The Fairness Doctrine....

[Maverick]

No

I'm saying that I found the hypocrisy of the right wing pundits amusing. That is all.

Since you mentioned no names or statements that the "pundits" made it's rather difficult to determine the real source of your amusement.

[Bodhi]

They wouldn't be fawning over Obama unless the fawning over Obama lead to more dollars in their pockets. So the free market is indeed in control, yet the right wing pundits continue to whine.

The major television "media" outlets only pander to their audience, which is by and far mostly liberal people.  Since right wingers generally work for a living, their major "media" outlets tend to be those that are audio, hence the amount of talk radio being dominated by conservatives.

[lazs2]

well.. I guess I missed the point.   I don't find any media that is out there that does not have an agenda.

I do admire the right wing talk radio shows for at least admitting their agenda.

I think that the market will decide..  study after study shows that the left wing liberal media is only hurting itself yet..  it's agenda is so strong that it can't help itself.

I guess I never did get it that we were supposed to be fooled by the news pretending to be fair and balanced..  I never thought it was.    I didn't expect it to be.

I don't watch it.   I don't read it.   not unless someone links it to me and then I realize that it will have a lot of factual errors and that it will have a very thinly veiled agenda.   

mostly tho.. I can't stand watching it.   

Radio is kinda fun.. I can switch back and forth and listen to ultra left wing NPR who pretends to be fair and then listen to right wing radio who at least admits to their agenda but pretends to be honest and thorough.

I swear..  I don't think NPR wants to even have anyone on unless they are gay, or a woman or have a british accent..  they are happiest when the person is all three.

lazs

[midnight Target]

Since you mentioned no names or statements that the "pundits" made it's rather difficult to determine the real source of your amusement.

Well specifically I heard a lot of whining from Hannity on his radio program which happens to be on the local station in Boise.

[Holden McGroin]

  Yu listen to Hannity? 

'Time' Publishes Definitive Obama Puff Piece
July 18, 2008 | Issue 44•29

NEW YORK—Hailed by media critics as the fluffiest, most toothless, and softest-hitting coverage of the presidential candidate to date, a story in this week's Time magazine is being called the definitive Barack Obama puff piece.

"No news publication has dared to barely scratch the surface like this before," columnist and campaign reporter Michael King wrote in The Washington Post Tuesday. "This profile sets a benchmark for mindless filler by which all other features about Sen. Obama will now be judged. Just impressive puff-journalism all around."

The 24-page profile, entitled "Boogyin' With Barack," hit newsstands Monday and contains photos of the candidate as a baby, graduating from Columbia University, standing and laughing, holding hands with his wife and best friend, Michelle, greeting a crowd of blue-collar autoworkers, eating breakfast with diner patrons, and staring pensively out of an airplane window while a pen and legal pad rest comfortably on his lowered tray table.

According to political analysts, the Time piece features the most lack-of-depth reporting on Obama ever published, and for the first time reveals a number of inconsequential truths about the candidate, including how he keeps in shape on the campaign trail, and which historical figures the presidential hopeful would choose to have dinner with.

"The sheer breadth of fluff in this story is something to be marveled at," New York Times Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet said. "It's all here. Favorite books, movies, meals, and seasons of the year ranked one through four. Sure, we asked Obama what his favorite ice cream was, but Time did us one better and asked, 'What's your favorite ice cream, really?'"

Time managing editor Rich Stengel said he was proud of the Obama puff piece, and that he hoped it would help to redefine the boundaries of journalistic drivel.

"When the American people cast their vote this November, this is the piece of fluff they're going to remember," Stengel said. "Not the ones by Newsweek, Harper's, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The Economist, Nightline, The Wall Street Journal, or even that story about lessons Obama learned from his first-grade teacher we ran a month ago."

The article, which follows Obama for 12 days during his campaign, was written by reporter Chris Sherwood, and is relentless in its attempt to capture the candidate at his most poised and polished. Sherwood said the profile easily trumps all other fluff pieces in its effort to expose the presidential candidate for who he really is: "an awesome guy."

"My editors told me that if I wanted to uncover the most frivolous, trivial information on Obama, I had to be prepared to follow the puff," Sherwood said. "That meant that not only did I have to stay and watch Sen. Obama play endless games of basketball with city firemen to show readers how athletic and youthful he is, but I also had to go to NBA shooting experts to learn what aspects of his jump shot are good and what parts are great."

Sherwood said he was granted full access to the candidate, and was permitted by chief strategist David Axelrod to ask any question he desired—an opportunity the reporter used to lob the easiest softballs at Obama yet, ranging from how happy he felt when he met his wife to what songs are currently on his iPod playlist. Sherwood was also fearless in his effort to paint the candidate as someone who is "surprisingly down to earth," a phrase that is used a total of 26 times throughout the feature.

