Press Club Follies, Or How To Continue Sinking Your Ship
First off, TY to all the Hugh Hewitt readers and listeners for visiting the site, and witnessing the thorough evisceration of Jonathan Chait yesterday. For an encore today, we're going to beat on the White House Press Corps like a bongo drum. If ever there was a message to be sent by the MSM over the last two days, this wasn't the one they needed to send.
We all know the foolishness of the press. And nothing shows their struggles more than the press conferences held over the last two days over the hunting accident involving Vice President Cheney, and his close friend and hunting partner, Harry Whittington. The press corps, rather than getting the story, reporting the story, and moving on have chosen instead to make this story all about them. David Gregory, cry-baby extraordinaire, continued to whine about the fact that they--the vaunted, "unbiased" White House press corps was not notified post-haste.
The problem that their feeble minds can't seem to grasp is that VP Cheney was concerned for his friend, whom he accidently shot, and left the rancher who owned the land they were hunting on to contact the sheriff's department, who in turn notified the Corpus Christi paper that broke the story. The poor press corps people were offended that they weren't notified immediately so they could begin slamm, er, reporting the incident. Since then, the press has gotten their chance to report on the minor heart attack that Mr. Whittington has suffered; an incident that has subsequnetly sent him back into ICU. (We at the Asylum offer our prayers for a speedy recovery.)
Questions from day one ranged from ridiculous to retarded, and included questions about whether or not the veep is facing charges and if he will resign. No offense, but the knee-jerk reaction by a hostile and salivating press was expected. I am thoroughly surprised that dinosaurs like Helen Thomas did not question whether or not Scooter Libby's indictment was the cause of this accident. The press has shown, once again, and as Thomas pointed out late last night, that they have no clue.
The press has shown it's true colors to America. They despise this president. They abhor this administration. And they completely dislike how they are bypassed from time-to-time by the administration. What do they expect. As hostile as they are, the administration doesn't need to hear their menial, anal questions that make no sense, and make even less connection to current events. Hugh Hewitt noted today on his show that members of the White House press corps, including David "Cry-Baby" Gregory and Terry "Al-Jazeera West" Moran, have refused to come on his show and defend their actions.
And others may ask, "Why should they defend themselves?" Simply put, they attacked Scott McClellan because they were not informed immediately of the incident, and then accused the veep of not abiding by the "normal" release of news through the White House press secretary. And when I state that they attacked him, that is not a lie. It was an unsavory crowd that Mr. McClellan endured yesterday, and today. What is truly sad about their behavior--completely unexcusable behavior, we might add--is that this whole brow-beating that Mr. McClellan endured was because they felt frozen out from the release of information.
Not one--let me repeat that, NOT ONE--of the press corps asked about the condition of Mr. Whittington, or how his family was doing. It was all about them. David Gregory yesterday had a meltdown over not receiving what he deemed an answer to any of his questions. Today was no different. And when shut down by Mr. McClellan, he handed out a sigh ... like a two-year old told to pick up his toys for the umpteenth time. It is pathetic that the press corps believes there is some sort of conspiracy or cover-up because of the time elapsed between the incident, and when it was reported.
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? These are the questions that journalists should ask when reporting a story. Thomas' meticulous dressing down of Jonathan Chait emphasized these points yesterday. Here is the problem for the press corps, and it is one that they failed to grasp: All of those answers were given. Each of those questions were answered, and we answered them in this beginning of this post. Cheney and Whittington were hunting quail. Whittington came up behind cheney, surprising him, and he was accidently shot. He was rushed to the hospital for treatment, and today suffered a setback with a minor heart attack. Story done, and time for the press to move on.
But as we pointed out, for the White House press corps, it is all about them. They could care less about getting the story, and moving on. No, that isn't enbough for them. They sensed blood in the water, and pounced. And this is the reason why they keep losing the media war. There was no blood for them to sense. It was an accident. Cheney didn't intentionally shoot his friend. But, these people are seething mad that they weren't notified.
For them, they are upset they were not told about the incident. They were upset that some podunk, nowhere paper scooped them on a "big" story. And, they are disgusted that they have nothing to go in front of the cameras with. The ego of these cry-babies is through the roof, and they cannot stand not being part of the story. This is why the media is failing. They have decided that the news depends totally upon them. They are the gatekeepers. They hold all the keys, and all information must pass through them.
They forget their place in the world right now. Blogs and the new media have the forefront. We get the news quicker, and get it out the public quicker, and we do it better. We drop the bias, report the facts, and offer up commentary on what we report. We were ten steps ahead of the media when this accident occurred on Sunday. The public is sick of agenda journalism. They believe that if they drive their stories, the public will follow. The problem with this particular story is that no one cares. No one cares that the White House press corps is throwing a hissy fit. No one cares about David Gregory and whether or not he has a follow-up to a virtually non-story. Mr. McClellan made that abundantly clear to him today.
The MSM, and the press corps in the White House especially, had better pay close attention to their world because it is collapsing around them, and they are completely oblivious to it. This is typical right now for them. They still believe that they control the ebb and flow of the news. They do not. The new media does. With 27.7 million blogs on the Internet, talk radio, and FOX News, the MSM's days are numbered. David Gregory's days were numbered a long time ago--right about the time that Helen Thomas was told she was equally irrelevant.
