POLL: Why is the press finally turning on Bush now?

[yurbud]

This Rove story has been out there for two years, but has always been buried in the back pages, like the DSM still mostly is.

Why has the press finally started giving a Bush scandal some front page real estate?

Hillbilly Hitler art:



Blog:

[El Fuego]

1. I said low poll numbers since it's all about ratings

Since * is down, they're realizing that anti-* stories will play well, and viewership will be up.

It's all about the bottom line. $$$$.

[quaway]

9. ^^

what he said.


the media sucks, it's all about ratings.

[evolved Anarchopunk]

22. i voted other, its obviously $$, its a soap opera to them...

and the media snake continues to eat its tail for money...

[Beelzebud]

2. I voted "other". I think it comes down to this.

A reporter is in jail.

That is it.

One of their own is sitting in jail for protecting this crime family, and the press has finally realized they are being played as fools by this administration.

[helderheid]

4. same for same reason

[comsymp]

11. I think that may have been the last straw, but

before that, there were occasional glimpses of courage due (IMO, of course) to multiple reasons, several of which are given as options in the OP.

[yurbud]

17. ah! when you see the master kick a loyal lapdog....

Hillbilly Hitler art:



Blog:

[liberal N proud]

3. As reported on TDS: The White House Press corps has secretly

been replaced by "Real" Reporters.
Don't tell KKKarl.

[Sparkman]

5. Corporations answer to shareholders....audience numbers down, Bushs too

[XemaSab]

6. One of their own went to jail

n/t

[TWiley]

8. Exactly ! They are pushing back.

They will rise on another day to slurp more bushtapo ass.

[Snotcicles]

7. They feel safe to do it because the prosecutor is doing his job n/t

[Celebration]

10. the press

Ever since the Jeff Gannon affair, they have sloooowly become slightly more bold. That put their profession in a bad light and they would like to do a little redemption. Plus it is payback time for all Rove's attempts to control the media in the past.

[stanwyck]

12. Rove had them scared

he's the leader behind the vindictive hit. He's effectively squashed many journalists. He took out Dan Rather by switching the story from whether or not Bush served his Guard duty to what kind of paperwork Rather used to substantiate his story. Rove has discredited anyone getting in the administration's way. From Joseph Wilson to Bill Moyers. The journalists who didn't curry favor with Rove and tow the Rovian line weren't granted access. And lack of access meant obscurity. Security clearances were denied. (ask Maureen Dowd). McClellan told reporters that after 9-11, their credentials had to be reviewed...sometimes for months. Yet Gannon waltzed into presidential news conferences after a blog was establlished by rightwing oil fat cats with Jeffie as their "journalist". (and he lied about major details on his security clearance...like his name!). Rove is hated. And, sensing blood in the water, the sharks are circling.
Wish those sharks hadn't been such jellyfish during the rush to war.

[jsamuel]

25. ding ding ding!

[Goldeneye]

13. The media has lost a lot of credibility, because of

Bush Co's propaganda and of course "memogate." Now Judy's in jail, and they're trying to paint Cooper as a backstabber.

First they came for the communists,
I did not speak out
because I was not a communist.

When they came for the social democrats,
I did not speak out
because I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists
I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews
I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew;

And when they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

I guess the sleeping giant has awakened. We can only hope...

[housewolf]

14. Other - it became personal to them

Scottie lied to THEM personally. Their good bud Scottie told them a lie and is now stonewalling them on things he has said in the past. To the press, this isn't a political lie (something for which they have a quite high tolerance) but a personal lie. It's enough to kinda make one mad, you know...

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. Poll numbers and Miller. It took both those things to get them to speak up

[BillZBubb]

16. Are the press really turning on Bush?

That premise might be a bit of a stretch.

Are they finally doing the absolute MINIMUM that their job should entail? Maybe, but I continue to see a lot of "no crime here" in all the press accounts.

[yurbud]

19. that was the thrust of my last two options-covering story but spinning

Hillbilly Hitler art:



Blog:

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. The media is tough on Rove for the same reason that cops are

tougher on anyone who harms a cop. When Judith Miller was used by Rove and hauled off to jail, the media suddenly realized that Rove had crossed the line. They took it personally and they're doing it to protect their own code of honor.

[yurbud]

20. you can kill people and ass rape kids, but when you jail press toady---

that's over the line.

Hillbilly Hitler art:



Blog:

[bunkerbuster1]

21. we have a winner

along with what may be today's most grimly humorous subject line.

[wallwriter]

24. That should be a poll category. It's got my vote...

[ikri]

23. Other

Some in the media will be starting to realize that the current administration will go out of their way to hurt the media.

Starting with Rathergate, then there was the Newsweek incident, where the administration managed to discredit an entire publication when they published a story that was probably true.

Move on to where we are now with senior administration members actively using reporters to do their dirty work, then trying to make the same reporters take the blame when it all goes wrong.

I think that some are starting to realize that if they simply repeat what the administration tell them to that somewhere down the line the same administration members will simply use the media as a shield and let them take the blame.

[Ian David]

26. Because it's one of their own in jail and they know where to lay blame