Geez, are they serious?

Exactly how educated is a 'classically trained journalist' anyway?  Apparently Sarah Palin's degree was scoffed at easily enough.  How is the opinion of a Dan Rather to be taken any more seriously than that of anybody else privy to the same information?  How is their version of the news supported by advertising somehow more trustworthy than someone on the 'net who writes a story/opinion on their own dime?

So 'Scoop' out there trying to dig up dirt on local teachers and rushing to fires are to be regarded in high esteem but a guy or gal with just as much brains and possibly a greater wealth of knowledge and life experience and *gasp* a different view is to be disregarded?  Actually, not so much disregarded I think as feared. 

From what I've seen these 'journalists' lack any real knowledge of history, geography, etc.  They aren't the brightest bulbs in the package.  Talk about being lost without the teleprompter. 

It's not just the interjection of opinion (like Cronkite telling the American people the war was lost), but also:

1.  What they choose not to report.

2.  What details they leave out of what they do report.

3.  How long they report on something that may be damaging to one of those who share their same ideology.  For instance, they wouldn't let Watergate go no matter how long it took.  With this Blago thing I don't get the impression there are Woodward and Bernstein types out there furiously digging away trying to find any Obama connection...more interested in finding out if Sarah Palin ever shoplifted a bracelet when she was 13 I guess.

4.  Simple things like leaving out the (D) after a politician's name if it is something negative.

5.  Allowing only positive background information/quotes on what/who they support and are doing a story on. 

6.  They've consistently focused upon the evils of certain right wingers around the world while giving the many, many more evil Communists a pass to the point that saying 'evil Communists' is actually amusing to most of us and would make anyone who says that suspect of being off his rocker.  Thinking over what these guys have been saying over the last three decades or so, you'd think that  Mao and Castro never murdered or oppressed anyone.

7.  They even know how to film somebody in an interview and make them look good or bad with lighting, framing and cutting. 

Thank goodness for the internet and the blogs out there.  For once we can pick and choose from a variety of sources and decide for ourselves what is BS and what might be on the right track.  Obviously, we aren't supposed to decide for ourselves-they lament the loss of that traditional form of mind control. 

Give me a break.  That's just more obfuscation of what is really going on in that strange mixture of a business and adjunct of the Democratic Party. 

One of the 24% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 89% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.

Your article is right on target. The unfortunate aspect of all this MSM Sturm und Drung is that it didn't have to be this way. The extreme BDS and anti-Americanism promoted by media in the las few years has brought us to this point. There have been ample opportunities for the MSM to tell the whole story complete with multiple sources shedding light on subjects from different perspectives. The problem with the MSM is that in most respects "journalists have become commentators" . The MSM and the journalism schools are teaching this approach as "journalism with a personal viewpoint". I don't care about a journalist's personal viewpoint unless I'm listening to or reading an editorial comment.

When I'm looking for news information, I want to know, who, what, where, and when. From as many different sources as possible. If the sources are related to specific attitudes or agendas I would like to know them so I can form a personal opinion. In my opinion, the Internet, allows individuals to gather information on their own from as many sources as possible without any filter. This undermines Brian Williams and te rest of the MSM because we are no longer dependant on their personal viewpoint and filters for access to news.

If they"get their two-to-three sources," but ignore or modify them, they have participated in their own demise. I believe that many of us are sick of their pontificating because our press have not been providing a product that will promote "Jefferson's kind of educated and enlightened democracy" as Brian suggests. It's claptrap and they deserve to go away.

MSM is going to die for one simply reason: they got lazy.

Kids with modems are taking over because all it takes is a kid with a modem to do Brian Williams' job.  Checkin two to three sources?  LOL?  What classically trained reporter does that?  Newsbusters exists partially because reporters don't do their homework anymore.  They're biased, they don't research all the facts and they just spew garbage that's no higher quality than what we can get from blogs.

I mean, we saw the story about the New York Times posting a letter that turned out to be fake.  Did they make their calls?  Did they do their fact checking?  Obviously not.  And that's why the New York Times is no better than a kid with a modem.

If the MSM wants to stay viable they need to GET BACK TO FUCKING WORK.  Get off your lazy asses and get me some news.  Do some investigative reporting.  Do the legwork that the average bloggers can't or won't do.  You want your money?  Earn it.

