South by Southwest: MSM-called on the carpet

Sunday, September 03, 2006

MSM-called on the carpet

TV channels C-SPAN and Now at PBS.org are not really part of the so-called "Mainstream Media," in my opinion. Here's why. Neither is part of a large for-profit corporation. Neither shies away from presenting the view of the Left. Both take the time to explore issues more thoroughly than the MSM (blogger for Mainstream Media).
TV's news - Since, like many citizens, I get too much of my news from television, I am very thankful for the existence of these two stalwarts. From them I recently discovered an author I want to spotlight in today's S/SW post: Eric Boehlert. I watched author on C-SPAN yesterday, discussing his book, Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush. The Now site, on PBS published the full Intro from Lapdogs, his recent noteworthy book, along with a photo of the author, illustrating this post.
Read from Lapdogs - Boehlert's publisher, Simon and Schuster, includes a long exerpt - (the same Intro referenced above) on their website. It is worth the read. Quoting the last part of it,

It's not just the name-calling that journalists fear from the right, it's the career track implications the "liberal bias" allegations carry. "When I covered the White House I had the unlimited backing of the late [ABC News president] Roone Arledge," recalled Sam Donaldson, who famously shouted some of the few tough questions posed to Reagan during his term. "One time I got a raise because of what he considered to be unwarranted criticism of my work. Today, not all the bosses support their reporters. So if you're a reporter at the White House and you're thinking about further successes in the business and you're nervous about your boss getting a call, maybe you pull your punches because of the career track." Conversely, those in the MSM who play nice with the White House are compensated. Noted New York Times columnist Paul Krugman: "Let's be frank: the Bush administration has made brilliant use of journalistic careerism. Those who wrote puff pieces about Mr. Bush and those around him have been rewarded with career-boosting access."
Whatever the specific motives, the timidity became entrenched and the results plain to see. And that's what Lapdogs documents in detail.

Explore more about this great book, with Lapdogs discussion-Part I and discussion-Part II at the Firedoglake website.

My television news watching regularly includes, in addition to PBS and C-SPAN, these TV channels: CNN, MSNBC, CBS and the Discovery and History channels.
My news reading includes my local newspaper, and these news resources online: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The BBC News, Aljazeera, Slate Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, and Reuters. The Rand Corpopration's James Dobbins recently said on a very interesting New America Foundation panel, that you cannot get any kind of accurate news by reading only the American Media. He suggested that The Financial Times is a good resource. I agree and have added it to my regular feeds. HaArretz, according to Daniel Levy (who recently joined the New America Foundation), is also helpful.
Favorites I read online: By now my regular readers know my blog favorites. They are all in the lefthand columns of my S/SWwebpage.
Am I well informed? I would say that I am a bit better informed than the average citizen or the average voter. I do not know enough about my local politics because it is not well covered locally. And I am no longer involved in the League of Women Voters, my former info resource. As to whether I am well enough informed to write this blog, I try very hard. But it is almost a full time job for this "little blogger."

Book reviews: