This was a conference of reporters just before the DNC
Dan Rather:
They have always been good at it but they've gotten better at it. Now, if you touch one of the most explosive issues that led to this polarization, they have instant response teams that will be all over your telephones, all over your e-mail, all over your mail. Mind you, this is not an indictable offense, this is America and they are entitled to do it. But part of what you have to do in a newsroom now that you didn't have to do before, you might have had to deal with a hundred telephone calls before, now if the orchestrated campaign by either one of the parties or some politician's campaign gets on you, you may have several thousand e-mails and telephone calls to which you have to respond.
I'm suggesting this creates an undertow in which you say to yourself, you know, I think we're right on this story, I think we've got it in the right context, I think we've got it in the right perspective, but we better pick another day, just to let it marinate before we come back with the story. Now that can be a positive, but it also can be a negative because sometimes your boss or somebody on your staff will say, you know what, if we run this story we're asking for trouble with a capital T. Why do it, why not just pass on by? That happens, I'm sorry to report that happens. Now you can say that is the result of fear, it's the result of not wanting to deal with the trouble of all those e-mails and telephone calls, but the pressure sometimes tells.
Check out the transcript. Coming from big names like Rather and Brokaw and Jennings, it's obvious that David Brock's "Rebulican Noise Machine" isn't just a joke to anyone. And these are the guys with the huge ratings, not Limbaugh and his ditto heads, these people reach mainstream America.
Tom Brokaw:
What the conservatives in this country have learned in the last ten years especially, is they feel they have to go to war against the networks every day. I think it's what Rush Limbaugh does every day, it's what does Brent Bozell does every day. As I say, there are these organized constituencies that are out there that can be mobilized and that is part of the political give and take of the time in which we live.
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Pete, I'm the first to admit to you that these folks are more on the left, they could be construed as the "liberal media?!?" However, the point is still obvious that you've got a bunch of guys that average joe and jane listen to nightly. And one thing that I've been noticing a lot lately with reporting is that these reporters just side-step engaging a bs answer and go on with their prewritten questions to get the story they need to get the day over. These guys aren't talking about some sick conspiracy to overthrow the media or even take over America to be frank. If you check out the transcript, one thing that's universal is they all agree that these people have a right to represent themselves and be important in the mediascape, and what sells today is polarization and glib talking point based on half truth. Read the press gaggles with Scott McClellan, I know I've posted some. The guy does a great job of avoiding any sketchy topic, but it's reached the point where the reporters won't even bother to press. The topics at this brief "conference" give some light to why. Even the "liberal media?!?" has become slanted to the right in manner.
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