READER COMMENTS ON
"ABC Seals It: U.S. Corporate Mainstream Media Are Over"
(30 Responses so far...)
COMMENT #1 [Permalink]
...
Dredd
said on 3/19/2008 @ 6:05 pm PT...
COMMENT #2 [Permalink]
...
Lora
said on 3/19/2008 @ 7:05 pm PT...
Is there any doubt that they are out to "get" Hillary? Is there any doubt that they will be out to "get" Obama if he wins the nomination?
COMMENT #3 [Permalink]
...
Linda
said on 3/19/2008 @ 8:18 pm PT...
I agree, Brad. That's a stunning misuse of limited investigative journalism resources.
Here's the thing, though. Articles like that must sell newspapers, otherwise they wouldn't direct scarce resources toward them. What does that say about our citizens?!
We can't keep blaming the corporate-controlled media for our choices in what we read.
And given this little piece of news, I find it hard to believe that ABC is intentionally smearing Clinton, in order to get Obama on the Nov. ticket, in order that McCain will win.
COMMENT #4 [Permalink]
...
Agent 99
said on 3/19/2008 @ 8:28 pm PT...
Linda, they are not about the bottom line anymore. They're all owned by huge corporations that prefer using their media outlets to enhance their profits on their other holdings. Mainstream investigative journalism is long gone. We just haven't gotten over freaking out about it yet.
COMMENT #5 [Permalink]
...
Chris
said on 3/19/2008 @ 9:35 pm PT...
I'm an Obama supporter, but I find this little piece of "news" absolutely disgusting. I thought the MSM had hit a new low when they started taking pieces of Obama's Tuesday speech completely out of context and missing the entire point of it--but this bit about Hillary and the...I'm not even going to say it--is completely absurd.
Thank you, MSM, for turning the whole world into one giant episode of Jerry Springer.
COMMENT #6 [Permalink]
...
Alan Breslauer
said on 3/19/2008 @ 9:39 pm PT...
COMMENT #7 [Permalink]
...
Brad Friedman
said on 3/20/2008 @ 1:01 am PT...
Linda -
We can't keep blaming the corporate-controlled media for our choices in what we read.
Yes. We can.
I suspect we'd all tune in if ABC decide to shoot someone in the head on live television too. Doesn't mean there would be any journalistic value to it.
Throwing Christians to the lions was also very popular once. I suspect it would be again. Our news media, however, knows better than to put that on television (for now.)
This absolutely appalling, and I don't believe I need to state whether I'm an Obama or Clinton (or none of the above) supporter to say that.
It's absolutely disgusting and offers ZERO journalistic value or anything within the realm of legitimate public interest. None.
Period.
COMMENT #8 [Permalink]
...
Floridiot
said on 3/20/2008 @ 2:09 am PT...
I wonder who paid for that shit?
Big Pharma?
The insurance industry?
The new and improved privatized Republican DOJ through corporate funding?
This looks like another DOJ hit piece, who else would have slipped ABC this info?
If you can stand Dan Abrams new show "V" after Olberman, he has a new segment called "Teflon McCain" about how he gets to skate on shit like this.
A couple of video mash-ups of that show wouldn't hurt (Alan, )
If this doesn't get congress to start enforcing the fairness doctrine, they are dumber than shit...oh wait, never mind.
That seals it, now I'm an Obama/Clinton supporter
COMMENT #9 [Permalink]
...
Dredd
said on 3/20/2008 @ 4:37 am PT...
Brad mentioned the 5th aniversary messiversary of the Iraq war.
They are still trying to sell that pig in a poke, and fewer and fewer Americans are buying it:
Bush's Popularity Hits New Low
Five years after he green-lighted the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, President Bush faced strikingly low approval ratings as he reaffirmed his commitment to "accept no outcome but victory" in the war.
(CNN).
Another way of saying it is that preznit blush's UNpopularity Hits New Highs!
There was another birthday that went unnoticed by the Amurkan MSM, and that is the birthday of the PEACE SIGN.
Peace out.
COMMENT #10 [Permalink]
...
Dredd
said on 3/20/2008 @ 5:11 am PT...
COMMENT #11 [Permalink]
...
Floridiot
said on 3/20/2008 @ 5:34 am PT...
"This is a trend that we're just beginning to see as the process of vetting and testing our opponent continues," Clinton pollster Mark Penn said, but he demurred when asked about the correlation of that trend and the explosion of discussion surrounding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
hmm, I wonder if he likes teh "vetting and testing" now?
Link
COMMENT #12 [Permalink]
...
GWN
said on 3/20/2008 @ 7:56 am PT...
or... it could be ABC's way of having people feel sorry for Clinton.(My first reaction and I don't even like her)MSM would prefer Clinton nominated so that McCain can win it.
Lots of people enjoy seeing people humiliated. It's what TV is about today. American Idol, Survivor, Springer, even Dr Phil etc.
Imagine a world where there was no competition...imagine the peacefulness.
I hate how cynical I am becoming. Hate it, hate it, hate it!!
Going to go out in the sun and watch the snow melt on this first day of Spring.
COMMENT #13 [Permalink]
...
ayak9
said on 3/20/2008 @ 7:59 am PT...
I thought Hillary was the veteran fighter of the famous smear machine who has been fully vetted and she can take anything the Pubs throw at her. I guess not.
We didn't want to hear about this garbage the first time and we really don't have time for it now when the US is facing such problems. Would the H. Clinton candidacy or an H. Clinton presidency be hamstrung by the amazing Clenis? If you google events of 1998, you'd find that all hell broke loose internationally while Bill was distracted by the Monica imbroglio. What has Bill been doing since he left office in 2001? With Spitzer and all the other recent sex scandals, the MSM won't hesitate to bring out a string of bimbos claiming they were victimized by the Clenis, since he left office.
If there were a chance of her winning the nomination, without sliming Obama and arguing he is unelectable and that McCrazy is better prepared to be president, it might be different. She should bow out of her futile campaign now. Spare us a rehash of Monica and Bill. Please.
Go Hillary. Go away!
COMMENT #14 [Permalink]
...
betty kosegi
said on 3/20/2008 @ 8:27 am PT...
Did any of you ever hear the old saying"Whats good for the goose is good for the gander"?Its about time somebody uncovered some trash on ole hillary.Shes painted herself as a"commander in Chief" with lies.By the way,who do you think was responsible for those old tapes appearing from the Reverend Wright?Shes been out to ruin Barack Obama from the start.He is a Leader and speaks from the heart.Everybodys entitled to their opinion and this is mine.GO OBAMA!!!!!!
COMMENT #15 [Permalink]
...
Rosencrantz
said on 3/20/2008 @ 8:34 am PT...
NOt too shabby ABC. Although CNN was just as horrible that day. They sent a reporter all the way to Iraq to ask the President (or whoever) "With Iran training and aiding terrorists in Iraq, when AMericans and Iraqis are so closely working together...is that a slap in the face to America?"
5 years into an endless war which was unneccessary and bankrupting the country, and the best CNN can do is ask "Is Iran slapping America in the face?" Did they really need to fly someone to Iraq to report live if they were just going to continue beating Bush's war drum, spread propaganda and ask rhetorical questions?
Considering Iraq is almost completely out of the news lately, I don't think ANY news channel has done their damn jobs. And certianly NONE of them provided a useful or substantive look at 5 years of the worlds biggest mistake.
COMMENT #16 [Permalink]
...
czaragorn
said on 3/20/2008 @ 9:13 am PT...
What a disgusting display! I don't know what we can do to stop them, but we have to do it soon! The M/SIC now controls the media and the voting process, in addition to the entire government. The killer is that if it came down to simple numbers (how many of them versus how many of us) they wouldn't have a chance. As Bob Dylan noted, "Money doesn't talk, it swears!"
COMMENT #17 [Permalink]
...
BubbaJudge
said on 3/20/2008 @ 9:43 am PT...
uhhh, where was your outrage when the Rev. Wright videos were peddled by ABC?
You don't think the GOP would have brought Monica up in a McCain/Clinton election? Get real.
Also, we need to heed Hillary and her campaigns own words when they stated during the repeated attempts to skewer Obama that 'We need to vet our candidates for the Superdelegates', so suck it up HRC supporters, this is only the beginning.
So Hillary enabled a serial aldulterer, the document dump makes that painfully obvious, but let the voters decide wether she is going to be able to answer those 3am calls, or be too tired to answer because she's so busy keeping bubba's fly zipped.
HRC supporters, let's all say it together,
"Irony is the New Black"
COMMENT #18 [Permalink]
...
Brad Friedman
said on 3/20/2008 @ 9:46 am PT...
Betty Kosegi #14 said:
Did any of you ever hear the old saying"Whats good for the goose is good for the gander"?Its about time somebody uncovered some trash on ole hillary.
And what "trash on ole hillary" was "uncovered" here? That she "may have been" in the WH on one of the days her husband cheated on her?
That's not "trash on" her, that's "trash on" her husband, and long-ago irrelevant trash to boot.
Shes painted herself as a"commander in Chief" with lies.
Whether she did or didn't, has nothing to do with this wholly inappropriate article, and what I would call a clear abuse of journalistic "power".
By the way,who do you think was responsible for those old tapes appearing from the Reverend Wright?
Um, Sean Hannity?
COMMENT #19 [Permalink]
...
Will
said on 3/20/2008 @ 10:32 am PT...
This is why I don't get it when Clinton people say she is "vetted" ...
Just because Obama's run a clean campaign (unlike some people) doesn't mean the GOP or media will.
COMMENT #20 [Permalink]
...
Linda Meadows
said on 3/20/2008 @ 10:35 am PT...
We have to boycott the media. Rely on Public Radio and Television and good blogs and stop watching tv. No news, no Lost, no Grey's Anatomy, No CSI and tell all the advertisers what we are doing. They have to be stopped or our democracy (what's left of it) will be lost. All progressives have to post this call on all the progressive sites, tell friends and family and make it work. This is not about Hillary or Obama, it's about saving ourselves.
Linda
COMMENT #21 [Permalink]
...
czaragorn
said on 3/20/2008 @ 10:50 am PT...
You're right on target, Linda Meadows! They've stolen so much, and we have to start clawing it back, a chunk at a time, just as they took it from us while we weren't paying attention. The logical place to start is with the media - after all, in any revolutionary handbook you'll surely find that the first command is to seize the radio station! OK, that's a bit out-dated, but it's what this junta (I dunno - would cabal work better?)clearly set its sights on, and it has, by and large, succeeded. So let's take back the media, first, and at all costs protect the Internet at the same time, for the Internet provides the vehicle for our ideas. Boycots can be good - they can work - but let's keep the Internet free of their meddling. Slip a few bucks to BradBlog!
COMMENT #22 [Permalink]
...
sunny steve
said on 3/20/2008 @ 11:06 am PT...
Hey, folks: Please do not call the # posted for ABC News. It is the private phone of a very nice young lady. The correct # is 212-456-7777. You will then get a grumpy guy at ABC News, who will abruptly transfer your call to a series of recordings about digital TV, etc., then an option to leave a recorded message, then your call will be cut off before you can leave the message. My comment: I am not a Clinton supporter, although I used to be. I am also not a giggling adolescent, a paparazzi or a peeping tom, so the 'news' about Mrs. Clinton's whereabouts conincident with Ms. Lewinsky's visits to the White House is really not of interest to me.
COMMENT #23 [Permalink]
...
Merlin
said on 3/20/2008 @ 11:09 am PT...
Why is this so important, who really cares after 24 hour cycle?
An unemployment rate which is growing, a government which supports the international corporations before the massive crisis of foreclosures of 1 in 10 home owners, an economy that has slid into a recession because of an illegal war predicted to cost a trillion dollars, a third term Bush administration, ARE THESE NOT THE REAL ISSUES?
ARE THESE NOT THE ISSUES THAT LAST BEYOND THE NEWS CYCLES?
Brad, I wish you would focus on the serious issues and stop playing the magical games. If enough of us took such a direction, this trash would not have the space!
COMMENT #24 [Permalink]
...
GWN
said on 3/20/2008 @ 12:48 pm PT...
Ahhh she can take it. I say throw the kitchen sink at her. It was/is a marriage of convenience anyway. She knew what he was doing. She didn't want the world to know though. All for her agenda... that's Hillary. (I shed not a tear for her. I had a "flash" of sympathy for her when I read the headline but for less than 1/16 of a second)
She and her team will come up with much more ugly gossip about Obama before she is gone and SHE will make sure it's all over the MSM. Mark my words.
She is not genuine. IMO
Where are her tax returns, why is she hiding them?
She wants a recount in Michigan but her comment in 2007 was "It's clear, this election they're having is not going to count for anything."
(My ugly personality coming out. I didn't stay in the sun long enough and the snow isn't melting fast enough. I've got "snow rage")
COMMENT #25 [Permalink]
...
Ancient
said on 3/20/2008 @ 1:12 pm PT...
COMMENT #26 [Permalink]
...
Marksmanwhotakesorders
said on 3/20/2008 @ 2:41 pm PT...
The airwaves are ours and ABC is supposed to perform a public service. So why are we not suspending their broadcast license? Or at least a boycott of ABC.
The general public eats this stuff up, you say? Of course, since blood and love all taste the same, we give them what their masters have trained them to want. As for Brian Ross, he's laughing all the way to his bank in the Cayman Islands.
COMMENT #27 [Permalink]
...
Onyx
said on 3/20/2008 @ 3:12 pm PT...
Boycott the MSM and buy a TIVO so when you watch the Daily Show, Olbermann, or sports you can bypass all the commercials.
COMMENT #28 [Permalink]
...
MCD
said on 3/20/2008 @ 9:58 pm PT...
Gave up on mainstream news a long time ago, suggest the rest of you do the same. Most of my information comes from various sources on the internet. Haven't watched a national news program on TV in probably at least a year. If you can only believe 50% of what they report is true or not slanted... how do you know which 50%? You have to accept that all is garbage. Just turn off the TV.
COMMENT #29 [Permalink]
...
oldturk
said on 3/21/2008 @ 1:37 am PT...
Here's a major slap in the face and kick in the teeth for anyone who hopes to promote election integrity. MSNBC's Chris Mathews is having Ken Blackwell - the former Ohio SoS on his program as a "political expert".
Let's just gather all the bu$hCo criminals and give them a big bear hug on the national media and convey the message that suborning democracy and trashing America with acts of treason is commendable conduct that places you on the pedestal warranting of the utmost respect and admiration.
What is the national media thinking to put these clowns, criminals, charlatans, crooks, and anti-American democracy haters - front and center where we are expected to worship their every utterances and opinions.
Could the reason be that the media has grown more fascist corporatist, anti-American and treasonous as some of the hardcore political operatives ?
Same reason they have Sara Taylor on,
same reason CNN has Beck,
same reason NYT hired Bill Kristol,
same reason Fox hired Rove,
same reason Newsweek hired Rove,
same reason Tweety slobbers all over Tom Delay,
same reason they keep bringing Dick Morris on,
same reason they keep bringing Newt on
same reason they keep bringing the Matalin/Carville trainwreck on,
same reason Pat Buchanan is all over every pundit program....
same reason Coulter was featured for so long,
.....corporate media is the vast repuke criminal rehabilitation machine.
~~~~~~
~~~~~~
Ken Blackwell appeared as a talking head on Hardball with Chris Matthews the other night. He was introduced as a Senior Fellow at the Family Research Council. Of course he’s best known as the former Secretary of State of Ohio, where he spent precious little time running the Department of Motor Vehicles and handing out driver’s licenses – he was far too busy making sure that the state’s electoral votes would go to George W. Bush in the 2004 election. That’s a polite way of saying he was dedicated to rigging the election.
--
Blackwell professed to see no inherent conflict during the 2004 election between simultaneously serving as secretary of state and co-chairman of Bush’s Ohio campaign. As the arbiter of election rules, Blackwell issued a series of rulings that limited the use of provisional ballots, a tactic that undermined traditionally Democratic inner-city voters. At one point, until he finally rescinded it, Blackwell tried to maintain the absurd position that only voter-registration forms on heavyweight 80-pound paper would be accepted.
-Walter Shapiro,
--
Actaully, “rigging” is too polite a term to describe Blackwell’s blatant attempts to suppress Democratic voter turnout. He was named in more than sixteen lawsuits alleging voter disenfranchisement and conflict of interest. No, “stealing” is more like it. You could argue that the man’s criminal behavior could label him something of a thief, a crook. Call him whatever – his actions should hardly merit him a place on television. He epitomizes partisan politics at its very worst – disgustingly dishonest and immoral.
But yet here he is, with Chris Matthews gushing over him, referring to him as “Mr. Secretary”. He even closed out the segment with a chummy, “When are you gonna run again, Ken?”
http://purpleminded.com/...ll-from-your-broadcasts/
*
COMMENT #30 [Permalink]
...
Larry Bergan
said on 3/22/2008 @ 2:58 am PT...
Mathews also has Armstrong Williams on the show often. It's disgusting beyond belief' The media is just sadistic. They like to see liberals lose more then life itself. It's just a habit now and they can't stop themselves.
And, of course, they are picking up big checks.