Ted Koppel has it all wrong and he's too intelligent to be so idiotic

[CreekDog]

yesterday on NPR he repeated his old saw about "bias".

his standard for judging journalism was not "is it true" but instead, "would someone say it was biased?".

because conservatives would say MSNBC was biased (even if it wasn't), then it's biased.

if liberals say Fox is biased, then it also flunks.

but nothing about one leading a false drumbeat to war, not a word from him about truth.

and that's why Ted's a dinosaur, and not a very bright one at that...like the Broders and Gergens and folks of their ilk, it's much more important that nobody know where you stand with regard to a story, even if you have to present truths and lies as equal to conceal any bias.

well that's stupid --and as journalism, it sucks. i value the journalism of Cronkite and Murrow and even Dan Rather more than Koppel. All of these were journalists and reporters first and their pursuit of truth was in parallel with their bias in favor of it. Frankly, we know how these great journalists felt about a subject and it would have been lying had they been willing to subjugate truth to impartiality.

i'll revive JFK's favorite quote here that the hottest fires of hell are reserved for men who in times of crisis preserve their neutrality. this is most certainly true.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Let me take you back to the 1990s, early 1990s and graduate school

I know what is going on.

And no, he is not that stupid... he has just created an idealized version of reality.

Back then we history students had to read a book on Objectivity in History. It was the GOLD STANDARD (and still is to a point) never mind that I personally could not be objective about the holocaust.

Koppel is thinking of an IDEALIZED media system that never existed... that is all. He is at the altar of Murrow, who was not considered neutral or objective during the 1953 fights. But this same objectivity ideal pervades journalism schools.

[CreekDog]

2. I was in an entry level journalism class back then

For my major project that semester, I took on a potentially controversial subject.

To his credit, one of my best professors ever, encouraged me to present things as they were, even if my biases or friendships would push me otherwise.

There was never any direction to seem above it all, but instead to be willing to report the truth as it was, as I was able to find it and express it --usually through the words of others.

But this whole balance thing, jeez, that's as stupid as having Pat Buchanan on a panel of two arguing whether or not the Holocaust was as bad as it's been reported.

But that's what Ted and his ilk are all about. Worthless at best.

At worst, thinking the accomplishment of Murrow was him not having an opinion --why this should be journalistic heresy not an ideal to espouse! He did have opinions, he did have biases, no, they didn't seem political on their face, but there was none of this, "hey what do you on the right think? now you on the left, what do you think?", and "thank you very much, I'm Ted Koppel, and I guess the truth is in there somewhere..."

Uh huh. :boring:

[CreekDog]

3. Another favorite professor was a journalist who said "90% of rumors are true"

:rofl:

he was a hoot.

and he was a huge proponent of ethics, but not the ethics of seeming above it all (of not caring --a bastardization of a noble aim)...but a proponent of having values and living up to them.

but somewhere along the line, not having an opinion on stuff that is wrong, stuff that is false...in the DC world of reporting, that became noble.

:wtf:

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Yep, I remember having those discussions on the

gold standard in that graduate seminar... and even going... how can you have no personal feelings on I don't know Iran Contra?

Which I do... having actually debriefed victims of that.

[H2O Man]

5. I suspect that part

of Ted's problem has to do with jealousy. There was a time when he had respect, and even power and influence. But his star faded long ago.

Another issue is, I believe, that he is a stiff and pretty rigid character. He really has less personality than does the paper than a newspaper is printed on. And he may actually believe that the quality of a journalist is measured by the absence of any evidence of personality -- the very thing that defines his "style."

It worked decades ago. But having a lima bean like Ted host a cable news show today simply would not.

[CreekDog]

10. he can pretend he's serious all he wants but the hair betrays all that

i mean, come on! :rofl:

[H2O Man]

14. He always

reminded me of Alfred E. Newman's older brother.

[Doctor_J]

6. He's a right-wing conservative

like all of them, he is too partisan to believe or speak the truth on a matter like this.

[Fumesucker]

7. America Held Hostage.. Day 223..

No bias there, nope, not at all.. :eyes:

[madinmaryland]

8. Apparently KO's comment at the end of the show about "xxx days since

the previous president said mission accomplished" went flying way over little ted's head.

:shrug:

[CreekDog]

11. good catch, i forgot about Ted doing that during the Iranian Hostage Crisis

and how complaining about Keith makes Ted out to be a hypocrite (or boob), maybe both? :rofl:

[madinmaryland]

13. That just hit me like a ton of bricks with fumesuckers post.

Amazing isn't it.

Ted's a hypocrite. Period.

[Va Lefty]

9. I don't know if Koppel is a wingnut or not

This is probably his last time in the spotlight. I think we should view his comments in that light

[Bonhomme Richard]

12. What is sad is that it takes bias to expose the truth.

Ted, the truth doesn't have a bias. That's all we ask of journalism...the facts that are the truth. If you don't have enough understanding of the subject that you can't spot, or will not challenge, bullshit then you shouldn't answer the question.

[Better Believe It]

15. Koppel would have been a great news reader in Switzerland during World War II

Telling both sides of the story without passion, feeling or bias in favor of the Nazis or the anti-Nazis.