What Williams, I'm sure, will never admit is that so much of this is caused by modern "liberalism" as pushed in the schools as well as the media. "Anything goes" as the schools have abandoned the basics and lowered standards to the point where academic junk is acceptable in the name of multiculturalism and political correctness.  Affirmative action has given a pass to undereducated "minorities", while others have caught on to the scam and standards have dropped lower and lower. The "liberal" mantra of non-judgment has given poor teachers the opportunity to raise "self esteem" and ignore academic incompetence. Moreover, future teachers as well as future "journalists", are being trained to be "agents of change" ( a la Bill Ayers). All this, combined with a social agenda which is highly critical of Western culture and the search for "truth" are the main causes of the rise of ignorance in America. And it is only going to get worse with Barry, et, al. in charge. Barry, himself, is a product of "liberal" indoctrination. I doubt he could even pass an American history test.The Internet is, in many ways, a reflection of what our young citizens have or have not learned in our schools, at home, and society in general.

NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"

Do you know, when you hear something at that school board meeting, at that town council meeting, what the legislative history is of that?  Do you cover this for a living, or do you have an opinion and a modem?  There's a big difference. 

There are endless examples on this site of journalists who cover Congress and the President for a living who lack background on the issues and spew opinions over satellite dishes.  And there are bloggers who do the MSM's job for them every day.

Get your own act together, Williams. 

Welcome to the era of unity, you racist!

First of all the root of classical is 'class'.Please remember that. When I was growing up in Washington DC we had three newspapers to read.  The Washington Post, The Times-Herald, and the Washington Star.  I asked my father why we got three newspapers.  His reply was something like - all three had different Editorial slants - which, my father said, stimulated thought.

Now all three reported the news, as news.  Some would give more coverage to a particular topic but it was still news.

Sometime during the 1960's and into the 1970's the 'buggy whip' or print media began to obviously editorialize the news.  At this point the print media became cheerleaders for a point of view – on the front page – above the fold.  This is not news but propaganda.  The buggy whip media does not feel that the average citizen is capable of making intelligent decisions.

So where do inquiring minds go to get the news?  The internet.  Obviously one must consider the source but the news can be found there that does not have the obnoxious odor of unwarranted cheerleading like we see from Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Rush Limbaugh, et alli.   (See I don’t trust either extreme).

The citizens of this country are voting with their pocket books – ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CCN, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and The New York Times only have an audience in an empty stadium – hence – the Buggy Whip media – no importance today.  People do not TRUST them.

They have brought their fate upon themselves..

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” – Marcus Aurelius

I watch my "classically trained" MSM "journalists" about once every 6 months for 5 minutes. My last watch was right after the elections, when WMUR (New Hampshire) TV reported on the "50-state gay protests" over Calif's Prop 8. They showed 6 NH people (that's right, a total of 6 state-wide) protesting. The protestors staged a 30-foot walk/chant down a sidewalk in front of the cameras -- which were dutifully recorded by WMUR and given prominant attention to all of us "locals -- who need to get our news from classically trained MSM journalists".

WMUR did this with a straight face, rather than point out that this was a staged, pitiful protest, put on by 6 activists specifically for the camera crews. WMUR actually presented this as serious news; did not give both sides of the story; and tried to leave the impression that the entire state of NH was up in arms over Calif's election results. All of which, of course, was false -- so much so that it was obvious to everyone who watched.

Give me a kid with a modem at any time over this crap. Time for the MSM to joing the other dinasaurs in the tar pits, IMO.

___________________________________ 

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber

Well, the "classically trained" has brought the MSM to this point. Now what? Arrogant condescension! Once you sell your soul there is no redemption. So long, MSM, you will not be missed.

Williams begs for someone to take him seriously

"the NBC Nightly News anchor lamented the decline of 'classically-trained' journalists in favor of guys with 'an opinion and a modem.'"

As opposed to the Mainstream Media: guys with an opinion, a microphone, and a camera. Face it - if the MSM goes extinct, it will be mostly due to suicide. 

True "journalism" died in this country a long time ago. In fact, the last nationally known news figure who bore any resemblance at all to an actual "journalist" made his last broadcast yesterday.

Over the last five decades, we Americans have seen the MSM go from doing some pretty fair news reporting to becoming nothing more than thoroughly corrupt hacks for a failed political ideology. You and your so-called "classically-trained journalist" colleagues have allowed yourselves to be compromised to the point of irrelevancy. 

What is truly sad is that your biases and corruption have found their way into our local news outlets over the years, to the point where we no-longer trust them, either.

The demise of the MSM got its start during the time of Vietnam, as a subtle bias began creeping its way into the MSM's coverage. Now, over four decades later, that subtle bias has degenerated into a corrupt advocacy for one particular side of the spectrum, and as of this most recent national election, has unfortunately morphed into the MSM actually lying to the American people in an all-out effort to elect a particular presidential candidate of dubious character and questionable qualifications.

Yet you sit there, wringing your hands, pretending to wonder why it is that your audience is shrinking, and why it is the level of trust the American public now places in you and your MSM co-conspirators has sunk to near their level of trust in congress.

To put it bluntly, Mr. Williams, we Americans have grown tired of watching the MSM trashing this great country at every opportunity. We are sick to death of your glorifying our enemies while blaming all the world's ills, whether real or perceived, on the fact that this country exists.

We are sick of your condescension, and fed up with your failure to report anything good that happens in Afghanistan and Iraq, or anywhere else, for that matter. We are beyond tired of your blind support for socialism, which includes covering up for and, if necessary, lying in an effort to protect the incompetent political candidates and politicians that represent it.

I find it hilarious that you sit there and complain about bloggers having opinions, yet we have been sitting in our living rooms for 40+ years, watching the opinions of people such as yourself worm their way more and more into your "news" broadcasts. Those of us who even bother to read newspapers anymore, be they local or national, can no-longer distinguish between the news pages and the editorial pages.

The fact of the matter is, the best un-filtered and un-biased information can now be found mostly on the internet. Yes, I know this cheeses off you and your fellow "journalists" to no end, as you are unable to apply your spin, disinformation and lies to the information before it gets to our unwashed eyes and ears. That is a good thing.

Had you and your fellow journalists just done your jobs instead of becoming the public relations arm of the social democrats, there is a good chance the alternative media would not now be threatening your very existence.

Instead of changing your ways and attempting to correct the situation and perhaps regaining the trust of the American people, you and your fellow "journalists" have apparently elected to go down with the ship. Fine with me, as I hope you all ride it all the way to the murky bottom.

I, for one, will relish the day when you and your fellow grossly over-paid propagandists are gone forever, as this nation, indeed this planet, will ultimately be better off for it.

Thank God that Edward R. Murrow did not live to see what you and your fellow "journalists" have done to his once proud and honorable profession, as most of you would have been unfit to have even retrieved the man's newspaper from the curb.

-Dave

Merry Christmas everybody!

What blog does Brian Williams write for? 

Never heard of him . . .

The MSM keeps telling us that Barack Obama was the people's choice. True - but then again, so was Barabbas.

When Brian Williams speaks of classically trained he reeks of say that one must have a college degree to know what to do.  Well, I have a college degree and it's not in tv news.  But I do have a blog and post the truth, which is a whole hell of a lot better than MSNBC and the rest of that dying ilk.  They couldn't tell the truth if they had to.  A speedy death to the Old Media.  Long live the truth!

Jeff Lebowski

www.angrywhitedude.c...

  Where in that little rant from Williams is anything about the truth? Maybe if those classically trained journalist did not forget about that, they might not be lamenting so much.

  No, classically trained is euphemism for propaganda, hyper-partisan (always for the democrats), socialist, and anti-american.

Sincerely,

a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.

or anyone else for that matter, I find it very difficult to find a single person (or newspaper) that deserves the name "Journalist" or "journalistic endeavor". When I was young a newsman was generally an uneducated slob who spent (maybe) 10% of his time in the office and the rest out running down 'leads', contacts and sources of information or tossing back a few. Few of them called themselves "journalists". What Williams, and all his coharts now are is "educated idiots" who, if you took away their access to the newswires, could not find a real job in print. One of our local guys, of the old school (Mike Royko type), in his departing column very carefully avoided using 'journalist' to describe his associates, calling them instead 'columnists'. I think he is right. His associates, for their part, all J-school graduates I'm sure, in their columns gave him scant praise as 'the last of the dinosaurs' etc. Give me the dinos anyday, at least they hunted their own meat.