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Pravda
If you want a laugh, you should read Jack Shafer’s post on Politico — entitled Will American Now Have a Pravda? It begins with this sentence: “With Breitbart’s Steve Bannon now in a seat of White House power, Donald Trump will have a weapon no president has ever wielded.” Glenn Reynolds’ response on Instapundit is a classic:
- CTRL-F David Rhodes, zero mentions.
- CTRL-F John Dickerson, zero mentions.
- CTRL-F Stephanopoulos, zero mentions.
- CTRL-F Sharpton, zero mentions.
- CTRL-F Andrea Mitchell, zero mentions.
- CTRL-F Tavis Smiley, zero mentions.
- CTRL-F Katie Couric, zero mentions.
- CTRL-F Bill Moyers, zero mentions.
- CTRL-F Gwen Ifill, zero mentions.
- CTRL-F Candy Crowley, zero mentions.
- CTRL-F Martha Raddatz, zero mentions.
- CTRL-F Jeffrey Goldberg, zero mentions.
- CTRL-F JournoList, zero mentions.
A host of other names could easily be added to Glenn’s list.
Someone who works at Pravda-on-the-Internet and who consorts with those employed at Pravda-on-the-Hudson, Pravda-on-the-Potomac, and the various branches of Pravda-on-the-Airwaves should know better. As Wikileaks revealed, there really has been very little difference between most of the journalists who work for the mainstream press and the campaign staff hired by the Democratic National Committee. They even edit one another’s prose.
Self-knowledge seems in short supply among today’s liberals. Or is their defect a lack of shame? Shafer ought to spend some time looking in a mirror. Barack Obama has “wielded” a host of such “weapons” now for more than eight years.
Published in Journalism
Thanks for bringing this to our attention
Paul,
Exactly what does Jack Shafer think the New York Times was for Obama????!!!!????
Jack, truly you are an idiot!!
Regards,
Jim
And here I thought the river that runs past Manhattan was called the Hudson. I did not realize it was de Nile.
Seawriter
And yet, with all the talk about how the national mainstream media was “all in” for Hillary this election season, no one protests the existence of NPR, which is the taxpayer-supported clarion for cultural Marxism.
It’s funny that Shafer never mentioned it.
If you had listened to “Fresh Air” during the campaign months Terry Gross and Dave Davies never failed to take the conversations to the political battle and to elicit anti-Trump opinions from all of their guests.
All of the programs – reviews, game shows, documentaries, etc. – were like that.
Zero out their budget and sell the real estate. In an internet age there is no reason for NPR’s continued existence.
The DC press is tied to politicians of the left.
Claire Shipman, a senior national correspondent at ABC News, is married to Jay Carney, the former White House Press Secretary.
David Rhoades, the current president of CBS News, is the brother of Ben Rhoades
Chuck Todd’s spouse, Kristian, is the co-founder of Maverick Strategies & Mail did work for the Sanders Campaign
Sure, but remember that they only have their positions because of merit.
They are the smartest people and the ones best qualified for the jobs.
(Remember the name of the chapter in “Atlas Shrugged:”
“The Aristocrats of Pull”)
Of course we have a Pravda. It goes by the name The New York Times.
Seriously, what is it with leftists that they can be so foolishly hypocritical, and not even have one moment of self awareness of their bad faith? How does this happen? Is there some deep psychic exchange in their minds between a deep personal dishonesty and their ideology? Seriously asking. Tim
I thought it was called Russia Today (RT).
I would like for Trump’s new Press Secretary to review all those that will be admitted with Press Passes to document these types of relationships or donations to candidates or Left wing causes. When that “reporter” asks a question that is out of line/unfair or leading, the Press Secretary can can lower the boom in front of all assembled as it will be projected on tele-prompter for that Press Secretary’s use. Do the same for any Administration Official or the new President’s use.
They have been knocked back on their heels, the public mistrusts/hates them, go on the offensive.
Rush Limbaugh’s producers have been doing mashups of at least a dozen broadcast-media “personalities” describing any news story using exactly the same verbiage for years. Obviously, they have no clue that a viewer or listener might have their number. What I have always wondered is who actually dictates the verbiage that they all repeat? The DNC? The NYT? Agitprop, Comrades.
Non-leftists see politics as a competition of ideas in the marketplace of American freedom, recognizing that right or wrong, the people decide; then we all adhere to the rule of law. Leftists see themselves as the glorious apex of evolution, both scientific and social. They must control society for the good of mankind, the Constitution be damned.
Psychological projection is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against their own unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others. For example, a person who is habitually rude may constantly accuse other people of being rude. It incorporates blame shifting.
That’s not our Pravda. It’s just Pravda.
Going one step beyond psychological projection, I’ve often theorized that they think that we do the same sort of shady and illicit things they do. Obviously there have been Republican politicians who’ve done illegal things, but as Rush has demonstrated for most of his time on the radio, the leftist media characterizes Republicans in a bad light all the time.
Back before the Clintons I somehow used to think these shady and illicit things were the dark underside of Republican politics. The Clintons made me aware that although Democrats didn’t have a complete monopoly on corrupt abuse of power, they easily had the greatest market share.
From Politico story:
And depending how Bannon shapes it, Breitbart could become the closest thing the United States has ever had to a “state-run media enterprise
Ever heard of NPR or PBS?????
The gall of these so-called journalists is overwhelming. They think we are stupid I guess.
Yes, the lack of self awareness is remarkable. Thanks Paul.
The ultimate example is Nancy Pelosi accusing the Tea Party movement of being “astro turf”.
Organized (AFSCME is often the culprit), bused in, paid protests was invented by and used exclusively by the Left.
Most of the Right was not even aware of organized paid protests as a concept, much less that there is a name for this type of protest: “astro turf”.
@timwright, I honestly believe that the Left (speaking broadly, but taking 95% of my friends as the example) takes the William F Buckley view on pushing old ladies: one pushes a lady in front of a bus and one pushes her to safety, but only a fool would equate both actions on the grounds that old ladies are in both cases being pushed.
Well, any action taken by the Left is acceptable in pursuit of the goal, which is to defeat the forces of darkness. I don’t mean this to sound cynical: it is the same way in which we would regard it as imperative to oppose Nazism. If we were in charge of a college campus, we would (probably) have some guidelines on speech. Those currently in charge of colleges simply make those lines a little narrow.
The moral kernel of this attitude is the belief that it is not permissible to tolerate the intolerant. One can say what one likes, provided it is not intolerant. This does at least have a certain logic.
I reiterate that this is a genuine moral conviction. The Left (broadly defined) honestly seems to believe that only constant vigilance prevents America turning into The Handmaid’s Tale. A defeat for the Left obviously means, therefore, that their efforts need to be redoubled.
Given the culture and the colleges, I honestly don’t know how this can be reversed, if at all.