SHOW NOTES
- Intro
- Media Reporting in Iraq
- The Major U.S. Media Players
- The New York Times
- Associated Press
- Reuters
- L.A. Times
- Washington Post
- The Dan Rather Incident
- The Role of Bloggers
- The Media vs. Fox News
- Sign Off
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Podcast NYC: Pop Culture Rant #17
It's a special PCR as your host interviews his big brother. The main topic of conversation is the media. The media has a great impact on people's opinion and your host thinks that they're failing to deliver objective news that's thoroughly research. The media has a responsibility to be thorough and objective, given the fact that many people base their opinions on a variety of topics as a result of what gets reported. We find out in this conversation that five organizations control over 75% of the print news reported in the U.S.
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4 comments:
PCR 17 - response...
Rather was already planning his retirement months prior to the 60 Minutes II Bush story. When the CBS producer attempted to verify the accuracy of the documents Bush's handlers refused to confirm or deny the veracity of the story, a tactic which is commonly employed by political campaigns in cases of damage control. Rove, knowing that the CBS producer would take such a refusal as a panicked response (Bush Campaign Running Scared) issued the "refusal to confirm". Because the Bush handlers had been sitting on all existing documentation since he first ran for governor of Texas, Rove was fully aware that regardless of the fact that the information contained in the report was TRUE, the documents had been either buried or destroyed by Bush's people so any documents that CBS had were not originals.
CBS was played, pure and simple. How do we know this? The BUSHIES never addressed the issues of Dubya's AWOL status, his refusal to submit to a urine test in the standard medical exam and his poor performance evaluations when he actually did bother to show up.
Sounds like we have at least one fan of Dan Rather (and maybe a Bush detractor) in the audience.
As far as I know, the letter in question was not addressed to Mr. Bush personally. It was simply alleged to have been written about him. So how would Bush know about the letter then? And since the guy who allegedly wrote it has long been dead, there weren't any credible witnesses (including the gentleman's family) who could say that they saw the guy write the letter or that they had seen it even once after it was written.
So it was a pretty thin story to begin with and it was an old one at that. My brother is not a supporter of the President, but as a journalist he recognizes that an investigative story should stand on concrete facts. In this case, the facts were questionable.
It was time for Mr. Rather to go, Bush story or not. He's part of the old guard, a different era where news anchors were deified and never questioned. This is a new era and CBS was smart enough to know that their ratings were reflecting that shift.
In parting on this point I can only ask, "What's the frequency Kenneth?"
April 26th, 2005
Just setting the record straight - Rather wasn't fired or forced to quit, he was already planning to retire and CBS was looking for his successor this time last year. Only the producer and one assistant were canned. And the letter was reported to be part of Dubya's military record, all of which was seized by Rove and company in the late '90s.
The secretary who handled the correspondence for Dubya's CO in the Air Guard said she didn't type that letter, but did remember typing a similar letter that said essentially the same thing - George is just not leadership material.
No I'm not a fan of Rather, nor a detractor of Dubya. Actually I'd prefer it if the general public would stop being distracted by FAUX NEWS, Drudge, "Jeff Gannon", Armstrong Williams and all the other so-called journalists on Karl Rove's payroll and bother to find out what is REALLY going on in this country while we're getting 24/7 coverage of Brad & Jen, Martha Stewart, (sur)reality television "stars" and Michael Jackson.
Bush detractor?
Not likely. I look forward to the day when people in this country give Dubya the full credit for everything he's done to the US and the world. That's why podcasts are important - removing the central corporate media control from outlets like News Corporation (Rupert Murdoch) and Clear Channel and allowing independent voices to be heard.
I may not agree with everything you say on your pop culture rants, but I believe it's very important work you're doing.
By the way I live in NYC and I loved hearing your thoughts on Adam Curry's "sound-seeing tour". If he tried that with any real NYers he would've had his ass handed to him.
Keep 'casting & I'll keep listening.
Gil,
There had to be some pressure from the brass for Dan to go though. My take is that they knew it was time for him to go and gave him the honorable out. Who knows what was really happening behind the scenes. Ratings rule the networks and they were looking for a new face to lead the charge, with or without that story.
This doesn't have to be the end for Dan Rather in any case. He should start his own blog or better yet, a podcast and he wouldn't have to answer to the honchos at the networks.
Adam stepped over the line with his following of people in the Waldorf. The community responded though and he saw the error of his ways. I always say that the listeners are the best editors and fact checkers that podcasters can have. So that's why Adam listened and why I listen too...
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