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Media Credibility The Clinton White House is responding to the constant, concrete threat of international terrorism. The media raised "wag the dog" theories -Clinton allegedly manufactured a crisis to divert attention away from the [yawn] rehearsed Lewinsky testimony. Now that is reputable criticism, isn't it? It isn't surprising, just more of the same. Indeed, as soon as Clinton delivered hisconfession, the wheels of persecution churned absurdity and obscenity. Even the "reputable" New York Times was inane to the point where it claimed to be "especially disturbed" by President Clinton's appeal to repair the fabric of national discourse. There is no sanity in the opportunity to ridicule an obvious need. Everyone who is honest and independent rejects gutter dialogue politics and understands the public need to focus on what really matters. Having undermined the public interest, the New York Times owes the public and the First Family a heartfelt apology. [posted August 21, 1998]
Why is the media so exceedingly harsh in its tendency to accuse Clinton and so exceedingly soft in its willingness to condemnthe Starr Inquisition? That is the question that people are quietly contemplating as they muse over the responsibility of a freepress and Starr's stubborn determination to keep abusing his power. Clinton has certainly taken the bait and given his critics theopportunity to arouse passion, pride and prejudice. At the same time, the fundamental injustice of developing accusations thatare clearly grounded in a witch hunt is profoundly troublesome. In particular, the often quoted expectation that Starr's"investigation" will expose the truth is pure delusion. Will Starr's Report expose the fact that the Tripp camp was prepared touse a fraudulent document referred to as the "talking points" in effort to make obstruction of justice charges stick? Did Starrconfront Clinton about the "talking points" document when he forced him to testify? Why isn't the press asking, let aloneanswering these questions? Instead of substantive reporting, the public is confronted by a staple of television pundits who publicly plot strategy to impeachClinton, [if their ties or jewellery are coded, they're not talking] pundits who are so predictable that they are deragatorily called"talking heads." And why do they want to impeach Clinton beyond frivolous, "high crimes and misdemeanours" allegations?Well, he answered a question he should never have been asked in the first place. If there is a silver lining in this entire mess itlies in the fact that the plot to cripple the Clinton Presidency is too obvious to deny. A conspiracy is very difficult to prove, butsince this one has been entirely "trial balloon tested" in the media, it is difficult to ignore. And while the public has beenembarassed and disappointed by Bill Clinton, it is not prepared to leap into the political gutter that produced the mess in thefirst place. Indeed, it is a tale of two gutters, and the public is obviously more willing to forgive than to join the effort to impeachPresident Clinton. [posted August 24, 1998]
In 1896, the credo of the New York Times was "to give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of any party,sect or interest involved." Those were the days. Americam educator, Joseph Ward echoed principled media guidelines when hesaid: "I want to tell you what a newspaper means. It's a serious sacred business. The least smell of corruptionn, fear orfavoritism must never creep into its news columns... A newspaper doesn't belong to the men who run it or to those who ownthe plant. The press belongs to the public, to the people. It is their voice, their shield, their champion." Today, the media is knee-deep in the gutter of the plot to cripple the Clinton Presidency. In particular, the media hasabandoned its responsibility to challenge the pervasive abuse of power and a convenient lack of scrutiny has produced a culturewhere the distincton between a legitimate investigation and the abuse of power is ignored. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warrendefined the significant distinction when he said: "But the power to investigate, broad as it may be, is also subject to recognizedlimitations. It cannot be used to inquire into private affairs unrelated to a valid legislative purpose. Nor does it extend to an areain which Congress is forbidden to legislate." In its dereliction of duty, the media stands doubly accused -it routinely commitscrimes of omission as well as commission. On the one hand, it suppresses the truth by abandoning serious investigativereporting and on the other, it grants special interest advocates the opportunity to dominate the media. It is a grave dereliction ofresponsibility, and if the lapse is not reversed, media credibility will certainly decline to the point where the fourth estatebecomes irrelevant. [posted August 25, 1998]
Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post is like a young, freckle-faced, shy lad who would do or say anything to satisfy the tribe.When he says that journalists feel vindicated over the fact that Clinton got caught in a lie about sex, he betrays the beast -thedeep insecurity that colors, distorts and sells the human soul to the devil for the sake of belonging to the so called vindicatedgroup. The world according to Howard consists of two tribes; the truth-seeking journalists and the White House spin machine.It is an unbelievably perverted sense of reality, particularly since Kurtz himself admits that what he calls the "big megaphone"gives him and his colleagues the opportunity to dominate spin. Howard Kurtz may be a nice guy but he should grow up, andgiven the fact that his kind dominate the "big megaphone" he should stop being a cry baby. [posted September 9, 1998]
Footnote; On February 15, 1999, Howard Kurtz said that "media credibility has been impeached". Bravo Howard, it may be a sign of real growth. The media has clearly erased the distinction between news and gossip, and it is up to every individual to constantly filter out politically motivated garbage which is promoted with such lockstep consistency that it almost toppled the President of the United States.
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