The Bunny ;)
Publius II
First off, TY to all the Hugh Hewitt readers and listeners for visiting the site, and witnessing the thorough evisceration of Jonathan Chait yesterday. For an encore today, we're going to beat on the White House Press Corps like a bongo drum. If ever there was a message to be sent by the MSM over the last two days, this wasn't the one they needed to send.
We all know the foolishness of the press. And nothing shows their struggles more than the press conferences held over the last two days over the hunting accident involving Vice President Cheney, and his close friend and hunting partner, Harry Whittington. The press corps, rather than getting the story, reporting the story, and moving on have chosen instead to make this story all about them. David Gregory, cry-baby extraordinaire, continued to whine about the fact that they--the vaunted, "unbiased" White House press corps was not notified post-haste.
The problem that their feeble minds can't seem to grasp is that VP Cheney was concerned for his friend, whom he accidently shot, and left the rancher who owned the land they were hunting on to contact the sheriff's department, who in turn notified the Corpus Christi paper that broke the story. The poor press corps people were offended that they weren't notified immediately so they could begin slamm, er, reporting the incident. Since then, the press has gotten their chance to report on the minor heart attack that Mr. Whittington has suffered; an incident that has subsequnetly sent him back into ICU. (We at the Asylum offer our prayers for a speedy recovery.)
Questions from day one ranged from ridiculous to retarded, and included questions about whether or not the veep is facing charges and if he will resign. No offense, but the knee-jerk reaction by a hostile and salivating press was expected. I am thoroughly surprised that dinosaurs like Helen Thomas did not question whether or not Scooter Libby's indictment was the cause of this accident. The press has shown, once again, and as Thomas pointed out late last night, that they have no clue.
The press has shown it's true colors to America. They despise this president. They abhor this administration. And they completely dislike how they are bypassed from time-to-time by the administration. What do they expect. As hostile as they are, the administration doesn't need to hear their menial, anal questions that make no sense, and make even less connection to current events. Hugh Hewitt noted today on his show that members of the White House press corps, including David "Cry-Baby" Gregory and Terry "Al-Jazeera West" Moran, have refused to come on his show and defend their actions.
And others may ask, "Why should they defend themselves?" Simply put, they attacked Scott McClellan because they were not informed immediately of the incident, and then accused the veep of not abiding by the "normal" release of news through the White House press secretary. And when I state that they attacked him, that is not a lie. It was an unsavory crowd that Mr. McClellan endured yesterday, and today. What is truly sad about their behavior--completely unexcusable behavior, we might add--is that this whole brow-beating that Mr. McClellan endured was because they felt frozen out from the release of information.
Not one--let me repeat that, NOT ONE--of the press corps asked about the condition of Mr. Whittington, or how his family was doing. It was all about them. David Gregory yesterday had a meltdown over not receiving what he deemed an answer to any of his questions. Today was no different. And when shut down by Mr. McClellan, he handed out a sigh ... like a two-year old told to pick up his toys for the umpteenth time. It is pathetic that the press corps believes there is some sort of conspiracy or cover-up because of the time elapsed between the incident, and when it was reported.
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? These are the questions that journalists should ask when reporting a story. Thomas' meticulous dressing down of Jonathan Chait emphasized these points yesterday. Here is the problem for the press corps, and it is one that they failed to grasp: All of those answers were given. Each of those questions were answered, and we answered them in this beginning of this post. Cheney and Whittington were hunting quail. Whittington came up behind cheney, surprising him, and he was accidently shot. He was rushed to the hospital for treatment, and today suffered a setback with a minor heart attack. Story done, and time for the press to move on.
But as we pointed out, for the White House press corps, it is all about them. They could care less about getting the story, and moving on. No, that isn't enbough for them. They sensed blood in the water, and pounced. And this is the reason why they keep losing the media war. There was no blood for them to sense. It was an accident. Cheney didn't intentionally shoot his friend. But, these people are seething mad that they weren't notified.
For them, they are upset they were not told about the incident. They were upset that some podunk, nowhere paper scooped them on a "big" story. And, they are disgusted that they have nothing to go in front of the cameras with. The ego of these cry-babies is through the roof, and they cannot stand not being part of the story. This is why the media is failing. They have decided that the news depends totally upon them. They are the gatekeepers. They hold all the keys, and all information must pass through them.
They forget their place in the world right now. Blogs and the new media have the forefront. We get the news quicker, and get it out the public quicker, and we do it better. We drop the bias, report the facts, and offer up commentary on what we report. We were ten steps ahead of the media when this accident occurred on Sunday. The public is sick of agenda journalism. They believe that if they drive their stories, the public will follow. The problem with this particular story is that no one cares. No one cares that the White House press corps is throwing a hissy fit. No one cares about David Gregory and whether or not he has a follow-up to a virtually non-story. Mr. McClellan made that abundantly clear to him today.
The MSM, and the press corps in the White House especially, had better pay close attention to their world because it is collapsing around them, and they are completely oblivious to it. This is typical right now for them. They still believe that they control the ebb and flow of the news. They do not. The new media does. With 27.7 million blogs on the Internet, talk radio, and FOX News, the MSM's days are numbered. David Gregory's days were numbered a long time ago--right about the time that Helen Thomas was told she was equally irrelevant.
The Bunny ;)
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 6:36 PM
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