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You can't help those who won't help themselves

DCblogger's picture
Submitted by DCblogger on Wed, 02/16/2011 - 8:06pm
Thread: 
Double-Ply Journalism
Tags: 
PBS
Corporation for Public Broadcasting

So once again PBS is fighting for its political life. Boo hoo.

For decades both National Public Radio, the NewsHour, Charlie Rose, Washington Week, and the rest of PBS public affairs programming has acted as meme laundries for right wing stink tanks.

They recycled every false charge against the Clintons, sneered at counting the votes in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, and have generally boosted the right at every opportunity. And now they are reaping the harvest.

The loss of PBS programming would be a serious blow to this country. But really, you can't help those who will not help themselves.

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letsgetitdone's picture
Submitted by letsgetitdone on

Mainly because they haven't gotten very worked up about all the crap working people have endured for the past 30 years.

Like liberals generally, they decided that their best defense against the irrationality of the right wing was to try to bring it under the umbrella. Unfortunately, there are some people who just want to shred the umbrella and get everyone rained on.

cal1942's picture
Submitted by cal1942 on

that caving in doesn't insure survival.

Submitted by MontanaMaven on

But I don't consider what they report as "right wing memes". They are corporate propaganda designed to keep good Democrats in the pen. In greenwald's piece on Anderson cooper's use of " liar" to describe Mubaruk he adds:

Had Anderson Cooper used such harsh language to describe the statements of someone universally despised in American mainstream political circles (an American Enemy -- such as, say, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Hugo Chavez), it would likely have gone unnoticed.  But here, Cooper used such language to condemn one of America's closest and most cherished allies, and it was thus gently deemed a departure from journalistic propriety.  But had Cooper said such things about a leading American political official, then a true journalistic scandal would have erupted.  Declaring the statements of an American political leader to be a lie is one of the most rigidly enforced taboos in American journalism.  That this hallmark of real journalism is strictly prohibited -- "It's not our role," explained the Meet the Press host -- tells one all there is to know about the function which most establishment journalists fulfill.

Submitted by jawbone on

family. We have an unwritten law that our leaders and now, it appears, our approved foreign leaders may not be criticized by the MCM (Mainstream Corporate Media).

Cooper may continue speaking truth to power, but recall that as soon as the MCMers weren't up to the tops of their waders in the New Orleans Katrina toxic soup they stopped criticizng BushBoy.

LINK for Greenwald. Looks like this is it, right?

MTMaven--I didn't see your reply to my comment about Cooper awhile ago (one day? Two?). Oops.

lambert's picture
Submitted by lambert on

... I'd rather get rid of the lying. My concern was that the works of art should not be destroyed.

lizpolaris's picture
Submitted by lizpolaris on

until Republicans fired and replaced all the executives in charge with right-wing hacks in an attempt to completely undermine objectivity in news reporting. As we see now, the hacks mostly succeeded. And now, hardly anyone will come to the defense of public TV or radio, which is a damn shame. It used to be superb. But I can understand why taxpayers object to supporting yet another government propaganda outlet.

I'm not being an old crank when I nostalgically wish for the public TV/radio of yore. Remember when there were no ads, no corporate sponsors, no slick promos?

Submitted by regulararmyfool on

I've despised both organizations for years. I certainly will shed no tears if they are completely shut down.

Voice of America is the only broadcast that was tax payer supported that was less balanced than either of these public nuisances.

DCblogger's picture
Submitted by DCblogger on

and Sesame street will not be the same if it is taken over by a for profit operation. I will be sad if we lose PBS. But you know what? If everytime the public elects a friend of PBS that friend is attacked by PBS public affairs programming, well, you know what? pretty soon PBS does not have any friends. We cannot save everything in the present environment. Better to put our energy into saving Social Security and let PBS sink under the wieght of its own faithlessness.

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