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http://blogs.lib.ncsu.edu/pdmccaul/date/20080707 Monday July 07, 2008

A Must-Read for All

Jamison Foser's latest Media Matters (3 July) is something everyone should read.

Here's one part I find particularly damning (with regard to that whole Wesley Clark hissy fit a few weeks ago):

Clark has made similar comments in the past, and various media figures said much the same thing about John Kerry in 2004. Morton Kondracke, for example: "It does not qualify you to be the commander in chief of all the Armed Forces because you were a Swift boat commander." And Kathleen Parker: "[M]ilitary service neither qualifies nor disqualifies one for political office." That same year, Bush campaign spokesperson Steve Schmidt -- now John McCain's de facto campaign manager -- dismissed the relevance of Kerry's military service, noting that it had occurred decades earlier.

Nobody much cared when people said John Kerry's military service didn't qualify him to be president. But the media have different rules when it comes to John McCain. And so Clark's comments were met with a firestorm of media criticism. Never mind that Clark hadn't criticized McCain's service; that he hadn't said McCain served poorly or dishonorably -- in fact, Clark called McCain a "hero." Never mind all that; the media quickly, relentlessly -- and falsely -- jumped all over Clark.

This is bias. This is subjectivity. This is disgusting.

As a newspaper person myself (section editor for Viewpoint in the N.C. State student newspaper Technician), I admit that I have my opinions. But I also like to see if the facts fit my opinion, and if they do not, I modify my opinion.

Case in point: I once thought torture was acceptable in ticking-bomb situations. But then I looked up countless accounts that said torture doesn't work, regardless -- in fact, the best interrogators established rapport with captives as the "good cop" and got valuable information. The latest news that a number of our techniques were based off Communist Chinese tactics to elicit false confessions is that final nail in the coffin. FALSE CONFESSIONS! False confessions elicited under duress are a double whammy: we become horrible violators of the human rights we claim to champion and we get bad intelligence that could get people killed.

This is why I've stopped watching television news and am considering a move out of this country.



Posted by pdmccaul [Politics] ( July 07, 2008 08:55 AM ) Permalink | Comments[0]

I call BS!

The following passage from this NYTimes article reeks of BS:

In what is perhaps an unwelcome turn of events for Mr. McCain, the Iraq war has faded in the news as the country has seemed to quiet down ? arguably providing a validation of his call to increase troop strength there, which Mr. Obama opposed ? putting even more emphasis on an issue that Mr. McCain would prefer be secondary.

Why do I call BS? Perhaps this little gem I read at Obsidian Wings will explain. If you don't feel like reading, the main link in that Obsidian Wings post is to a NYTimes story entitled:

Reporters Say Networks Put Wars on Back Burner

Yes, I know, the article mostly talks about the Big Three TV networks. But that's a fairly big news outlet, particularly considering that print media seems to be on the decline.

So if anything, the media has put the war on the back burner and will bring it out only when their candidate (who loves donuts with the sprinkles on top) needs a boost.

Posted by pdmccaul [Random News] ( July 07, 2008 08:42 AM ) Permalink | Comments[0]



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