I previously posted about the latest rash of scandalous photos coming out of Afghanistan showing U.S. military atrocities under Obama’s command, and wondering if the media would pick up on it the way they did when it was Bush’s army… Well, here’s a twist I wasn’t expecting: yes, one of the U.S. media, Rolling Stone, [...]
Jeffrey Goldberg, a correspondent for the Atlantic, cast a spotlight on yet another disgustingly overt example of pure bias in the mainstream media, particularly at the anti-Semitic Reuters newswire. He points to a Reuters news item which contains the following despicable sentences: Police said it was a “terrorist attack” — Israel’s term for a Palestinian [...]
In the [sparse] reporting of the Palestinians’ massacre of the Fogel family, several newspapers stand out with their distorted sense of “balance”, i.e., where they feel overwhelmingly uncomfortable describing the barbarity of the Palestinians without at least taking a swipe or two at the Israelis, no matter how patently irrelevant or disgustingly disrespectful it comes [...]
Reporters Grill WH Spokesman Gibbs Over Prepackaged Questions
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A tip of the ol’ fedora to my grandmother, who pointed me to this beautiful clip: it’s Chip Reid of CBS News along with one of the biggest icons of journalism, Helen Thomas from Hearst Newspapers, grilling Obama’s spokesman over what has been recently scandalized as “prepackaged questions” (i.e., journalists planted in the audience with pre-reviewed questions).
CNS News posted the transcript of this incredible exchange, in which Thomas exclaimed, “I’m amazed. I’m amazed at you people who call for openness and transparency!”
In a followup interview later, Thomas said that even “Nixon didn’t try to do that… they couldn’t control [the media]. They didn’t try… what the hell do they think we are, puppets? They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them… When you call the reporter the night before you know damn well what they are going to ask to control you… I’m not saying there has never been managed news before, but this is carried to fare-thee-well–for the town halls, for the press conferences… it’s blatant. They don’t give a damn if you know it or not. They ought to be hanging their heads in shame.”
Here’s the clip: