Sunday, October 05, 2008

Campbell Brown; The New Sergeant Joe Friday

I was somewhat amused at Campbell Brown taking John McCain to the woodshed for his sexist treatment of Sarah Palin. A recent article in the New York Times explored the shift in Ms. Brown's view of her role:

“As journalists, and certainly for me over the last few years, we’ve gotten overly obsessed with parity, especially when we’re covering politics,” Ms. Brown said. “We kept making sure each candidate got equal time — to the point that it got ridiculous in a way.”

“So when you have Candidate A saying the sky is blue, and Candidate B saying it’s a cloudy day, I look outside and I see, well, it’s a cloudy day,” she said. “I should be able to tell my viewers, ‘Candidate A is wrong, Candidate B is right.’ And not have to say, ‘Well, you decide.’ Then it would be like I’m an idiot. And I’d be treating the audience like idiots.”

Exactly right. Pretending two sets of facts exist in the name of "parity" just on its face is a ridiculous concept. Expect to hear more howls from the right, Ms. Brown, when as a reporter, you point out the truth.

6 comments:

Rena said...

I find most of the camera-facing employees of CNN insufferable. Anderson Cooper is usually watchable, but not always. I'm very encouraged by Campbell Brown recent tack. Let's see how the bosses react in the next month. I'll write and tell them I like.

Oilfieldguy said...

At first, it was an awesome sight to watch Keith O. take the wingtards to the woodshed, but not so much anymore. I don't think he is doing us a favor. The answer to serial phone sex enthusiasts and degenerate junkies who ridicule the opposition and convey total idolatry and fealty to one political party, is not to counter it with a more intelligent version of partisanship from the other side.

Partisanship in the media is the enemy from either side. When we do it, no matter how much better, we endorse the concept of partisanship in the media. The result is when the republican agenda fails miserably ($700 Billion, Iraq, bin Laden, 9/11 etc, ad infinitum) they blame the partisan media.

It wasn't anything they did, they are absolutely blameless, it is those lefty bloggers and their co-horts at the NYT and the rest of the liberal media.

No. I do not want partisan media, and I don't want stupid shits playing "he said she said" and restraining a huge eyeroll because of them zany politicians.

I want a reporter to call bullshit.

Campbell Brown has a hold of a live wire here. I hope she can hang on.

Rena said...

I agree. I just want the media to do their job, which is so critical in a democracy.

But none of this can be divorced from the issue of corporate ownership. We simply must find a way to restore control of news operations to real journalists, and not CEOs answerable only to shareholders.

RD said...

Which is exactly what you criticize fox news for doing. Pointing out the truth that the other media ignores... like the claim that someone yelled "kill him" at a Palin rally, turns out it never happened according to authorities and attendees. Prolly won't see a retraction on CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC... about that one.

Obama can say all day long that he is going to give tax relief to 95% of taxpayers when around 40% of workers DON'T PAY ANY TAXES... that makes Obama's claim impossible.
but you can go ahead and believe those campaign lies if ya wanna... -red

Rena said...

At least two instances of calls to "kill him" have been reported at McCain/Palin rallies. Which may explain why now the press are being cordoned off from the crowd, prevented from interacting with them -- and maybe hearing what's really going on, which many sources, including Republicans, are decrying.

Other reports say that McCain/Palin supporters are hurling epithets at journalists who are African American, and one journalist was physically attacked.

And, Tater, if you want to believe that everything you hear on Fox is "truth" and everything on the MSM is a lie, that's your right. But don't expect others to follow you off that cliff. Some of us have a filters in our brain called "reason."

Eureka Springs, AR said...

Thinking of you and family during these trying times, OFG. Hang in there and keep us posted when you can.

ES