SmithAntics

The clown act that is attempting to pass itself off as news and political commentary these days is just beyond belief.

And it’s not just FOX. It’s everywhere. Have you watched cable or network news programming lately? Have you compared which stories are making the front page of the newspaper and which ones are being banished to a sidebar on page A-12? Each day brings a new lowering of journalistic standards. Right wing propaganda masking as news. The lies of omission. Infuriating.

The health and survival of a democracy is predicated on an electorate that is supplied with the most unvarnished and unbiased information possible. This is what journalism is supposed to strive for. But today we are so far from that standard I don’t see how we’ll ever make it back. Careerism, imitation, and subservience to the corporate master have trumped journalistic integrity. Republican talking points are being passed off as objective commentary and analysis. It is literally getting worse everyday.

Why, just the other night I learned on cable news that "there is a school of thought that believes the more one sees of John Kerry, the less one likes him."

Of course, FOX pioneered what I call the "unattributable attribution"-- now a staple of hack journalism (see the subtitle of this blog).

"There is a school of thought that believes Senator Kerry is sympathetic to the goals of international terrorism."

"Some say only President Bush can right the economy."

"Some believe Teresa Heinz Kerry is an elitist Eurosnob and a closet socialist."

Luckily for us, there are a still a few honest journalists working in the mass media today. New York Times op-ed writer and world-renowned economist Paul Krugman is one such professional, and he wrote a good column on the deeply biased coverage of the Democratic National Convention (If you are not registered for the online version of the NYT, it takes only a few seconds, and I highly recommend it). The media criticism sites he mentions in the beginning of the column (The Daily Howler, Media Matters, and Campaign Desk) are all linked on this blog. These sites provide plenty of examples of the disease of which I speak. Please give them a look.

Again, make sure to check out Krugman’s column.