The Demise of the Fourth Estate?

The Demise of the Fourth Estate?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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If there was any doubt in your mind that the mainstream media in the United States is bias toward the political left the very fact that two of the major broadcast networks in America recently refused to air any ads that were not favorable to ObamaCare should erase even the slightest among those doubts.

Talk about a “Fairness Doctrine”! Fair is when you present both sides of an issue, isn’t it? Where are the howls of protest from the government about this obviously unfair position on the part of these networks? Do you hear the commissioners at the FCC complaining about the one-sided policy of these networks? No, and I dare say you will not!

Years ago, I found that to get anything approaching a balanced report of news in America one had to go to “off-shore” sources. Many Americans frequent news sites in Australia, Israel, and Western Europe, including the UK in order to get reliable reports on what is happening in America. How sad IS that?

“Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist” is the title of an article you’ll find HERE. I think you will agree, after reading the article, there was little of a surprising nature in it – especially if you happen to be a conservative.

Not too long ago, the press didn’t mind allowing their bias to show. They did not deny them. In fact, they claimed them. They would push the platform of the political party they liked and the candidate or politician they liked. The larger towns and cities would have more than one newspaper and those papers would compete. Now, here is one of the differences between then and now. Back then news and editorializing were kept separate. Back then they kept the news reporting as neutral as possible, and as factual as possible. On the other hand, their editorials expressed the opinions of the publisher of the paper. Often they’d have editorial cartoons, which would support the publisher’s opinion as well. These days, however, editorial comment is mixed right in amongst the news items, sometimes within the news stories themselves.

As a result of these changes in the way media presents the so-called “news” the credibility of the news media has plummeted. In a recent survey, Pew Research found that ”just 29 percent of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63 percent say that news stories are often inaccurate.” You can learn more about this in an article by Geoff Metcalf titled “Credibility of Biased Media Sinking.” HERE.

In his article, Mr. Metcalf quotes David Limbaugh as having said: “the mainstream media have finally been reduced to sputtering incoherence, as they've observed the un-deification of their anointed messiah and experienced firsthand their own diminishing relevance.” However, media malfeasance is more than just the reality check of a begrudging epiphany. The wounds suffered by the mainstream media are all self-inflicted.

As we survey the newspaper industry in America today we find that a number of leading papers are in financial trouble. There is even talk of a government bailout for newspapers! Of all the bad ideas to come out of Washington, since the election of last year, this ranks among the worst! It seems to me that for newspapers to take money from the government would make them beholden to the government. If you take the government’s money, you play by the government’s rules. How then could they ever hold government accountable to the voters? Of course, many of us are asking why the press is not holding government accountable today. The answer is simple – left wing bias.

If the press were not biased in favor of the Obama Administration, the Obama birth certificate question would have been settled a very long time ago. Africa and Hawaii would have been virtually crawling with reporters from the wire services, the broadcast media, the print media, reporters from “news” shows, etc. If he, or she, had press credentials they would be on the story right to the bitter end. But it did not -- and has not -- happened. Somehow, the media seems to think the public did not notice. But we did. Their reluctance to say, or do, anything that might reflect badly on Obama, or his administration, has damaged what was left of their credibility immeasurably.

At the moment I cannot see how the media can regain any of it’s lost credibility. If, perhaps, they returned to the olden ways of presenting the news, as balanced news, with editorials reserved for a specific part of the newspaper, and broadcast media separating and clearly defining editorials within a “newscast, that would certainly be a start -- but ONLY a start. As so many other commentators have already said the wounds the news media is suffering are self inflicted. If there is to be healing, the healing must come from within the news industry. Unfortunately for the media, they have yet to acknowledge their own culpability in what may be the demise of the news industry, as we know it today. As an old “news hound,” I find that very sad, indeed.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Liberal+Press+Media+Bias

Holocaust Museum Shooter NOT A CONSERVATIVE!

Holocaust Museum Shooter NOT A CONSERVATIVE!

