tommorrow.

Diane Sawyer or Jane Pauley (?) -- some blonde newsyish person--once offered this advice in an interview: If you want an anchor or on-camera reported job, get a Liberal Arts degree. Then you'll have had SOME reference point form which to begin.

The On camera type of Television majors that Universities offer now are hurting the biz...not to mention ripping big money off people who will clearly never make it in that arena, and should never have been admitted in the first place.

[KoKo]

22. It's about "Entertainment" today. Back in the "old days" one worked

oneself up from a "copy boy" in the newsroom (a Gofer who delivered copy to editors) into getting a "beat" covering local news (endless City Council Meetings) and then if you were good and could write well you got a "desk." Those are the folks that early TV picked up.

Today...a "Do Nothing" like Tucker Carlson whose Dad is a Big Wig Repug from Reagan on can get a job "Dancing with the Stars" and mouthing off like an idiot.

Dan Abrams who has no experience but whose father is High Power DC Lawyer Floyd Abrams can start out as a "Court TV Cable Gofer" and then work his way into Tabloid MSNBC TV covering every kinky female or male "crime" and end up being the "Big Honcho" at MSNBC deciding who stays and goes.

It goes on and on... But, one doesn't need to "work their way up" these days. One just has to have "the RIGHT STUFF/Connections."

[KoKo]

23. The "so-called White House "Press Corps" is a joke and has been for

years. And, David Gregory is included in that. Anyone who bows down to the "IMUS" should be booted out of reporting on ANYTHING!!!

[Selatius]

3. No, I'm not embarrassed at all.

The realist in me says the reason they are so subservient to Bush is because they fear loss of access to Bush if they start throwing hardball questions at the man. These reporters are paid to get access to the president, so if they don't, then how are they going to justify to the board of directors why they should be paid at all if they have no fucking access to the president?

The problem is the for-profit nature of the whole system. Maybe if you took the greed and profit out of the news media, you wouldn't have a damn institution skewed towards greed and profit.

[cally]

5. I'm just not that forgiving

I just think they are too stupid to see the long term. I agree with others, they are too young and naive, even though many are my age, to understand that you will end up paying a price for appeasement of *. They are looking at short term gains and not their whole career. Let alone their responsibility to the rest of us.

[Kikosexy2]

4. Embarrassing...

you bet....the world is (still) laughing at us..and Chimpie's spoiled "it's my way or the highway" tantrum press conference does not help one bit....GOOD GOD...AMERICA IS TRULY STUPID!!...so sad.

[vickitulsa]

10. In a way, I am. A little bit. Sometimes.

Mostly I remain angry at them for their obsequious, infantile ways, but every now and then I am embarrassed for them.

You're right that these supposed "professionals" whom we expect to behave like adults (at the very least) often act like children instead -- children either in the presence of their favorite superhero or as nervous victims of (verbal) abuse and scolding by a terrible parent.

They're always eager to please, and seem to be enchanted when attention is given to them (superhero) or filled with anxiety when they are singled out (abuser).

They're unable to stand tall and challenge the bully, or else easily reduced to embarrassment if they muster up the courage to do so and then are chastised for it by the bully.

The Chimp has a real knack, I think, for guilt-tripping people, only you don't expect that sort of unsophisticated psych tactic to work so well on "professional journalists."

I've often wondered how I would behave in the presence of an American President, but I can't think about it in any specific detail without filling in the name of the President in question. I guess none of us really knows for sure how we would act if we were to cross paths in real life with this Criminal-In-Chief; but I'll bet others, just like me, have a pretty damned good idea about what we'd do.

I honestly don't think I could even go so far as to smile one time at him or let him shake my hand. Bet that would stir up a bit of a fuss, huh, if I kept my hand to myself when Bu$h reached out to shake it! I'd probably end up in "detention" immediately (or soon thereafter, when any witnesses left the scene) due to my "lack of respect."

But the thing is, the White House press corps is not supposed to be reacting in a deep, PERSONAL way to ANY high level government official -- up to and including the pResident. I have to wonder if, living and working in the weird-assed "bubble" that they do, those in the WH press corps even have a clue about how idiotic they look to the rest of us when the Chimp stands before them.

Seems like all he has to do is put out a little belligerence with them, and they all kowtow like crazy at doubletime! (Well, almost all of them, since Helen Thomas still has integrity and isn't impressed by his position of power.)

The rest of them are just plain disgusting, embarrassing, and pathetically ridiculous ... YES.

[Cerridwen]

11. No. They are failing miserably in their role as the "4th Estate"

which, for most of us in the U.S., is a social contract, codified in the Constitution, which insures they have "freedom of the press" in return for their role as the voice of and for the People. By being nothing more than corporate stooges mouthing platitudes and propaganda, they have abdicated their part of the contract and should be fired; though a little tar and feathering before hand wouldn't be too awful to watch.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. If they put up with Bush's abuse

then it's their own fault.

One of them needs to grow a pair and put Asshole in his place. I bet even the WH would cheer.

[Niche]

13. They're all ill trained GOP think tank cronies. The institution is run by

Republicans. A fine tuned biased machine.

[Uncle Joe]

15. They are weaker now precisely because,

they abandoned their duty to the nation and enabled Bush to power to begin with. They trashed and slandered a good man, they let the wolf in the house and now their ass is getting chewed.

[michael_1166]

17. Why can't they throw rotten tomatoes and eggs at him?

He should get showered with something real three times a day in my opinion. And it would make for entertaining TV.

[AnneD]

18. I can't understand how

they can tolerate that sarcastic condesending tone of voice he uses. The guy is a total mean spirited pudnocker. Why they feel they have to cower to THAT is beyond me. I have a hard time listening to these thing because they don't hold him to the questions or call him down on his tone and attitude. He has always needed to be taken down a peg or two. He'd never pull that shit if he were addressing a group of actual teacher.
I am glad to see them asking more contentious questions because Bush's impending meltdown is becoming more evident. I don't think he would even be gracing the press with his presence if he 1)didn't think the Dem's had a real shot at taking over the House 2) need to pass this legislation to protect his and others asses. Makes me wonder what else is in the Congressional hopper because they love to distract you while they slip something through.

[WinkyDink]

19. Imagine if, after Bush called him "beautiful", David Gregory had

retorted, "Do you want a DATE?!"

Hee. Bush would have had an apoplectic fit!

[Catherine Vincent]

20. They were laughing out loud when Bush told Gregory that he looked

beautifully. How lame. I was like :wtf: I could hear a couple of guys were really yucking it up. It wasn't that damn funny.

[Coexist]

21. :::: raising hand :::::

:blush:

[otohara]

24. This Just In..... 330 % more instances of laughter since Snow became WH

Press Secretary....I shit you not!
http://www.examiner.com/a-287267~Yeas_and_Nays__Friday_...

Must be the beautiful blue eyes ...

Covering the White House is not an easy beat. The hours are late, the travel can be brutal and the tug-of-war between the White House spin machine and journalists can wear down even the toughest reporter.

But White House spokesman Tony Snow, who has been on the job four months, might very well be out to change all of that and to put the “fun” back in “fundamentally, a frustrating job.”

Yeas & Nays reviewed the press briefing and press gaggle transcripts from Snow’s first four months on the job and compared them to those of Snow’s predecessor, Scott McClellan, during his first four months.

Under Snow, there were more than 330 percent more instances of laughter — as defined by the transcriber’s insertion of “(Laughter)” in the transcript — than under McClellan.

Have reporters fallen for the former Fox News commentator’s woo and charm? And — gasp! — could Snow actually be making the notoriously curmudgeonly task of covering the White House fun?

[wryter2000]

25. I don't feel sorry for them

They've rolled over for him so many times in the past, he expects it now. Except for Helen Thomas, they haven't done their jobs. They should feel uncomfortable. The should feel ashamed of themselves.

[rock]

26. No, they've made their bed, now they can LIE in it

Badda bing - I score a double entendre.

[CarlVK]

27. If they were allowed to cover this fascist ass honestly....

well, there would BE no news conferences. Ever.

[malaise]

28. If I were at that press conference today

when Bush spoke abuot the 'terrorists' killing women and children, I would have followed up immediately and asked him how many Iraqi women and children have been killed by US bombs and soldiers in Iraq? He was not getting away with that. The WH Press Corp have been described best by Colbert. They have no self respect and Bush treats them with no respect whatsoever.

[City Lights]

30. I'm not embarrassed, I'm sickened.

Maybe since the anthrax assassin is still on the loose they're afraid they'll get a special delivery if they're too tough with him. :shrug:

The WH press corpse is a disgrace! I can't stand it when they laugh at his lame attempts at humor.

[struggle4progress]

31. Where is today's I.F. Stone?

posted July 2, 2003 (July 21, 2003 issue)
I.F. Stone
Victor Navasky

.. When Izzy founded the weekly, with the help of a $3,000 loan from a friend and a 5,300-name subscription list inherited from the defunct PM and its successor progressive papers, also defunct, he was unemployed and some thought unemployable, including by The Nation. (Freda Kirchwey, The Nation's editor, who had fired him as Washington editor when he didn't notify her that he had signed on with PM to become the first journalist to travel with the Jewish underground to the Holy Land, was reluctant to re-employ him.)

But in short order, although he never attended presidential press conferences, cultivated no highly placed inside sources and declined to attend off-the-record briefings, time and again he scooped the most powerful press corps in the world.

His method: To scour and devour public documents, bury himself in The Congressional Record, study obscure Congressional committee hearings, debates and reports, all the time prospecting for news nuggets (which would appear as boxed paragraphs in his paper), contradictions in the official line, examples of bureaucratic and political mendacity, documentation of incursions on civil rights and liberties. He lived in the public domain. It was his habitat of necessity, because use of government sources to document his findings was also a stratagem. Who would have believed this cantankerous-if-whimsical Marxist without all the documentation?

And as he gleefully explained to a group of Swarthmore students in 1954 (I know, because I was one of them), if you didn't attend background briefings you weren't bound by the ground rules; you could debrief correspondents who did, check out what they had been told, and as often as not reveal the lies for what they were ..

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030721/navasky

[bobbieinok]

32. I discovered IFStone in the 60s when he was investigating the

Vietnam War.

I just couldn't believe it when he died.

[Kickin_Donkey]

34. Because they're living within their own bubble ...

Washington media/political society. These people aren't professional journalists; they're pretty people who act as stenographers and read scripts. Their frame of reference is the media job market and Beltway cocktail parties.

They're careerist whores who've made their way into the "big leagues" exactly BECAUSE they're young, attractive, sycophantic, nonconfrontational, "safe," not rocking the boat, i.e., they have no integrity and no sense of duty to the tenets of real journalism.

Next to network anchor, they've made it to the pinnacle of the TV media complex: the White House beat, with trips to Florida or Moscow or wherever Air Force One is going and getting to see "The President" every day. It's simply enough to BE THERE. They can impress Mom and Dad, their old classmates, frat chums. Actually doing any real journalilsm is secondary to them. All they care about is prestige; well, also the salary.

When they giggle amongst each other, it's the vanity and false security of people who think they're elite and chosen. They ARE actually like children -- cliquish junior high schoolers. It's a fucking club of insiders.

That's why the late great MediaWhoresOnline called them "media Heathers" and the Kewl Kids.