Reply #23: What she says is hypocritical after her August 24 column, which [View All]

[highplainsdem]

you can find in its entirety at http://scoop.agonist.org/story/2004/8/24/103720/167 .

TV Watch: On Cable, a Fog of Words About Kerry's War Record
Alessandra Stanley | August 24


There is the fog of war and then there is the fog of cable.

Over the last few weeks, 24-hour news networks have done little to find out what John Kerry did in Vietnam, but they have provided a different kind of public service: their examination of his war record in Vietnam illustrates once again just how perfunctory and confusing cable news coverage can be. Facts, half-truths and passionately tendentious opinions get tumbled together on screen like laundry in an industrial dryer - without the softeners of fact-checking or reflection.

Somehow, on all-cable news stations - CNN as well as Fox News - a story that rises or falls on basic and mostly verifiable facts blurs into just another developing news sensation alongside the latest Utah kidnapping or the Scott Peterson murder trial. (It is particularly confusing on Fox News, where so many of its blond female anchors look like Amber Frey.)

-snip-

CNN showed less relish over the Swift boat clash, but it was not much more helpful in separating fact from friction. Wolf Blitzer's interview with the tart-tongued Mr. Dole made a lot of news on Sunday, but CNN allowed him to make misleading assertions without pointing out where he was in error.

-snip-

That kind of air-kiss coverage is typical of cable news, where the premium is on speed and spirited banter rather than painstaking accuracy. But it has grown into a lazy habit: anchors do not referee - they act as if their reportage is fair and accurate as long as they have two opposing spokesmen on any issue.

-snip-

At best, cable news programs swing into action when a crisis or major news development occurs, marshaling their resources to give viewers instant, live access. At their worst, they amplify the loudest voices and blur complexities. People can blame the confusion of combat for some of the discrepancies over Mr. Kerry's war record, but cable has done little to clear the air.


How in the world did she go, in less than two months, from lecturing cable news for not putting enough emphasis on fact-checking and complexities, to cheerleading for propaganda like Stolen Honor? Has she completely missed the point that the Republican shills at Sinclair will be presenting this as news? And even if she thinks that it's important to get that point of view across, why isn't she at least saying that Fahrenheit 9/11 should be shown as well?