A Commentary by: J. D. Longstreet

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The MsM (or The Mainstream Media) or as some of our colleagues in the conservative movement have taken to referring to them…”The Government Controlled Press” immediately leapt upon the story of the single shooter at the Holocaust Museum and within near record time were associating him with the political right, or conservatives. You could see it coming from the moment the story broke. And, as is so often the case these days, they got it wrong!

The shooter was identified as a longtime neo-Nazi. One security guard was shot and killed. The 88-year-old shooter was, himself, shot, and as of this writing, was in critical condition.

Apparently our political leftist community decided to use the events at the Holocaust Museum to beat the conservative movement severely about the head and shoulders with stories of this truly awful incident by associating the lone gunman with the conservative movement itself. (Remember now, even the Department of Homeland Security recently identified many of those in the conservative movement as “Domestic Terrorists”.) There was just one problem with their efforts. Well, there was MORE than ONE problem with it, but the one that stands out and tends to make the leftist press, not only in America, but around the world, REALLY look foolish is the inconvenient fact that the shooter is not a conservative! Shocking! Absolutely shocking, what?

Turns out, the gunman is not a Christian. (Somehow the political left has decided that only rightists can be Christians. Go figure!) In fact, he is a SOCIALIST! He is reported to have made the statement: ““SOCIALISM, represents the future of the West.” I hardly think such a statement would indicate any connection to the conservative movement in “The West.”

Whatever happened to “research”? There was a time in the news business (anywhere on the globe – not just in this country) when journalist actually researched an article before rushing to the presses with words penned from their emotions rather than from careful consideration – and words which had been CHECKED OUT at least once, better yet, checked out three times from three different sources. Not anymore. As a result, this is the kind of reporting we get from a press that swears, with their ink-stained hands over their hearts, that they are unbiased in their reporting. The claim of unbiased reporting from today’s press is pure, unadulterated, Bovine Scatology!

There is an article you need to read just to get a flavor of how deeply the leftist press is willing to go to smear those of us on the right side of the political spectrum. It is titled: “Holocaust Museum Shooter: Christian-Hating Socialist”. Ben Johnson wrote the article. You will find it at Frontpagemag.com
HERE.
The left, it would seem, are desperately attempting to re-define socialism. They have for years, now, been referring to conservatives as fascists. That could not be farther from the truth and has had me scratching my head for the SAME number of years wondering how in hell they could make THAT association. Then, I remembered the quality of our public education system in America. Anyone with a good, solid, education KNOWS, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that fascism is not associated, in any way, with the right, but with the left.

With a leftist/socialist President and a leftist/socialist Congress, and a political party, which has all but completely embraced the socialist agenda for America, they’re shuffling about as fast as an ant on the surface of a hot stove. What they fail to understand is - another of those inconvenient facts – “fascism is a totalitarian ideology concentrating all power in the hands of the State and thus not a conservative ideology but a creature of the Left.” (From Mr. Johnson’s article.)

If nothing else good comes of the Obama Regime, hopefully, the American public will finally understand what we conservatives have been decrying for decades now. I refer, of course, to the oh, so obvious pro-left-wing bias of the Mainstream Media in America - AND those countries around the globe that shared our democratic form of government WHEN WE STILL HAD a democratic form of government instead of the socialist government we have now.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Obama+Socialism+America+Collapse

Newspapers Meet Their "End Times'

Newspapers Meet Their “End Times.”

By: J. D Longstreet
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My morning paper was not delivered again today. I had to go out and drive to the nearest newspaper rack, 3 blocks away, and purchase a paper because I did not get the once I had already paid for… in advance.

Many days I sit here at the computer anxiously awaiting the arrival of my morning paper. Many mornings it will not arrive before mid-morning when I no longer need it. Yet, I have paid for it in advance. It has gotten so bad I often leave today’s paper in the box and get it out tomorrow morning and read it, a day late, in order to have a paper at the breakfast table! (It’s a cultural thing!)

On the bright side… I have been reading Google’s news since around 3 this morning. And for years now, I have been going to websites of newspapers from Europe, usually Great Britain, or Australia, to get news about what’s happening in the US because, frankly, it is more reliable for accuracy and lack of bias toward the political left or right in America. So, I am fairly well informed at this point of the morning even without having received my own newspaper.

