Monday, May 12, 2003

Smoking Out Bad Journalism

SMOKING OUT BAD JOURNALISM


Jayson Blair is just the tip of the iceberg.

Should Jayson Blair, the NY Times reporter who happened to get caught bullshitting us, get fired? Shouldn't everyone who doles out the bullshit also get fired? And do we limit our firing campaign to mere reporters?

Aim higher! Fire the editors, columnists, and pundits as well!


Do I fear such a move?
Not in the least.

Do you?

The right wing is notorious for a lack of fact-checking. Will THEY clamp down now?

And what about sins of omission?
Shouldn't these also be considered, when firing the errant? It's often what they DON'T tell us that is the worst win.

Top to bottom...journalism is in need of this crisis of trust. We are not being well-served. They are snail-oil salesmen. Quack doctors. Even worse...ambitious.

Their tongues are brown
and yellow. Brown from the lick. Yellow from the missing backbone.

Will Fox News take rigorous action to weed out untruths? Or will they merely pretend to do so...while only using it as a whip of self-censorship, intimidating the reports and such to "keep it simple"?

Which News and/or Opinion organs, in your opinion, are the most egregious abusers of truth?

Use the crisis to improve the product. The product is information.
We need good information.
Not just feel-good information.

More that that though,
we need wisdom...

Diplomats on the Defensive

Diplomats on the Defensive
State Dept. loyalists say the Pentagon is usurping foreign policy and undermining Powell. Conservatives say 9/11 has changed the rules.