Imagine, if you will, how the great Walter Cronkite might have responded, had been asked to do a report in which he gave birthers the same credence as sane people, or if he were asked to present second Amendment solutions as a feasible alternative. I think Cronkite would have walked away before doing such stories, but journalists then understood something that journalists today do not. The fourth estate is responsible to truthfully inform the public. The notion that all ideas, no matter how absurd, are created equal has become the clarion call of modern day broadcast media, but only when the absurd ideas come from the right.
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) thinks the media made a big mistake by devoting equal time to every "absurd notion" during the debt ceiling debate.
"And I have to tell you, I say this to you politely," Kerry told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough Friday. "The media in America has a bigger responsibility than it’s exercising today. The media has got to begin to not give equal time or equal balance to an absolutely absurd notion just because somebody asserts it or simply because somebody says something which everybody knows is not factual."
"It doesn’t deserve the same credit as a legitimate idea about what you do. And the problem is everything is put into this tit-for-tat equal battle and America is losing any sense of what’s real, of who’s accountable, of who is not accountable, of who’s real, who isn’t, who’s serious, who isn’t?"… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>
Here’s the video.
Kerry is absolutely right, but he did not address the problem of bias. During the run up to the Iraq War, Bush and his cabal of war criminals were plastering America with lies about nuclear, chemical and biological WMDs. At the time I opposed it, because the evidence was plainly available that Bush’s claims were questionable at best, as did many with far more expertise than I could ever hope to have. those experts got no coverage. Media bias shut the truthful people out of the debate. Left leaning wing-nut conspiracy theories were ignored completely throughout the Bush regime. The media attempt to muddy the truth through faux equality is only in play during Democratic administrations.
12 Responses to “Kerry Protests Faux Equality”
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Kerry is right! The media gives idiotic Tea-baggers more than equal time for their rants. If they came up with a reasonable plan I could understand listening to them. But, as it stands, all they realy want to do is destroy the American government.
What’s more, they don’t cover what they should.
When so called “Media” gives credence to “nutters” and “birthers”, nothing good comes of it. A long time ago, if someone talked the way these people do today, they would be put in a straight jacket and taken away by people in white uniforms to have their heads examined. Not anymore, the crazier you are, the easier to get into politics. The Kochs can use you, if you’re nuts! 👿
Johnny, you’re right, and that’s pathetic.
Agreed– there are at least 2 issues here tho— : The equal time , that every nutty idea is entitled to exposure and be treated as legitimate ; Also the media bias—The so called objective media decides what story leads—So I ask ; What is the lead story- ? An awful lot of fruitcakes out there making noise– and a biased media.
The old saw is: if it bleeds, it leads.
You know what is really absurd? Kerry conceding defeat to Dubya only one day after the stolen election, even when Kerry knew there were discrepancies and evidence in Ohio pointing to election fraud. It’s almost as if Kerry intentionally ran a bad campaign so his fraternity brother Dubya could easily win, I mean, steal the election, again. Of course now we know Ohio was indeed stolen, so Kerry did in fact mysteriously give up too early, even though he promised us “every vote will be counted and will be counted fairly”.
Kerry is the most absurd DINO in DC, after DINO Obama, of course.
Kevin, this has nothing whatsoever to do with this discussion. The place for unrelated rants is the Open Thread. There’s a fresh one every day.
The media does a disservice to us all when it relentlessly repeats ideological wingnuts’ “absurd notions” that are antithetical to facts and truth.
Part of journalism’s ethical code actually states, “We abhor inaccuracies, carelessness or distortions. We will not knowingly introduce false information into material intended for publication or broadcast.”
So when the media purposefully disseminates these “absurd notions” to generate controversy in order to generate ratings, then any mind of common decency would say they failed their responsibilities as journalists.
Nameless, as usual, you are spot-on. The quote is the antithesis of what they are doing.
The media is so endowed with corporate capital, as are so many politicians on both side of the camp, it becomes harder to decipher truth – especially as presented on television – it was a common belief for years that the boob tube might be a tremendous advantage to “brainwash” the public – it seems to have succeeded in the past decade.
Kerry is becoming a true Statesman – curious to see how McCain’s message flipped a bit to blaming O and the WH for the inability to lead – when only a few days ago he was upset with the TB’ers!
I imagine that one of the first cuts in budgetary spending will be to “factual and responsible” broadcasting! It becomes harder to control the masses if they’re exposed to the truth!
Lee, If Republicans have their way, Rupert Murdoch will own Fox, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC.