Jennifer Loven, A True Journalist (Now Under Attack From the Right)

[Dr Ron]

From The Democratic Daily:

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2348

I recently quoted from Jennifer Loven's article exposing Bush's use of straw men.

Doing a little research on her, it looks like Jennifer Loven has a long history of attempting to bring out the truth about the Bush Administration–something too few journalists have been doing.

As expected, the attacks on Loven from the right wing have started. Naturally the right wing bloggers call this bias as they complain about previous times she has reported the truth when other reporters just quoted what Bush said without fact checking. Exposing political leaders when they lie is not bias–it is good journalism.

Bush based his campaign on distorting his own record as well as the record and positions of John Kerry. Most journalists passively reported what Bush said as fact. Fortunately we have a handful of journalists, such as Jennifer Loven, who are willing to go beyond simply reporting what dishonest politicians such as George Bush say.

I even found that the Kerry Reference Library has one of her articles in it on Bush’s National Guard record. Rather than accepting Bush's claims, she reported on what Bush was hiding.

[salin]

1. thanks for bringing this to my (our) attention

k and r

[Gabi Hayes]

2. great article on straw men by Loven....on AP, no less!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060318/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_s_straw_men

rate it up

KR

[MH1]

4. Also here

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/cctimes/news/14136508.htm

You can't rate it but you can email it to yourself. Maybe they notice which articles get emailed the most.

[MH1]

3. Thanks ...real journalists are a precious resource. n/t

[linazelle]

5. What a rarity--a real journalist. I didn't know there were any left.

Thanks for sharing this. Her clear article on the straw-man ploy helped me to understand the tactic better. I don't think many people know what a straw-man is...this needs to be explained to people.

[Dr Ron]

6. You might like to read Out-Foxed

Either read the book or watch the video. It gets quite a bit into techniques like this that the right wing use to distort information. (The Foxed refers to Fox News).

[blm]

12. It's how they get even other Dems to perpetuate storylines against the

Dem candidate, most obviously Gore and Kerry, using their control of most broadcast media since 1997.

[JI7]

7. the right wing views anything negative about Bush as bias

or being unfair or liberal media.

never mind that it's just the truth on actual issues that matter. if the truth about Bush is mostly negative then it's his fault.

[Dr Ron]

8. They do have an interesting view of "bias"

The right sees Fox as fair and balanced, and sees any media which doesn't repeat their talking points as being biased against them.

They are also overly sensitive as they oppose any threats to their hold on power. The press should always keep those in power honest, rather acting as a Pravda-clone as Fox does.

They didn't call it bias when the media questioned if Bill Clinton lied when he claimed he did not have sex with Monica. Just as the press should have questioned Clinton's statements, they should question Bush's statements when they are contrary to fact. The fact that so many of Bush's statements are dishonest could give the appearance that those doing real journalism are biased against him, but that is the consequence of a governing style based upon deceipt.

[Nikki Stone 1]

10. Bias=Anything against the neocons

and their fascist agenda

[upi402]

9. k/r Anything against the BushCo is Bush-bashing. They're crybabies

And can't take their own medicine. Whiny chickenhawk bullies. Like the High Cancellor in V.

[emulatorloo]

11. Kick n/t

[Trevelyan]

13. Too late to Recommend but this is great. For a long time I have been

thinking of Huxley's recommendation to make sure the Nazis never happen again, in his Brave New World REVISITED, said that teaching propaganda analysis in the schools was one of the most important things to stop this horror from reoccurring.

I think of it often, because I visit AOL Message boards and am stumped in trying to get the FReepers from seeing past their right wing talking points to discuss the issues and the truth.