Frank Rich: Faux journalism is the White House's new ally

[Teddy_Salad]

Real journalism may be reeling, but faux journalism rocks. As an entertainment category in the cultural marketplace, it may soon rival reality TV and porn. American television is increasingly awash in fake anchors delivering fake news, some of them far more trenchant than real anchors delivering real news. Even CNBC, a financial news network, is chasing after the success of the faux-anchor Jon Stewart; its new nightly fake newscast, presided over by a formerly funny "Saturday Night Live" fake anchor, Dennis Miller, is being promoted with far more zeal than was ever lavished on CNBC's real "News With Brian Williams."

.....
http://www.iht.com/cgi-bin/generic.cgi?template=articleprint.tmplh&ArticleId=512235

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. dennis miller.........

:puke: any info on his ratings, and how much longer he'll be smellin' up the airwaves? the amazing thing is, i liked him on SNL, but can't stand to look at or listen to him now.

[Eric J in MN]

2. Dennis Miller' s ratings are awful, his audience is paid to be there, but

Dennis Miller's ratings are awful and his audience is paid to be there, but General Electric can probably sell more missiles if Bush is re-elected, so they're reluctant to cancel a pro-Bush show.

[efhmc]

3. Hi and welcome. Nothing new about that alliance. Where or where can

real journalism still be found?

[baby_bear]

4. As usual, Frank Rich nails the issue

Thanks for the post. I was just reading it in my hard copy. It's gotten so I turn to the Arts & Leisure section on Sundays first thing to see what Rich has written about this week.

I am sending this to a professional journalist-turned-local talk radio host friend of mine (who I used to date) who has gone from liberal to being a mouthpiece of the Bushistas. I wonder if he will even read it before rejecting it out of hand. How can any journalist not be paying attention to this alarming erosion of their field of profession? I don't get it.

Anyway, nice to have you here at DU, Teddy_Salad (interesting handle).

s_m

[Teddy_Salad]

5. Thanks, Sierra Moon.....

.....Teddy Salad is from "Monty Python", the most brilliant agent the CIA ever had.
So brilliant in fact that he could disguise himself as a 'small dog'.

http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/tedsalad.htm

:hi:

[Miss Authoritiva]

6. The burka-ing of American presidents....

Our presidents disappear shortly after their inaugurations behind an endless parade of proxy speakers, and then they rarely re-emerge for only the most tightly controlled appearances. It makes it impossible to assess a president's grasp of current events and to get a sense of how he presents, argues, and supports his administration's objectives because you never see him engaged in respectful but persistent exchanges. It is ironic (or maybe causal?) that in an age of near-instant communications the presidential voice is rarely heard.

[groovedaddy]

7. Rich's is the first major media mention of Bush's infamous

Quotes:
"Well Jordan, you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. And my chief of staff, Andy Card -- actually, I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. And I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower--the TV. was obviously on, and I use to fly myself, and I said, 'There's one terrible pilot.' And I said, 'It must have been a terrible accident.’” CNN aired this town meeting and the White House website also still carries the quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011204-17.html
Town hall meeting in Orlando, Florida, December of 2001

"Anyway, I was sitting there, and my Chief of Staff -- well, first of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake. And something was wrong with the plane, or -- anyway, I'm sitting there, listening to the briefing, and Andy Card came and said, "America is under attack.""
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020105-3.html
Town Hall meeting, Ontario, California, January of 2002

“There's no point in bothering with actual news people anyway, when you can make up your own story and make it stick, whatever the filter might have to say about it. No fake news story has become more embedded in our culture than the administration's account of its actions on 9/11. As The Wall Street Journal reported on its front page this week — just as the former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke was going public with his parallel account — many of this story's most familiar details are utter fiction. Mr. Bush's repeated claim that one of his "first acts" of that morning was to put the military on alert is false. So are the president's claims that he watched the first airplane hit the World Trade Center on TV that morning. (No such video yet existed.) Nor was Air Force One under threat as Mr. Bush flew around the country, delaying his return to Washington.” Frank Rich
“Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September 11.” Bush to the UN General Assembly, 11/2001

Has anyone at DU seen/heard this mentioned at any other major media outlets? The first and the third assertions by Rich appear to be CYA - of course as Commander-in-Chief, Bush should have done something IMMEDIATELY. And Ari Fleischer admitted several days after the fact that Air Force One had not been under a threat. But the "I saw the plane hit the tower quote" makes no sense - why would he risk saying such a thing TWICE?
Hopefully, this article will get the attention of the 9/11 Panel.