"If we were going to get the story we wanted, it was my responsibility as a journalist to ask the really tough questions to his two young daughters," said Sherwood, who grilled Malia and Sasha Obama, 9 and 7, about whether they were "proud of [their] daddy." "I also had to capitalize on every opportunity to compare the story of Obama's upbringing and rise to power to that of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s and John F. Kennedy's, no matter how suspect those parallels really are."

According to the Time reporter, work on the profile was often harder than he had anticipated, with Obama at times dodging questions about whether or not he played a musical instrument, and about what Monopoly piece he thought best represented his candidacy and why.

"Situations like these are when you have to get on the phone and talk, not only to his mother, but to his aunt, his uncle, a Boy Scout leader, or maybe even one of his camp counselors growing up," Sherwood said. "And if they don't return your call, you turn to Sunday school teachers and former babysitters—anyone who is willing to go on record and say that Barack Obama was a really good kid who was destined for great things."

Added Sherwood, "It's all about getting the factoids out in the open."

Readers have so far responded favorably to the piece, with sales of the latest issue of Time nearly tripling that of an issue last month featuring a 36-page exposé that tore apart and vilified former candidate Hillary Clinton's health-care plan.

"I'm not quite sure how he intends to turn around the economy or get us out of Iraq," said California resident Geoff Mills, an ardent Obama supporter who read the Time story. "But any man who prefers his steak cooked medium-rare has my vote." - onion

[Maverick]

Why do you listen to opinion radio that does not match your own personal preferences?  

I don't care for opinion radio or TV at all, either side of the aisle. The opinions of an entertainer do not have any interest to me. I also do not class them as news since the bias is part of the opinion or editorial aspect of it. It's kind of like saying you get your "news" form the editorial page of the newspaper. It's hardly reporting.

[59funkman]

Yup, and their left wing shenanigans are causing them to fail miserably.

Wrong as usual.

[E25280]

Well specifically I heard a lot of whining from Hannity on his radio program which happens to be on the local station in Boise.

I don't listen to Hannity, so you will have to tell me . . . was he demanding congress pass legislation to shut up the "lefties" in the mainstream media, or at least force them to "balance" their coverage by artificially installing those with right-wing views?

If so, then yes, hypocrisy could be claimed.

But if he wasn't demanding congressionally enforced censorship, then I don't see how you could equate his whining with the "fairness doctrine" crowd.

[bj229r]

Agenda? Please.

The media's agenda is to make money.

Alas, excluding non-liberals from your prospective demographics can cost money:

New York (AP) - New York Times Co.'s second-quarter earnings fell 82 percent from a year ago, when it saw a one-time gain from the sale of a unit, but print advertising continued to shrink and pulled down operating income, the publisher said Wednesday.

Net income dropped to $21.1 million, or 15 cents per share, from $118.4 million, or 82 cents per share, a year ago. In the second quarter of 2007, the company got a 66-cents-per-share boost from selling its broadcast media group but also took a 14-cent hit from other one-time items.

link

"One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do...."

In Manchester last night, there was just one reporter and one photographer waiting for McCain as his plane -- a white, blue and gold Boeing 737-400 emblazoned with his campaign slogan, "Reform, Prosperity, Peace" -- touched down on the Wiggins Airways tarmac.

[Gunslinger]

No

I'm saying that I found the hypocrisy of the right wing pundits amusing. That is all.

There is no hypocrisy when you are comparing apples to razorblades.  Most conservatives do not want a "fairness doctrine".  We do however, comment with how the media is in love with Obama for what ever reason that may be.

Hell the media was in love with britney spears at one point in time and look how that turned out.

[bj229r]

There is no hypocrisy when you are comparing apples to razorblades.  Most conservatives do not want a "fairness doctrine".  We do however, comment with how the media is in love with Obama for what ever reason that may be.

Hell the media was in love with britney spears at one point in time and look how that turned out.

I think small planets revolve around her back-side

[lazs2]

Lets face it..  a lot of people watch "reality shows" and "american idol" and oprah..  we are pretty much doomed to a popularity contest without content.

Lets face it.. journalism attracts empty headed liberal socialists who are afraid of a real job..  as does acting and comedy..  we are doomed to listen to the agenda of a few.   Look at how many journalists identify themselves as "liberal" compared to the population.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2008/03/19/four-times-more-journalists-identify-liberal-conservative

that is who you are listening to.    They control it all except a few little AM radio stations and those stations are doing well...

Doing well in spite of being mostly the worst commercials on the planet and not real professional in some cases.. yet.. mainstream.. with the possible exception of fox..  simply ignores their audience.. they wish to force a preferance on us.   they feel so just in their agenda that they will gladly turn their stations into funeral pyres.

lazs