Newspapers are in deep, deep trouble… and they have brought it upon themselves. And guess what? They still do not understand what has happened to them, nor why! Take a look at the latest edition of Time Magazine for February 16th. Check the front cover. Now read the article by Walter Isaacson. It begins on page 30. It’s title: “How to Save Your Newspaper.” If you, perchance, do not subscribe to Time Magazine, you can read the article HERE.

See what I mean? I would respectfully disagree with Mr. Isaacson’s. It is my contention that the print media still does not understand the problem they are facing. They have yet, in my opinion, to understand that, by and large, the people of America are conservative… to varying degrees, of course, yet most Americans hold conservative views on many, many, things and they are just tired of the print media’s liberal stance on practically everything. It is tiring, and it is boring, and we’ve had enough. This is the very same reason, in my opinion, that liberal talk shows on the broadcast media fall so far behind in listenership when they come up against conservative talk radio.

I wrote an article a year ago on this same topic. Frankly, I had no idea the consumers of newspapers, indeed, all the print media, would move so quickly to dump the liberal media. It was obvious, even then, that it was coming, but the rapidity with which it swooped down upon the ink stained hordes is amazing.

Newspapers are NOT a healthy business right now… not by any stretch of the imagination. Both my regional papers are laying off staff, and one is reducing the size of the pages because of the cost of newsprint paper, and they are even looking at using a different font, one that will not use as much ink as the font they are currently using. The proposed font is MUCH harder to see and read. It doesn’t have the depth of the old font and those of us who depend on spectacles to wind our way through that jungle of the already fine print will have the dickens of a time reading this proposed font, IF they actually DO switch to it. I have already let the editor and publisher know of my feelings on the matter. Hey, they asked!

Newspapers are in serious danger of going the way of the dinosaur. You would think they would, at least, look at their content. Usually, when the consumers refuse a product, it has something to do with the consumer’s perception of the quality of that product. When you consistently feed liberal drivel to the masses, and a huge percentage of those masses are conservative, sooner or later, they are going to say enough, and begin to look for a source of information more in line with their own core belief. You would think the print media could see that. And you would think service to their subscribers would receive much more consideration than it does now. But neither is happening. If it is… it certainly is not obvious!

I have a friend, way across this state that receives the premier newspaper in the state delivered to his home when he gets it! He is having the same problem we are having, out here on the coast, with an entirely different publishing company. Is this an indicator of a nationwide trend?

Newspapers are fast becoming a thing of the past. Home delivery is on the way out… I know that. The papers are having a hell of a time getting carriers as a result of the cost of gasoline and upkeep to their vehicles. In some I cases, I am informed that newspapers have had to guarantee carriers “X” number of dollars, a month, before they will even take the job. Believe me, I understand that. But, do not sell me a subscription to your paper and promise to deliver it before a certain time in the morning and then be either consistently late, by as much as 2 hours, or more, or… do not deliver at all. There is no excuse for that… none, whatsoever.

I have watched the size of the newspaper page diminish. I have watched the thickness of the newsprint paper diminish, and I have now seen service to subscribers diminish. Is the newspaper business deaf, dumb, and blind? These are just more reasons people are not using their product nearly as much these days… I mean other than disagreement with the print media’s biases.

Ad sales are the lifeblood of a newspaper. Believe me, once their advertisers become aware their ads are NOT reaching the numbers of subscribers they had expected, there will be another huge decrease in the paper’s ad sales which translates in to lost profits. A newspaper can survive a good while with dwindling subscribers. But when the advertisers begin to fall off, death comes quickly.

So, maybe we are witnessing the swan song of the newspaper business as a “brick and mortar” business. Do you think so? Actually, I hate to see that happen, but it certainly looks as if it is. But contrary to what the experts may think, charging money to read an article, a column, or even a blog from their online site is not the answer. Newspapers and print magazines are in apocalyptic days. The “End Times” are upon them. Their death throes are not pretty.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Newspapers, bankruptcy+Apocalypse"