An Open Letter to ABC signed by about 40 real journalists!!

[sinkingfeeling]

http://mediamatters.org/altercation/index

<snip>
"We the undersigned deplore the conduct of ABC's George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson at the Democratic Presidential debate on April 16. The debate was a revolting descent into tabloid journalism and a gross disservice to Americans concerned about the great issues facing the nation and the world. This is not the first Democratic or Republican presidential debate to emphasize gotcha questions over real discussion. However, it is, so far, the worst."

<snip>
"Neither Mr. Gibson nor Mr. Stephanopoulos lived up to these responsibilities. In the words of Tom Shales of the Washington Post, Mr. Gibson and Mr. Stephanopoulos turned in "shoddy, despicable performances." As Greg Mitchell of Editor and Publisher, describes it, the debate was a "travesty." We hope that the public uproar over ABC's miserable showing will encourage a return to serious journalism in debates between the Democratic and Republican nominees this fall. Anything less would be a betrayal of the basic responsibilities that journalists owe to their public."

Spencer Ackerman, The Washington Independent
Eric Alterman, City University of New York
Dean Baker, The American Prospect Online
Steven Benen, The Carpetbagger Report
Julie Bergman Sender, Balcony Films
Ari Berman, The Nation
Brian Beutler, The Media Consortium
Michael Berube, Crooked Timber, the University of Pennsylvania
Joel Bleifuss, In These Times
Sam Boyd, The American Prospect
Lakshmi Chaudry, In These Times
Joe Conason, Journalist and Author
Brad DeLong, Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal and UC Berkeley
Kevin Drum, The Washington Monthly
Henry Farrell, Crooked Timber, George Washington University
James Galbraith, University of Texas at Austin
Todd Gitlin, Columbia University, TPM Cafe
Merrill Goozner (formerly Chicago Tribune)
Ilan Goldenberg, The National Security Network
Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films
Christopher Hayes, The Nation
Don Hazen, Alternet
Michael Kazin, Georgetown University
Ed Kilgore, The Democratic Strategist
Richard Kim, The Nation
Ezra Klein, The American Prospect
Mark Kleiman, UCLA/The Reality Based Community
Scott McLemee, Inside Higher Ed
Ari Melber, The Nation
Rick Perlstein, Campaign for America's Future
Katha Pollitt, The Nation
David Roberts, Grist
Thomas Schaller, Columnist, The Baltimore Sun
Mark Schmitt, The New America Foundation
Adele Stan, The Media Consortium
Jonathan Stein, Mother Jones Magazine
Mark Thoma, The Economist's View
Michael Tomasky, The Guardian
Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks
Tracy Van Slyke, The Media Consortium
Kai Wright, The Root

[Breeze54]

1. And over 200,000 MoveOn members!

:woohoo:

Sign the MOVEON Petition here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3174658&mesg_id=3174658

[Richard Steele]

2. Kicked and HEARTILY recommended!

[niyad]

3. k & r

[chknltl]

4. rec.

THANK YOU JORNALISTS! Democracy REQUIRES an informed electorate...We The People are counting on the likes of these brave journalists to keep us informed.

[Tippy]

5. K&R

[otohara]

6. Obama Supporters Relentless Attack On Media

leave ABC alone, please leave them alone!:cry:

[stray cat]

7. ABC should be commended for their substantive debate of the issues facing our nation!

At least according to Hillary I guess and her supporters....

[SoCalDem]

13. .....

:rofl:

[texshelters]

14. I too feel sorry for the poor suffering media who have to

spend all that time thinking up zingers and one liners to attack whatever candidate is in the lead or threatens the status quo. I hard work I tell you. How dare the front runner complain about the media! Isn't it the job of the person who is behind to complain about the media coverage ala Clinton about her "getting the first question" and that they were soft on Obama.

If you thought the moderating by a friend of Clinton was fair and balanced, please stick to Fox News and the Free Republic. If you were joking, why did you mention "Obama supporters"?

Tex Shelters

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, sinkingfeeling.

[readmoreoften]

9. Really. Where were they when Edwards was excluded from media coverage?

As if election coverage has 'suddenly become' unfair....

[Breeze54]

10. How do you know they didn't protest all the shut outs by the M$M?

Edwards wasn't the only candidate shut out.

Kucinich et all were also!

[HuffleClaw]

11. from what, three whole 'real' newspapers?

i'm impressed.

[texshelters]

16. I know it takes time to think through your responses, but

what do you read. Some people on the list are academics that have written books on the media such as Eric Alterman (What Liberal Media) and others like Ezra Klein have written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines. Okay, so none of them write for USA Today or the New York Daily News.

What three papers are legitimate in your eyes?

A little research would clue you into these writers' credentials. Or like Fox, was it too hard to do the research?

Tex Shelters

[HuffleClaw]

18. passing off a list of columnists who happen to be obama supporters as 'journalists'

is disingenuous at best. had it been a list of newspapers such as the washington post, the cleveland plain-dealer, the detroit free press, the new york times, the christian science monitor... it would have had some legitimacy. as it stands it doesn't.

[sinkingfeeling]

19. So only those who write for newspapers can be journalists? Since when?

[samsingh]

12. kick

[Bluebear]

15. The Carpetbagger Report, Grist, Young Turks, East Iowa Horticulture Quarterly, Molasses Today....

:hide:

Kidding, Kidding

[eppur_se_muova]

17. How sad that they had to add the qualifier "so far".

But we have to acknowledge that as just being realistic.:(