Tuesday, June 30, 2009

MORE MEDIA MAYHEM

I was watching the local (NYC) NBC News a few nights ago and the guy who covers sports referred to the USA loss in that recent international soccer competition as "a crushing defeat."

As I understood it, this was the first time a USA team made it to the finals in an international competition and they had defeated the world's best team to get there and were winning the final two to nothing but ended up losing three to two. If that's "crushing defeat" my name's Mickey Mouse.

Meanwhile, you had the usual rightwing influence on national TV news, with that Southern governor who disappeared the other day to visit his mistress in Argentina and lied about it and the affair until caught, and who was one of those condemning Bill Clinton for his indiscretion, something rightwingers said was as much about his lying as his sexual indiscretion, now defending the Southern governor with the idea that if it's "love" as the governor explained, then it's much more excusable than a mere sexual dalliance (!) ignoring the fact that many people convince themselves (and others) lust is love to justify their actions.

But it's an obvious ploy by the right to avoid comparisons between their cheating husbands and Bill.

Then there's the whole Michael Jackson news torrent and all the uncorroborated stuff flying around the networks and cable news about the circumstances of Jackson's death, and life for that matter.

Even news shows I dig, like Rachel Maddow's were addressing the Jackson rumors (though more conscientiously, looking into the veracity of them) (and under a lovely substitute while Maddow took a day off), making them way too prominent.

As is often the case, the places where all this news was handled most reasonably were the Daily Show with John Stewart and The Colbert Report. Stewart gave only a few minutes to the Jackson death, treating the way the media handled the event with the usual sarcastic humor but showing more respect for Jackson and his family by calling for the NY Post to finally stop referring to him as "Jacko" and moving on to news events that warrant our attention so much more.

And as an adjunct to this discussion, did anyone see that HBO documentary SHOUTING FIRE: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech that aired last night? It's heartbreaking to see how much infleunce the rightwingers have on not just the way news is skewed but on the outcome of news stories and their impact on peoples' lives. Heartbreaking.

5 comments:

JIm said...

What a crock. Tell it to "Tingle UP My Leg" Chis Mathews, Brian Williams who bows to Obama while doing the WH tour show, ABC who airs a health care infomercial from the WH and refuses opposition ads and opponents to refute on air the proposed, Obamacare. The only network where there is a possiblilty of airing left and right views extensively and fairly is Fox.

Harryn Studios said...

i can fly with that riff for a while ...
how about mayhem, myopia, mundane, misused, misinformed, morbid, etc...
there's a whole world of issues that go by daily no one hears anything about - and the sprinkling we do get [may be a metaphor] is geared for that part of the majority of our population that has no clue about world culture or even domestic geography ...
and since when did opinions become news ...
and who gives a shite what the former vice president thinks about anything - or the sitting minority when they talk about changing policy - or mccain, or leiberman, ... let them practice their lines on the limbaugh show ...
and the hypocracy is enough to turn mickey mouse goofy when statistics tell you that divorce rates, teenage pregnancy, adultry, and porn subscribers are most prevelant in rightwing states [ny times article] ...
and as far as michael jackson - he lived, worked, made some contributions and srew ups and died ... God bless him and his family - but how about mourning the demise of the music industry and media and other arts where the not so celebrity struggle everyday all over the world from wrestling with visions and dreams - that's news - along with a boat load of other unsung heroes on a daily basis ...
no wonder i'm hearing so many young people say they're uninspired - or what's the point ...
one thing i know for sure - obama reminded me last november that change can happen ...

JIm said...

Apparently "Fair and Balanced" sells well.

FOX NEWS RECORDS UNPRECEDENTED TOP 10 OUT OF 10 PROGRAMS IN CABLE NEWS FOR 2ND QUARTER... ON PACE TO BE NETWORK'S BEST YEAR EVER...

JIm said...

We live in extraordinary times in the history of the press and of the Presidency.

For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.
The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff."


http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24441.html#ixzz0K6wNOpHp&D

JIm said...

We live in extraordinary times in the history of the press and of the Presidency.

For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.
The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff."


http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24441.html#ixzz0K6wNOpHp&D