Tuesday, December 23, 2008

2008 The Year Journalism Died.

It's been said that 2008 was the year that Journalism died. It's been on life support for years, but the Whitewashing and flat out campaigning for Barack Obama, pulled the plug on a Once great profession. Journalist were charged with Informing the Public, and keeping an eye on Tax Payer Dollars back in the day...Obviously that was then. This is now... All dreaming of being the next Woodward, today's "Journalists" leak Military Secrets, and do "in depth" investigative reporting on places they've never been, or interviews that never took place. You can argue over when Journalism kicked the bucket, but today the coffin was lowered into the ground.

America's most intellectually honest News man, Brit Hume delivered his last "Special Report". Hume has been named, Super important Political Correspondent or some such Title at Fox News but will no longer be doing nightly broadcasts. This is a sad day for me. Brit Hume was who I counted on to deliver the news with that smile that let you know he thinks the people in Washington on both sides of the Aisle are a little silly at times. Britt won awards for his coverage of the first gulf war before joining Fox News in 1995.

This video is an Homage to Brit Hume's "Stewardship of Special Report" as his friends and colleagues salute his career.




My Favorite News segment of all time is the "Political Grapevine" what Brit Hume calls the most "fascinating two minutes of television". Delivered with smirk, Hume reports stories that leave you shaking your head, but wanting to know more. Over the years, Brit Hume looked over his glasses at more than one correspondent, with a tilt and a nod to indicate what ever they were saying...He wasn't buying it. As a viewer you always had the sense that Brit was interested in the truth, not just what the PR people were saying. Whatever the issue effecting America, Brit Hume always seemed to actually care and he asked Questions. In a sea of yellow journalism, Brit Hume was always there with the Life preserver of common sense. Bret Bair, his named successor, has some impossibly big shoes to fill, I hope he's up to the challenge.


Brit Hume Delivered the News "Fair, Balanced and Unafraid" as he so often said with that knowing smile. I only wish there were more in his profession that felt the same way...The Media Research Center has delivered their 21st Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting. Chris Matthew's won "Quote of the Year" with is tingling leg reaction to Barack Obama. As famous as this quote has become I was shocked to see the second half of it....





Co-anchor Chris Matthews: “I have to tell you, you know, it’s part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama’s speech. My — I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often.
”Co-anchor Keith Olbermann: “Steady.”
Matthews: “No, seriously. It’s a dramatic event. He speaks about America in a way that has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with the feeling we have about our country. And that is an objective assessment.”
— Exchange during MSNBC’s coverage of the Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. primaries, February 12.


"And that is an objective assessment"? Holy Crap. We are in worse trouble than I thought. Thank God, this guy is out of the Democratic closet and running for Office in PA. Some people might actually think this guy gives them the "News" as in Factual information.
But Mr. Matthews is far from alone in his Ridiculousness.

Read this and Many other "Winners" selected by the Media Research Center in lots of fun categories.

Here are some of my favorites...and remember these "Journalists" are Supposed to be Giving you the News...not their opinion....

From the Category: Damn Those Conservatives

“[For Obama] the real test is yet to come. The Republican Party has been successfully scaring voters since 1968, when Richard Nixon built a Silent Majority out of lower- and middle-class folks frightened or disturbed by hippies and student radicals and blacks rioting in the inner cities....It is a sure bet that the GOP will try to paint Obama as ‘the other’ — as a haughty black intellectual who has Muslim roots (Obama is a Christian) and hangs around with America-haters....The real question is whether he [McCain] can — or really wants to — rein in the merchants of slime and sellers of hate who populate the Internet and fund the ‘independent expenditure’ groups who exercise their freedom in ways that give a bad name to free speech.”
— Richard Wolffe and Evan Thomas in an eight-page cover package touting “The O Team,” May 19 Newsweek. [64]


The Half Baked Alaska Award for Pummeling Palin was given to Matthews as well, but it was a runner up that got my vote. Ms.Robach manages to betray both Women and Journalistic ethics, when she said the following..

“If Sarah Palin becomes Vice President, will she be shortchanging her kids or will she be shortchanging the country?”
— NBC reporter Amy Robach on Today, September 3. [42]


The final quote I will share with you won The Obamagasm Award, a tough competition as you can imagine among the OLM. This category was as competitive as the Men's 50 Free in Beijing. Well the Winner is... Nancy Gibbs, Time magazine's Editor-at-Large during an interview with CNN. But I highly recommend you take the time to peruse the entire Media Research Center list yourself.

“Some princes are born in palaces. Some are born in mangers. But a few are born in the imagination, out of scraps of history and hope....Barack Hussein Obama did not win because of the color of his skin. Nor did he win in spite of it. He won because at a very dangerous moment in the life of a still young country, more people than have ever spoken before came together to try to save it. And that was a victory all its own.”
— Time’s Nancy Gibbs, Nov. 17 cover story.



I Miss Brit Hume Already....Thank you, Mr. Hume.