OUR LOUSY NEWS MEDIA

The wingnuts love to accuse the NY Times and CBS News as exemplars of liberal bias in the media and after reading a post on DKos, I thought I'd post of couple of tidbits that show otherwise.

First, the Times:

(Via Gandhi --> Portland Indy Media --> FAIR)

From a panel discussion in Washington, D.C. sponsored by Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism (11/4/04).

Audience Member: I was wondering if you felt there was a difference between balanced reporting and objective reporting? And the thing that kind of sticks in my mind frequently is when President Bush on the stump would frequently pull out the "global test" that John Kerry mentioned in the debate, but he would completely twist the meaning of the whole phrase around. . . . Essentially, what I feel like was a lie that the president just stated . . . was never objectively reported on. . . .

[snip]

Elisabeth Bumiller (New York Times): That’s why it’s very hard to write those, because you can’t say George Bush is wrong here. There’s no way you can say that in the New York Times. So we contort ourselves up and say, “Actually”— I actually once wrote this sentence: “Mr. Bush’s statement did not exactly . . . ” It was some completely upside down statement that was basically saying he wasn’t telling the truth. And I got an email from somebody saying, “What’s wrong with you guys? Why can’t you just say it plainly?” But there’s just—

Loren Ghiglione (Medill School of Journalism, Moderator): Why can’t you say it plainly?

Bumiller: You can’t just say the president is lying. You don’t just say that in the . . . you just say—

Ghiglione: Well, why can’t you?[laughter from the audience]

Bumiller: You can in an editorial, but I’m sorry, you can’t in a news column. Mr. Bush is lying? You can say Mr. Bush is, you can say. . . .

[Murmuring and laughter continue from audience.]

Bumiller [to audience]: And stop the fussing! You can say Mr. Bush’s statement was not factually accurate. You can’t say the president is lying—that’s a judgment call.

Second, CBS News:

From Kagro X at Daily Kos -


And then, after all this, Couric tells a National Press Club audience:

• The rationale for the war was b.s.
• The war was a mistake
• Invading Iraq was ridiculous since the terrorists were in Afghanistan and Pakistan
• Iraq had no connection with Al Qaeda
• Bush botched the war
• Disbanding the Iraqi military was a disaster and...
• She would "feel totally comfortable saying any of that at some point, if required, on television."

"If required."
What the @#*%& does that mean? If required?

And she's not even done!

The former "Today" show anchor traced her discomfort with the administration’s march to war back to the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
"The whole culture of wearing flags on our lapel and saying ‘we’ when referring
to the United States and, even the ‘shock and awe’ of the initial stages, it was
just too jubilant and just a little uncomfortable. And I remember feeling, when
I was anchoring the ‘Today’ show, this inevitable march towards war and kind of feeling like, ‘Will anybody put the brakes on this?’ And is this really being properly challenged by the right people? And I think, at the time, anyone who questioned the administration was considered unpatriotic and it was a very difficult position to be in."