Why I'm Disappointed in the News Media

I listened to National Public Radio's Morning Edition this morning as I do every morning.  What a superb news organization!  The news stories presented are in depth, thoughtful and thorough.  I'm convinced there isn't a finer news organization working today.

However.......

Today and all this week there hasn't been a single story about the most important new event since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.  I'm referring, of course, to the 9/11 Anniversary attack on the  Consulate in Benghazi, Libya including the rape, torture and murder of our Libyan Ambassador AND the subsequent bizarre cover-up of events by a White House in the middle of an Election Year Crisis. 

This is a news worthy story. In fact there isn't a single story that even approaches this in terms of importance.  Yet there is no coverage.  No one on NPR is asking the important questions. No one is asking any questions.

This isn't a news blackout.  The New York Post ran the story on their front page.  There have been stories on CBS and ABC News.  And FOX NEWS has it properly positioned as the single most important story of this decade.

FOX NEWS ratings are going through the roof.  The public recognizes the importance of this story.  When the story is completely ignored by MSNBC and only minimally covered by CNN, the audience goes where they must to learn the facts.

Of course FOX NEWS is presenting this story with a distinctly Republican spin.  That makes the FAILURE of NPR and other major news organizations even more disturbing.  The public needs an objective, dispassionate and in depth look at the facts and the White House Spin.  NPR could do that.  But someone, somewhere high up in their news organization is blockading the story.  WHY?

The cheerleader news groups (MSNBC and FOX) do their loyal viewers no good by eliminating news unfavorable to their candidates.  Better they should face the bad news head on and over it properly.  But the other news outlets who claim to be unbiased really betray us all by covering up a story that they will eventually be forced to cover.  All they do is lose credibility by being late to the scene.

You Must Read "We Must"

I realize the Convention Cycle is well underway. I realize that Former President Bill Clinton spoke last night and said some very important things.

I realize Sandra Fluke spoke last night and said some of the most inane, insulting and stupid things ever uttered at a Convention. [Fellow Democrat Kristen Powers saw it the same way I did]

I realize President Obama will speak tonight and his speech might just determine the outcome of the election.

But I want you to direct your attention to Lee Kiester's brilliant analysis of the entire 2012 election cycle and why this may be the most important election of our lifetime.  I'm not going to reprint one word of his analysis here, but I strongly urge you to follow this link and read his entire essay (it's not too long).  It WILL change your opinion about this election.  That is a promise!

LINK- - - - ->   We Must

MSNBC's Betrayal of the Liberal Left

For the last several years many of my friends on the Left, both on Twitter and in the Blogosphere have decried the polarizing bias they see nightly on the FOX News Network.  Fox leans right and, occasionally, falls overboard on the starboard side of the ship.  Occasionally this bias extends in to the news programs as well.

Naturally these same Progressives and Liberals watch MSNBC and especially rejoice in the Liberal Glow of MSNBC's Primetime line-up. While still condemning the bias on Fox News, they love the fact that there is a left leaning alternative.

Unfortunately MSNBC betrays its viewers nightly with a horrific mixture of mis-reporting, false memes and outright lies.  They believe, I think incorrectly, that such overboard bias to the left is their only hope of getting television ratings and more advertising dollars.

As a champion of Liberal causes, I want more from my network.  I want honesty, honor, strict discipline, high journalist standards and an unrelenting search for the truth.

For critics to say that MSNBC is simply a mirror of Fox News is the ultimate indictment, a true measure of their total failure.

Sadly, MSNBC can't even live up to that mediocre standard.  Fox is a shining beacon of journalistic integrity compared to MSNBC.

Last night was the first night of the coverage of the Republican National Convention.  For Liberals and Progressives there is much to compare, contrast and even condemn.  So why not do that?  Are we incapable of wining a fair argument?

Republicans have very little minority support.  There were, indeed, few people of color in the delegations or on the floor.  So why did MSNBC feel the need to edit out every single speech delivered by a person of color?  Some of those speeches were important.  Several were electrifying!

MSNBC eliminated the speech of former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis, a black Alabaman who had actually seconded the nomination of President Barack Obama at the 2008 Democratic Convention!  This was an important speech by an important news maker.  It was also an electrifying speech that brought the crowd to its feet!

Not content to overlook one person of color, MSNBC bypassed them all. Gone from their coverage was Mia Love, a rising superstar in Republican politics. Mia is unique. She is a Black Mormon and a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Utah.

Even if you somehow use the excuse that she was a minor player at the convention, how do you not broadcast the speech of Ted Cruz, a Latino American who will be the next Senator from Texas?  

This kind of reverse racism doesn't happen by accident. The executives at MSNBC decided they needed to support their false meme of racism in the Republican Party by purposefully hiding these key minority superstars in the Republican ranks. MSNBC's coverage demanded only whites be allowed to speak.  

Someone at MSNBC decided that we Liberals can't handle the truth.  We must be shielded from the small edges of color that actually are in the Republican Party.

Rachel Maddow owes us an apology.  MSNBC owes its viewers an apology.  

If there is any good news from last night's embarrassment it is that no one was watching.  Thank goodness they were watching Fox News, which actually covered the Convention with a reasonable amount of integrity and honor.

LAST NIGHT RATINGS:

FNC: 6,878,804 viewers (1,679,763 in 25-54)

NBC: 4,770,050 viewers (1,725,282 in 25-54)

CBS: 3,118,927 viewers (938,237 in 25-54)

ABC: 2,862,656 viewers (920,346 in 25-54)

CNN: 1,473,885 viewers (413,467 in 25-54)

MSNBC: 1,468,348 viewers (411,738 in 25-54)

That's The Way It Is

Today the cable news networks, the big three broadcast networks, virtually every major newspaper and thousands of blogs are all remembering and honoring the legendary CBS News Anchorman Walter Cronkite. Cronkite passed away last night at the age of 92.

Today he is remembered as, perhaps, the last and greatest honest, trusted and impartial news reporter. Almost every story, blog, commentary and tweet says, "He will be missed."

The truth is that he has already been missed. Cronkite's last broadcast was in 1981 and I daresay 95% of those writing, blogging and reporting today never actually saw Cronkite at the anchor's desk. It's been 28 years since Cronkite set a standard that, today, absolutely no one attempts to live up to.

If anything it is a shame that Cronkite outlived journalism, the profession he so loved.

Scott Simon, this morning on National Public Radio, presented a thoughtful tribute to the man who was the face of news in America for over 20 years. You can and should listen to Simon's entire essay here. In his essay Simon made an astonishing honest observation (the editing and emphasis are mine, please listen to Simon's entire tribute):

Millions of people wouldn't believe that President Kennedy had been shot, or men were on the moon, until they heard it from Walter Cronkite. No one person in news will probably have that kind of audience and authority again. There are almost a dozen different national TV news operations now, plus radio, Internet sites and citizen journalists who blog and tweet in real time, and often with real attitude. Today, so much media doesn't try to reach a mass audience, with all its unpredictable diversity and variations. They look for like-minded people who want a view of the news that will reassure them that they're right. If the moon landing happened in today's media landscape, you might have one network trumpet the accomplishment as a triumph for the American way of life. Another might say: impressive, yes, but a victory for the crew-cut military-industrial complex that sucks money for shock-and-awe adventures from social welfare programs. And bloggers might bleat: It was all staged on a set in Roswell, New Mexico.

So today, tonight and tomorrow, as you watch newscaster after newscaster, pundit after pundit, and blogger after blogger, pay loving tribute to a man they never actually saw practicing his craft, ask yourself why no one is attempting to emulate him.

That's the way it is.