Fun with headlines

Seemingly different takes on a story, but its all the same stuff by the same person. What's not to love?

Here's a thing I sent out to our list serve today ... h/t for Moyers video to Alyosha Popovich at dkos ...

Bill Moyers on Media Conglomeration

This is a 40 minute speech, and worth every single second.

There is a character lesson from the Cherokee he tells. It is short but incredibly deep and relevant.

Later he talks about the different between the public interest and what the public is interested in.

After that he points out that, yes, in fact, there actually is a difference between being a watchdog for the public and being a lapdog for those in power.

He then relates that to the bottom line focus in the news business by explaining how newspapers are now being bought up and stripped of their news and reporting staffs and consequently, stripped of their ability to do in depth investigative stories and/or truly unbiased relevant news reporting.

We all know where this will take newspapers. We've seen it before. TV news started going down this path many years ago and you see what it has got us -- conglomeration ... owners with agendas ... producers with agendas ... editors with agendas ... reporters with agendas ... and finally, a nest of pugilist talking/ranting heads who just spout off at the mouth with no internal dedication to honor, integrity, the truth or fair play.

To the contrary ... now the talkers do their business with the clear intention of making everyone agree with them.

Exploring issues? pffft. That takes too long.

Investigating stories? pfftt. That costs too much.

Asking hard questions? ok That is just too hard.

The owners of news organizations no longer see their purpose in professional journalism -- keepers of the public right-to-know, those who make our democracy open and transparent. They see themselves as businesses.

Well, "Yeah", you say, "they are businesses."

But this is different. They are no longer "also a business," or "a way to make a respectable living". They are now first, last and only, investment ventures, motivated by the get-very-rich-very-quick work ethic --- the first casualty of which is always true news stories, exploration, investigation, and the asking of hard questions which might make advertisers mad.

Then, after Moyers gave this speech about conglomeration, a Fox news assassin with microphone and camera ambushed him in the hall.

Note to Fox News: Do NOT try your slanted, dishonest, aggressive verbal tactics with Bill Moyers. You don't have enough brains to tan your own hide, you're no match for Bill.

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." - Harry Truman

That would be the proverbial headlight of a train speeding the Republican party off the cliff.

McCrory = Dole = McHenry = Hayes = Foxx = George W. Bush

If there were ever any doubts that there is a sleeper cell from Pope, Inc., at the News and Observer, this will erase them.

Democratic strategist Gary Pearce has said Obama's candidacy could boost his party's turnout by 5 percent, or tens of thousands of votes, helping other Democratic candidates.

"For statewide races, that could have an effect," said Francis DeLuca, executive director of the conservative Civitas Institute. "But if you get past the statewide races ... the impact of high African-American turnout is fairly limited in [legislative] district races."

I found it interesting that the N&O paired Democratic partisan Pearce with the GOP partisan DeLuca for responses on their GOP silver lining story. I bet Pearce wishes he could run his consulting business as a tax-exempt charity.

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