(Updated 10:00 see below) For anyone who thinks newspapers are much better than those television types at avoiding the manufacture of quick sound bites out of context, see today’s Washington Post so-called "Reliable Source" gossip column by Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger, who like many others, skip over the context of Coulter’s complaint that Bill Maher can get away with saying Dick Cheney should be killed by terrorists:
The conservative shock-pundit, who sniped on "Good Morning America" Monday that she hoped the Democratic candidate would be "killed in a terrorist assassination plot," was a guest on MSNBC's "Hardball" Tuesday night, prompting a live call-in by Elizabeth, who demanded that Coulter "stop the personal attacks." The exchange went downhill from there.
Actually, the Post went downhill from there. Doesn’t anybody check facts and context because it’s a gossip column? To review, here is the actual Coulter quote from ABC, in reference to her "faggot" jokes about Edwards at CPAC this year:
Bill Maher was not joking and saying he wished Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack. So I've learned my lesson. If I'm gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.
The Post doesn't have room for the whole 46-word package? In his review of Paris Hilton's long interview with Larry King on CNN last night, TV critic Tom Shales threw in this gratuitous note:
To look at the spectacle from yet another perspective, watching Hilton for an hour was in its way more edifying and encouraging than enduring more hateful rants from publicity hound Ann Coulter on MSNBC's "Hardball With Chris Matthews" the night before. Matthews was still discussing the Coulter appearance on his show last night. Next to Coulter, Paris Hilton is pure refreshment.
Update 10:00 | Matthew Sheffield. Note: I called into the Post just now and reported the error to Amy Argotsinger who is writing the column for the next few days. You can call in at (202) 334-7556.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
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We've already seen evidence i
June 28, 2007 - 09:00 ET by GalvanicWe've already seen evidence in NB of how shallow Tom Shales is. His compatriots at the Washington Post are obviously worthy of being labeled "his peers."
And I can believe that Shales finds an interview with Paris Hilton to be more satisfying. Afterall, Shales owes his livelihood to people like Hilton, the news they make, and the entertainment they produce.
Likewise, I find listening to crickets more worthwhile than reading or listening to Tom Shales, whose self-indulgent analysis of trivial people and events has no impact on my life day-to-day.
Galvanic,Shales is a scumbag.
June 28, 2007 - 09:07 ET by LeonGalvanic,
Shales is a scumbag.
But I want to digress for one second. I want to find some of the other NB research on Shales but I have a problem. The search function on this site is abysmal. What's going on? Many times it doesn't find any posts even when I know the word I'm searching for is in A post. When it does find posts, they don't appear in any discernable order and you have to really read through them to find what you are looking for.
It doesn't seem to me that having an effective search engine would be too difficult. Constantly people on this site are telling me, we've already talked about that to death, go search it, look it up, but I CAN'T b/c the search function is garbage.
Is there anything we can do about this?
You can look up Tom Shales
June 28, 2007 - 10:07 ET by Matthew SheffieldYou can look up Tom Shales stuff just by clicking his name underneath the article in the category listing.
We're working on getting the search improved but in the meantime, you can use Google by putting site:newsbusters.org at the end of anything you're looking for.
I think we can all guess why
June 28, 2007 - 10:32 ET by TruthMongerI think we can all guess why Leon is "digressing:)?" Can't wait to see what he comes back with...
...it was hard but I managed to keep religion out of it:)...
TM,What exactly does that mea
June 28, 2007 - 10:43 ET by LeonTM,
What exactly does that mean? Your post makes absolutely no sense.
Leon, it makes no sense to yo
June 28, 2007 - 10:54 ET by TruthMongerLeon, it makes no sense to you, it happens alot here and it saddens me, but we'll keep trying! so what did you come up with during your digression...?
...it was hard but I managed to keep religion out of it:)...
Thanks Matt,I just get frustr
June 28, 2007 - 10:43 ET by LeonThanks Matt,
I just get frustrated with that search function, especially since this is a high quality web site. There's a lot of good information contained in the posts on this site and it would be great to be able to access it more easily.
Looking forward to an upgraded search functionality.
Shales SNL book was pretty g
June 28, 2007 - 09:07 ET by Hero SquadShales SNL book was pretty good. However, all he did was interview the performers and format their quotes into one long conversation. And at the end of the day, as interesting as it was, I guess it was a book about trivial people.
*****
"I'm sorry, you must have mistaken me for a clown that gives a damn!" - Sticky the Clown
In our mass-mediated cultur
June 28, 2007 - 10:23 ET by GalvanicIn our mass-mediated culture, people like Shales, Roger Ebert, Liz Smith, etc., have significance for some people. In other cultures, they'd have to find real work.
Galvanic, they just don't c
June 28, 2007 - 10:32 ET by motherbeltGalvanic, they just don't care. They throw these slanders out there and let them lie. Days later, when they're refuted and they have to (maybe) print a retraction, no one is paying attention. So it does its damage, and that's all they care about. That's why Rush Limbaugh calls them the "drive-by media."
The Post doesn't have r
June 28, 2007 - 10:14 ET by Tom1969caOf course they do. But if you put Ann's words in context, they wouldn't have the same inflamatory feel to them. And the MSM can't run Ann's words if they're not inflamatory. (Of course, when Maher said his words in context, all we heard was crickets chirping... Which begs the question: which is a worse sin to a liberal - calling someone gay or wishing death upon someone?)
Without context you can make anyone say anything - even the Almighty. Just point out that King David "was a man after [God's] own heart; he will do everything that [God] wants him to do," (Acts 13:22), and then remind us that King David slept with another man's wife (2 Samuel 11:4), and - voila! - a Biblical justification for Bill Clinton's behavior.
~~~
"The current tax code is harder to understand than Bob Dylan reading Finnegan's Wake in a wind tunnel."-- Dennis Miller
The Only Reason the Post can
June 28, 2007 - 10:55 ET by JayTeeThe Only Reason the Post can Get away with this Sound bite crap, the Sin of Ommission crap, it that nobody is watching Chris Matthead, but a lot of people read the Post. So the one-sided presentation of yesterday's broadcast, stands to be the only view of the Show.
If FOX was mis-represented in this way, they would take the POST to task, but since Chris has the same Agenda as the POST, it stands as "accurate" Reporting....which it is NOT.
What good is a Free Press, if it is a False Press ? David Foote GoE
Matthew, I have not read Shales' article, but I saw Coulter.
June 28, 2007 - 11:17 ET by acaiguanaMatthew, I have not read Shales' article, but I saw Coulter.
The 'mangle' is what the Left does. I just cannot get over the Left's inability to make points without distortion of the facts.
Why in the world do they have to do that?
Have they no idea of credibility. One would think that given the peoples' ability to see through the inneffectiveness of Congress over immigration, the Left would understand that blatant misrepresentation of facts eventually loses for them.
Maybe, due to their success in misrepresenting the anti-terror war they feel that they can continue to lie to America with imupunity.
I believe the Left and MSM have grossly miscalculated the impact of entropy on their strategy to paint Republicans as the evil iin America. They started too early on and there has been plenty of time for all to see the truth.
ACA
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Quoted from: 'Acaiguana Notes from the Bomb Shelter' (soon to be a movie at theaters near you)