Newsweek, editor Jon Meacham is a real Republican suck isn't he?

[NNN0LHI]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200801130004?f=h_latest

Media outlets continued to mislead on the Clintons' "fairy tale" and civil rights quotes

Summary: Articles in Newsweek and The Washington Post mischaracterized a remark by former President Bill Clinton, claiming that he appeared to dismiss Sen. Barack Obama's campaign as "the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen." In fact, Clinton was referring to Obama's statements about his position on the Iraq war; he was not talking about the Obama campaign as the "biggest fairy tale." Further, the Newsweek article, as well as a New York Times article and a Washington Post op-ed, all truncated a comment by Hillary Clinton on the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s, omitting a portion of her remarks in which she referred to President John F. Kennedy.

In his cover story for the January 21 issue of Newsweek, editor Jon Meacham mischaracterized quotes by former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). Discussing January 7 comments by Bill Clinton, Meacham reported as fact that "Bill Clinton appeared to dismiss {Sen. Barack} Obama's {D-IL} campaign as 'the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen,' a remark that infuriated many African-Americans." Similarly, in a January 12 Washington Post article, staff writers Anne E. Kornblut and Shailagh Murray wrote: "Bill Clinton ... appeared to dismissively describe the campaign platform of hope and change offered by the strongest black presidential contender in history as the 'biggest fairy tale I've ever seen.' " In fact, Clinton was referring to Obama's statements about his position on the Iraq war; he was not talking about the Obama campaign as the "biggest fairy tale." Indeed, in a January 13 piece for The New York Times' Week In Review section, reporter Mark Leibovich noted that in using the words "fairy tale," Clinton "was referring specifically to the perception that Mr. Obama was totally pure in his opposition to the Iraq war."

Both Meacham's Newsweek article and Kornblut and Murray's Post article reported that Clinton discussed his remarks in a January 11 interview on The Al Sharpton Show. Meacham wrote that "Clinton called Al Sharpton's radio show to clarify, arguing that the 'fairy tale' remark was limited to Obama's claim that he would have opposed the Iraq War if he had been in the Senate in 2002-03 despite expressing some doubts to The New York Times in 2004." The Post article reported: "In a call-in interview on Al Sharpton's radio show, Clinton said he had meant only that Obama's statements about his position on the Iraq war are a 'fairy tale,' because Obama (D-Ill.) had voted to fund the war upon arriving in the Senate after saying he opposed the invasion." But neither Newsweek nor the Post noted that Clinton's remarks to Sharpton were consistent with his original comments at the January 7 campaign appearance.

Further, the Newsweek cover story, a Washington Post op-ed by journalist Marjorie Valbrun, and a New York Times article by Adam Nagourney and Patrick Healy all truncated a comment by Hillary Clinton on the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s. Meacham wrote in Newsweek that "Hillary Clinton noted that while Martin Luther King Jr. marched, it 'took a president' -- Lyndon Johnson -- to get civil-rights legislation passed and signed." Valbrun wrote: " 'Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act,' Clinton said. 'It took a president to get it done.' " Valbrun added, "In other words, 'I have a dream' is a nice sentiment, but King couldn't make it reality. It took a more practical and, of course, white president, Lyndon Johnson, to get blacks to the mountaintop." And Nagourney and Healy reported: "This was what Mrs. Clinton said on Monday: 'Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It took a president to get it done.' "

[Vinca]

1. Jon Meacham is the reason we let our 20+ year subscription to Newsweek lapse.

Meacham turned it into "Jesus Week." We started taking bets on which religious icon would appear on the cover.

[Dave From Canada]

2. This is week it's Obama. You lose.

[Vinca]

3. Not really. Here's a link.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/84581

[Dave From Canada]

4. Oh, so, still not a religious icon. You still lose.

[Vinca]

5. I guess I'm not getting your point. If I can go to the Newsweek site

and pick and choose which stories I want to read - for FREE - and avoid Meacham's proselytizing, I'm way ahead of the game. Interesting, though. Out of curiousity I checked the Newsweek covers over the past year and there aren't any religious ones. I had been ignoring them since dropping the subscription. Other people must have bailed as well to change the SOP of Jesus or Mary on the cover.

[Toots]

6. I made them send me a refund on my remaining subscription time.

I told them if they chose to use Karl Rove in their pages to cancel my subscription. They sent me my money and I haven't seen a newsweek since and to tell you the truth I really don't miss it that much..