Shallow Waters
Franklin Foer says we should be nice to the MSM because if we're critical of them it will only make the wingnuts happy.
Armando:
What Foer seems to have difficulty understanding is that the important role the Press SHOULD play in our society is not to say that they are doing their job. Indeed, it is our view that the Press has failed miserably in its role for the past 5 years at the least.Atrios:
One can hold these two views at the same time. It is not complicated. To hear Foer tell it, you're for a free press filling its role in our society or agin it. And if you are for it, you can never speak an unkind word against the Media. Sound familiar?
I don't know why this is too hard to comprehend. It's been an obvious difference in the critique of the press since I've been paying attention to such things. The Post's ombudsman just wrote something along the lines of "the right forgets how mean we were to Clinton and the Left wants us to be an adjunct of Moveon.org."I only have one question for the Deborah Howells of the world who say that if both the left and right are complaining it indicates they must be doing something right.
Uh, no, the issue is that the Left remembers how shitty and unfair you were to Clinton and ALSO remembers how Walter Pincus can't get published on Page 1. It's the Right which has been spewing the "liberal media" drumbeat for decades as idiots like Bernie Goldberg were paraded around the media while the Left has been screeching Please Do Your Jobs Better.
How would we know if you were just completely fucking up?
Update: Matt Stoller: "Foer's point is dumb, since it was the New York Times public editor taking the New York Times to task. Or should I call him the Mainstream Public Editor Media (MPEM)?"
posted by Jane Hamsher @ 1/02/2006 07:15:00 PM
<< Home