De-Pressed

We have been on an anti-press jag for a few days here at "Random Thoughts" and I figured, If ain't broke... Anyway, the New York Times published a story earlier this week, which basically said that the administration was telling the so called "military experts" employed by the networks to discuss the Iraq war. All the retired military figures were actually still on the Pentagon payroll and were told what line of bullsh$t to spew to the press. This story hasn't gotten much play in the msm (mainstream media) because it makes them look like a bunch of idiots, but it is a clear example of how the media is no longer looking to report the news. They have basically become an arena for the talking points of the administration and the p0litical parties.

Headlines and lead stories in the press are all generated by the talking points that are force fed by politicians and staffers. Yesterday the press started reported on an ad that was supposed to start running in North Carolina which bashes two politicians who have endorsed Barack Obama. The Ad shows a picture of Obama and Wright together and includes the famous speech of Wright denouncing America. Now this ad hasn't actually run anywhere, in fact it may never run anywhere because both the RNC and John McCain have denounced it. However, because the MSM decided this was an issue, they have given the ad more air time than it ever would have gotten otherwise. Now instead of this ad just being run in parts of North Carolina, it's been seen all over the country. Could the Republican group in North Carolina have asked for anything more? All they did was release the ad to the press and then sit back and collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in free national air time.

I'm not sure if the press is even trying anymore. The Clinton campaign issued a press release yesterday which claimed that they are now ahead in the popular vote. Now anyone who has been paying attention to the election knows that the only way that Clinton is ahead in the popular vote is if you count the Florida and Michigan totals which everyone already knows DO NOT COUNT! So since this story is ridiculous on its face, why then would there be articles today discussing it? Why would the pundits have a discussion about whether Hillary does actually lead in the vote count? Why? Because they can't come up with their own stories. They just repeat what the campaigns send out every day.

From providing a forum for Bush administration propaganda to publicizing attack ads to reporting on nonsensical topics is about the breadth of "news coverage" these days. And with Rupert Murdoch moving closer to owning yet another NY news outlet (Newsday), this brand of so called "journalism" isn't likely to get better any time soon.