Anyone catch Nightline?

[fencesitter]

Whew, Bush would run screaming from the British press.

[frankly_fedup2]

1. Naw, watched IFC while online and some stupid movie with

subtitles. I have a headache now.

As far as Bush, it must be true about us Liberals! I feel sorry for the guy anymore. He just was not meant to be a politician.

His name got him on the ticket, Rove got him selected, and the rest seems like a nightmare we need to wake up from!

So many things he could still screw up and so little time left.

I don't think he is pulling the wool over the Republicans eyes anymore either. The Evangelicals maybe; however, ordinary Republicans are fed up with him too.

Still have a headache. cya l8r

[autorank]

2. That's called "the set up..." CM's (corporate media's) excuse to act up.

CM needs a number of rationales to start doing their job, rationales that have nothing to do with reality. In reality, "management" tells them what to do. Support *, they do it. Go after *, they do it. Tear down *, they'll do it.

The difference between the British and American press is the demand by the British public for a good brawl when it comes to politics and the verbal and intellectual skills of some of the British media. Our media is just a joke, a bunch of pathetic hacks who can't do anything unless it's orchestrated under the guise of media monopolies.

We'll have a mini civil war in the media BTW. Faux will never really cooperate with a * tear down. The others will but in a way that guides "management" (the corporate masters) to a soft landing with a new, kinder, gentler, more effective stooge who fucks the American public.

Cheerio!

[fencesitter]

3. I'm replying to my own post..

Ted Koppel is making a point of the soft, easy way the press addresses the Bush. Good, someone noticed.

[ginnyinWI]

4. I am a big fan of Nightline!

Ever since they read the names of the soldiers killed in Iraq, and then when they sent a team to Vietnam to investigate the story of how Kerry got his Silver Star. (villagers confirmed Kerry's version!)

I have my DVR set to record it every night, and have seen some really good journalism.

[FreedomAngel82]

7. They're pretty good

I like them pretty good. :toast:

[Bozita]

5. John Harwood is a Bushlover 24/7 and he showed it

A clear case of subtraction through addition.

[Top Lizard]

6. Nightline Summary/Evaluation

After seeing an earlier notice on DU about tonight's program, I decided to check "Nightline" out. As was the case with their exploration of vote fraud, the show was a disappointment. Their comparison of the American and British political reporters occupied only half of the broadcast--the rest of which was devoted to George III's press conference.

Nightline noted that the British press was more aggressive (true), but then quoted an English reporter as saying that American journalism is "more rigorous!" Ted Koppel's three guests were the Wall Street Journal's John Harwood, the Washington Post's Dana Milbank, and the (London) Financial Times' Lionel Barber, so you could almost guess what their takes would be. (why not invite a guest from outside the MSM cocoon? I guess you'd need a tin-foil hat to think so creatively.)

Barber criticized both His Fraudulency (my words) and the reporters' preoccupation with "stage management," saying, "They were all too interested in their own little question before the millions of people" to push much for deeper, more substantive discussion. Even the WSJ's Harwood admitted that reporters weren't very good at fcollow-up tonight!

So, naturally, Ted asked what would happen if anyone in the press corps suddenly became a vertebrate (my words, not his!). Harwood and Milbank's answers reflected one of our protoplasmic media's biggest shortcomings: they basically begged off that being more confrontational or direct wouldn't necessarily help you get more information! (Of course, what is the point of preserving access if it doesn't give you anything useful?) So, the people's supposed point men make "tactically wise" decisions (in Harwood's words) that are strategically inept--how does this fulfill the Foutth Estate's mission? And how much does it separate the "real" journalists from quote/question whores like Jeff Gannon? Rather, Woodward, and Bernstein from the Nixon years put this crowd to shame.

I personally think they should have devoted the entire show to this topic, without wasting time on run-of-the mill questions like, Does this conference help the pResident? Ted's last question was a softball up the middle: Was there anything that caught George III by surprise? All three answered negatively.

In an appropriate coda, Dana Milbank commented, "We didn't do our job that well tonight, I guess." Really? (I recently spent several months in Washington, during which I ruefully noted the Post's qualitative decline from a decade ago.)

I hope this helps anyone who missed tonight's show, and you didn't miss much!

[gumby]

9. Thanks for the recap.

How long is the Woodward/Watergate=journalism fantasy going to last?

It's my opinion that Woodward didn't do "journalism" in Watergate. For some reason, Nixon was taken down from the inside. Woodward was just the intel/"journalist" guy they used to do it.

[Top Lizard]

10. You're Welcome

I'm glad you found it useful; I've often benefited from other DUers' summaries of shows I didn't (or couldn't) catch.

I don't claim to be an expert on Watergate, so an anti-Nixon insiders' plan is a possibility. If you look at the aforementioned reporters' operating style, though, there was a willingness to ask uncomfortable (for Nixon, and some citizens) questions about political activities. In Rather's case, he did it directly on national TV, at some risk to his reputation and career. I haven't seen or heard of anyone so similarly dogged in the years since Bush's Selection. (I don't by any means intend to imply that the "good old days" were idyllic, since the mainstream media has often gone along to get along.)

[burn the bush]

8. We could take a few lessons from their government and their press

as far a grilling and getting answers from the politicians.

[demgrrrll]

11. I just read over at Kos (with a link) that Milbank is A member of Skull

and Bones. Yale grad. I thought that was an interesting piece of information.