General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDoes it seem like the M$M is opposing Obama?
examples from the Daily Howler http://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/
"CNNs pitiful fact-check: Last night, after Bill Clintons strong address, a terrible horrible bad thing occurred.
CNN asked Tom Foreman and Erin Burnett to conduct a fact-check."
And this is how they check facts.
Foreman: "Like President Obama, President Clinton came into office with soaring joblessness, 7.1 percent for Mr. Clinton. That's within just a few pointstenths of a point of what Mr. Obama faced."
That is just completely bogus. He then goes on the say that things got better under Clinton and they did not get better under Obama.
Well, here is MY fact check of Foreman.
Job gains (or losses) in 1993 - the year Clinton took office.
1993
Jan. - +307,000
Feb. - +237,000
Mar - (46,000)
Apr - +307,000
May - +273,000
June - +164,000
6 month total - +1,242,000
Foreman - "President Clinton came into office with soaring joblessness."
I grade that statement - complete Grade A bullsh*t. 100% WRONG
Compare that to the first six months of 2009, when Obama took office, the economy lost 3,691,000 jobs. http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002908833
Foreman also says this "Clinton inherited a $290 billion deficit, changed it to a $236 billion surplus by the time the Clinton years were done. Mr. Obama has inherited a $459 billion deficit. Yes, that's worse. But it's even worse now, $1.3 trillion."
Except the facts say that Obama actually inherited a $1.2 trillion deficit. Thanks to the Howler for continuing to point this out, because most people are probably not aware of it as the media continues to push the lie of $459 billion.
"Duh. This report appeared in the Washington Post two weeks before Obama took office. The reporter was Lori Montgomery:
MONTGOMERY (1/8/09): The nation's budget deficit will soar to an unprecedented $1.2 trillion this year, congressional budget analysts said yesterday, a startling tide of red ink that could dampen enthusiasm on Capitol Hill for some of President-elect Barack Obama's most ambitious priorities."
Foreman: "Mr. Obama has inherited a $459 billion deficit."
I grade that - 100% WRONG.
I find it troubling that Clinton gives a speech and the media immediately pushes back with a Republican, anti-Obama narrative. In the name of fact checking.
Fact checking that apparently gets its "facts" from an error factory.
As Somerby says "Fact-checking sounds like a good ideauntil you see journalists do it."
FirstLight
(13,656 posts)i swear, the convention had me in chills, tears and FIRED up! WTF is going on this morning?
SugarShack
(1,635 posts)hfojvt
(37,573 posts)with facts, and with calling them out on their bias - both against Democrats AND against the facts.
Response to hfojvt (Original post)
bupkus This message was self-deleted by its author.
russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)Dannyteague
(51 posts)THey did the same thing with Jimmy Carter. They were FOR him during the campaign. THe right kept whinning about it. Now they have gone the other way,
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)the question is how much power do they have, and will we fight back?
librechik
(30,771 posts)Including GE(MS)NBC.
And The PBS NewsHour, owned by Liberty Media, which is John Malone, a HUGE Repub billionaire. PBS/Corporation for Public Television owns less than 10% of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions.
Do we believe that ownership DOES NOT have its privileges? Not me.
We shouldn't be surprised that the media is following the Republican narrative. Breaking out of that corporate culture can be done (look at Chris Matthews the last few weeks!) but it is very difficult and there is usually hell to pay. The media talking heads just censor themselves.
We need to make OUR media louder, but we will get no help to do that from billionaires.
sandyshoes17
(657 posts)These people work for the same people the repubs do. They're not just saying their personal opinions, they give us a shot every once in awhile just to make it look good. But their agenda is clear. Tv is a powerful tool.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)although Somerby (the source of all my knowledge) does sometimes talk about how useless Lehrer is.
To me, though, the insidious thing about ownership is that they probably spend very little time telling those mouthpieces what to say - instead they just pay them in high six figures or seven figures, and then they know what side their bread is buttered on. Then even supposed liberals look at the Bush tax cuts and think "cha ching, this plan will give me some serious benefits" and then look at Obama's plan and go "wait a minute I, MYSELF, make over $250,000 a year, and I'm not rich. I'm not a Donald Trump or a Mitt Romney".
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,962 posts)Not going into one.
Uncle Joe
(59,574 posts)Thanks for the thread, hfojvt.
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)YES!
I get SO mad that I start spitting.
And even on MSNBC, which I've turned off this morning, AGAIN, makes me mad. I'm so sick of their
"panels" where the "former Republican strategist" runs us down, they also have the types that are supposed
to be on our "side", WHINING, about stuff.
Over it!
If I wanted to hear crap against Dems and the Prez, I could turn on ClusterFuksFakeNews.
treestar
(82,383 posts)Heck they don't even need their piles of money - they get free support from the media.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)it seemed like in 2006 and in 2008 that they kept pushing the narrative that Democrats were gonna win. Which is kinda interesting that "news" involves "predicting the future". I just wonder how much of that constant "predicting the inevitable win" causes a certain percentage of the populace to just go with the flow.
WilliamPitt
(58,179 posts)I was actually gobsmacked. Even the token Republican on the convention panel was gushing.
I didn't watch any other nedtworks, so I'm not a good judge.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)as "the one true liberal channel". So I would expect them to be in the tank.
I only saw ABC for Clinton's speech. They gave George Will a chance to grumble about some point that he said Clinton got wrong, and then say "how is Obama gonna top this?" The local ABC news was positive about it, reporting how the crowd was fired up, and also giving good coverage to the local Congressman Cleaver.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Elections are big business. The two presidential candidates are going to spend what, a billion dollars, on this campaign. Much of that money will go to media ad buys. Keep talking about that horse race, mediaites.