Today, on ABC, there was a very interesting confrontation between Roger Ailes, the Director of FOX, Arianna Huffington and Paul Krugman. In this clip, Krugman asks Ailes about how he percieves the disinformation and imflammatory language that is the sensationalistic fodder they claim is reporting. At one point in his exchange with Huffington, Ailes, in defending Glenn Beck in his comparison of Obama and Stalin, excuses himself and says he is merely in the business of entertainment.
I think FOX in its own twisted drooling manic way is a tribute the stregnth of Americas Constitution and the fact that America really does enjoy Freedom of The Press. Think about the kind of country America would become if people like Glenn Beck really did have their way. Think about it. FOX would not be allowed to exist.
To put this into real perspective you should get acquainted with an organization called Reporters Without Borders. They monitor the relative freedom of the press in countries all over the world and the plight of reporters who have been arrested, thrown in jail and executed. They have a barometer of press freedom and a continual rating of countries. America has actually moved up on the list in the last few months and is now #20. Denmark is #1. France isn't doing so well, we are #43.
7 comments:
Reporters without borders must be liers! Evil Socialist Denmark #1, how can that be? How can the land of the FREE and home of the brave be behind some freedom hating Euromarxists? SocialoFascistIslamocomunistas!
Freedom Fries! Don't mess with Texas.
Steve, calm down, the US of A is still way in from of Italy, #49 and way, way, way out in front of Iran...Oh, the US of A is so in front of Eritrea....the last on the list.
The top three counties? Denmark, Finland and Ireland!
Hello Steve,
One must not forget Freedom Toast that should be included.
Microdot,
And to think some people profess Fox as being their sole source as news. These are people who simply don’t want to face the truth because it does not fit into what they want reality to be. “If I don’t face truth or accept true facts, then it simply does not exist at all……and the Mad Hatter asks Alice if she wants more tea when she had no tea at all.”
Freedom Fries and Freedom Toast, don't ferget the Freedom Crullers!
Does this mean I live in Freedom?
One more thing...the US Of A actually moved up 16 places in one year. In 2008, they were 36.
YAY TEAM!!! GO GO GO! USA NUMBER 20!
Bon Jour, Microdot,
I have five televisions in my house and they all have DVRs that can record 2 different programs. If there is a conflict on time (and there is on Sundays with the Sunday talk shows) I just program a different show on a different television.
This way I get to watch all the main Sunday shows, and I have to tell you, This Week, with Barbara Walters guest hosting this past Sunday had a very interesting panel discussion.
Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace had 1 Republican Senator, 1 Democratic Senator (Lemar Alexander and Evan Bayh) and 1 Republican and 1 Democratic Congressman (Ryan and Van Holland) and they had a very interesting discussion with great interaction.
Hearing them talk about differences (the Congressmen) and the common ground (mostly the Senators) was refreshing as I got the opportunity to listen to both sides of the arguments and got a better understanding of where we can meet on common ground and where there will be no give on either side on certain issues.
President Obama addressing the Republican House members' getaway was also a good thing. You can't iron out problems if you don't show the wrinkles. It was good give and take and I'd like to see more of this.
The shows on NBC and CBS are so fuzzy in my mind that I either didn't pay attention or it wasn't worth listening to all the talking heads.
If I see a misleading headline such as described by Krugman I'm going to at least read the first five or ten paragraphs to see what was really said and not just rely on a headline writer's decision. This also goes for the NYT, WaPo, LA Times, Boston Globe and any other newspapers or magazine articles I happen to be attracted to.
I'm one who does not read the entire NYTimes, but I do read the page one stories and the opinion pages.
I am then more informed and can take a position based on that information provided the news stories have the five W's and not opinion in them.
I find a lot of independent reporting in some of the larger British newspapers and not the scandal sheets.
Hope you are doing well. I haven't seen you on PP for a few days and was afraid you were ill.
This is sort of off-topic but still about journalism.
The night of President Obama's SOTU address, Chris Matthews (MSNBC host, former staffer in the Senate and former staffer to the late Speaker Tip O'Neill) blurted out, "For an hour I forgot he was black!"
I found this to be a racist statement because when I think of a person after I have seen them I don't think of the person's skin color, but of what is inside that person.
I find it just as offensive as someone using the "N" word to describe a person with black skin, or with someone having to make sure he or she has a black friend by referring to the color of the friend's skin. I also think it's racist for anyone to say something like "My Afro-American friends, students or whatever". We should not be identifying people by skin color in the 21st century.
I'm curious about your opinion on Matthews' remark. People on the right are regularly accused of being racists (and I'm sure many are) but it seems people on the left are too, except they try to be more PC about it. Your thoughts?
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