The responsibility of the media in reporting news.

The Healthcare marathon debate, which has taken place over a year to this point, has pointed out major distortions in the messaging and reporting the 24/7 media cycle has kept us misinformed. First the data reported today on the Ed Show. Here 's what he reported on the results of a new Harris Poll about Republican attitudes about President Obama:

67% Believe That Obama is a Socialist
45% Believe that Obama was "Not born in the United States"
57% Think he is a Muslim
24% say "He may be the AntiChrist"

This is a direct result of the lack of investigative reporting and fact checking by some in the media and specifically promoted through Fox News. The Republican Party is devoid of common sense Republican leaders today, because they have been demonized by the far right wing of the Party and it has moved Moderate Republicans far to the right to appeal to the base and not to be challenged by the Far right Tea Bag group, headed up by former Congressmen Dick Armey and others. There are a number of really smart Republicans who have contributed to these problems by their silence. It's hard to oppose a movement which has become a mob now which you have belonged to for many years. There were Republican statesmen who would have spoken out in their time against racist comments, slurs and fear mongering. Such Republican leaders were Sen. Bob Dole for one, Senator Howard Baker or another, and going a long way back President Ronald Reagan and President Dwight Eisenhower. It's time real Republicans gained back the Republican Party by having the courage to speak out. Where are today's voices of Sen. Richard Lugar, Mitt Romney and the old John McCain who was so proud to put Country First?! The media needs to do a lot more investigative reporting rather than just reporting on any comment, whether true of not, just to fill the 24/7 airwaves.

If this country isn't what we want it to be, no matter what side of this issue you are on, the media is front and center in the area of being responsible to the Constitution and the American people for it being a better or worse country. The Constitution guarantees a Free Press. But WeThePeople must demand that it be there to investigate newsworthy items as to the truth of the facts and then show us the positions of both sides. There have been some TV Cable programs like the The Rachel Maddow Show, which does do investigative reporting and chases down claims to bring the truth to her viewers. But she is rare.

Here's an excerpt from an article on the Newspaper business and their declining numbers of investigative reporters:

"Newspapers care about investigative stories, but they frequently don’t back that up with resources that reporters say they need to do in-depth work...."

and this:
"Most of the journalists responding to the survey said their papers are more supportive of investigative reporting now than even 10 years ago, but many said the support is superficial.

Thirty-seven percent of newspapers had no full-time investigative or projects reporter on their staffs. The majority had two or fewer, and only 10 newspapers had four or more investigative or projects reporters working for them.

In addition, 61 percent of the newspapers had no investigative or projects team. Of those, 16 percent had teams in the past, but they have been disbanded. Sixty-two percent of the newspapers surveyed did not have a single editor specifically charged with working on investigations."

I am tired of the "Marketing" and "Spin" of news. In the past 25 years Newspapers have had to lay off Investigative reporters as the age of TV and then 24/7 news has changed much. We must become more active with our voices and end this trend. You with me?

McCarthyism in 2009

Republican tactics against our first Black President reminds me of the Republican tactics of the 50’s. Back then it was called McCarthyism. It was then Republican Senator Joe McCarthy who accused many Democrats of being Communists. Today they call President Obama a Nazi and his policy Socialism. McCarthyism is the politically motivated practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. Accusations from the Birther movement, that this President was not born on U.S. soil and therefore is not a legitimate President, are subversive to our country, would fall under that description. Not only did they not have evidence, they provided false birth certificates saying he was born in Kenya. Most of the Birthers are far right wing Republicans, but many leaders in the Republican Party took up their banner and cause as for them it seemed like good politics.

The negativity against President Barack Obama spills into every issue. First, Right Wing Republicans started against him for the Bailout of the Banks, even though President Bush started the practice. Then they attacked the bailout of AIG and other Banks. Then they attacked the Stimulus plan and every Republican voted against it. Never mind it was deregulation of the Banking system in late 1999 that allowed Wall Street to invent special derivative instruments to make money. Today there are $209 Trillion dollars in derivative instruments held by the top Banks in the United States. You might remember another name for these derivatives, Toxic Assets!

And this from Wikipedia: One focus of popular McCarthyism concerned the provision of public health services, particularly vaccination, mental health care services and fluoridation, all of which were deemed by some to be communist plots to poison or brainwash the American people. This viewpoint led to major collisions between McCarthyite radicals and supporters of public health programs.

Right-wing intellectuals found the decisiveness of McCarthyism refreshing. William F. Buckley, Jr., the founder of the influential conservative political magazine National Review, wrote a defense of McCarthy, McCarthy and his Enemies, in which he asserted that "McCarthyism ... is a movement around which men of good will and stern morality can close ranks." Does this sound familiar?

So McCarthyism is alive and well and lives in the far Right Wing of the Republican Party, as it was in the 1950’s. All the yelling and screaming in Town Hall meetings, not based on facts, but just to disrupt open dialogue. When you see these antics, remember McCarthyism. It was one of the darkest times in America, as many lives were trashed or changed forever, unnecessarily.

UPDATE: Oct. 2nd 5:55am

Here is a related article just out today and sent to me by a close friend. The title is: The Wizard of Beck. By DAVID BROOKS of the NY Times, a Republican. Click here to read it..

Pelosi informed on use of torture? Who cares!

Whether Speaker Pelosi was informed or not on the use of torture, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if she were informed and she wrote a letter in disagreement with its use, as did apparently Rep. Jane Harman of CA. This is gotcha politics by Right Wing Republicans, who supported the Bush/Cheney policies, trying to distract the focus off the Bush Administration. No one seems to care that the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee objected to the tactics. Isn't that enough to end this stupid and illogical argument? Apparently again, no it's not!

The media needs to use their brains and get the message back on point: That both Bush and Cheney authorized these torture tactics and they need to be brought up on War Crimes. It may not happen by U.S. lawmakers but there will be a government in the world that will eventually. This is just pastime nonsense. Let's get back to real news, how's the dog acclimating to the White House. Yes, the media always has its priorities right, don't they. Where have they been the past 8 years? Sleeping as best I can tell and it the Blogs who have stolen their attention to the point where Newspapers may become obsolete sooner, rather than later. Maybe Blogs will become the TV visual media going forward. One can surely hope. :) Maybe I will put up a video clip in the future. Now that could be news. :)