Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Is this OBJECTIVITY at the Washington Post?!! Read the END!

THE DAILY CALLER'S PUBLISHER NEIL PATEL on DAVID WEIGEL(June 26,2010): TheDC’s Jonathan Strong wrote a piece today detailing numerous e-mails sent by Dave Weigel, a reporter who — until he resigned this afternoon — covered the conservative beat for the Washington Post. Strong’s article raises several troubling questions about Weigel himself, his superiors and colleagues at the Washington Post, and the hundreds of so-called objective journalists who are members of the JournoList e-mail group and have been privy to this information for months.

For example:

1) Why did the Washington Post hire someone with uncontrollable disdain for conservatives and Republicans to cover conservatives and Republicans?

When Weigel was hired, the Washington Post issued a press release saying that he had “quite a following and reputation chronicling the conservative movement” and that the paper looked forward to adding his “strong reportorial voice, and insights into the right, to our political coverage, primarily online, as we ramp up for the 2010 midterms.”

Strong’s article today clearly indicates that Weigel was hired to cover a subject he did not respect. Today’s piece also shows that Weigel has the mindset of a profane eighth grader when dealing with political issues. For example, Weigel repeatedly cast Republicans and conservatives as the bad guys, referring to them as “ratfuckers.”

2) How many reporters and editors at the Washington Post were aware of Weigel’s comments on JournoList?

JournoList, the listserv on which Weigel repeatedly insulted conservatives and Republicans, reportedly has more than 400 members. How many of those members currently work for the Washington Post? We know for certain that the listserv was founded by another Washington Post contributor, Ezra Klein. Why did Klein and other JournoList contributors who work for the Washington Post stand by and allow their newspaper’s readers to be conned into thinking that Weigel was an objective reporter with no axe to grind when they knew for a fact that wasn’t true?

3) How does the Washington Post plan on dealing with this issue? Weigel has resigned but the Post still owes its readers an explanation.

When the story about Weigel’s comments about Matt Drudge first appeared on Fishbowl DC, Weigel’s bosses at the Washington Post didn’t seem to think it was a big deal. According to POLITICO, one Washington Post editor said:

Dave’s apology to readers reflects he understands, in calmer hindsight, the need to exercise good judgment at all times and of not throwing stones, especially when operating from inside an echo-filled glass house that is modern-day digital journalism …Time to move on.

After today’s reporting by TheDC, does the Washington Post still think this is no big deal? The newspaper’s treatment of the issue so far suggests that conservatives and Republicans have zero reason to trust the newspaper’s reporting going forward.

4) What do all the other so-called objective journalists who are members of JournoList have to say? How can they claim any loose association with the concepts of truth and fairness as they stood by and participated in this fraud?

Few members of JournoList have commented publicly on Weigel to date. One of the few who has anonymously defended him to POLITICO:

Whoever broke the confidentiality of the list obviously has no respect for some pretty basic journalistic norms. But I can’t talk about it because it’s supposed to be confidential. Whoever leaked that is obviously extremely jealous of the exceptional work that Dave is doing for the Post, and whatever Dave said should be viewed in that light.

Excuse me? The Washington Post holds out Weigel as their reporter of choice to cover conservatives and Republicans. Weigel spends all his time going to conservative and Republican events and claiming to be an objective reporter there to cover them fairly. In between these events Weigel goes online and vents on JournoList to 400 other journalists — many who claim to be of the “objective” variety — about just how much he hates those “ratfucker” (his word) conservatives and Republicans. All of the other journalists in the know about this fraud just sit tight and let the fraud continue. Are these the “basic journalistic norms” that those on JournoList are upholding? The reporters on JournoList owe their readers an explanation. End of Story. (Z: sorry for the bad language...it's all direct quotes, of course)

Z: By the way.. Time Mag wrote this about the situation "Hopefully, his resignation will give the paper a chance to start over again, this time with someone who approaches the conservative beat with slightly more curiosity and critical enthusiasm for the subject." Apparently, they feel that the left doesn't deserve any 'curiosity or critical enthusiasm' but the Right sure does! You can't make this stuff up!

YOU CAN"T MAKE THIS UP! I was just about to publish this post, which I'd written on the 26th, and heard that David Weigel has a NEW GIG............AT MSNBC, that bastion of fairness and honesty! You can't make this up....... I thank the blogger angels for their help :-)

z

19 comments:

Danny Wright said...

This is what we will be asked to, and eventually made to, bail out. Just one more step closer to government funded propaganda.

Z said...

Dan, yes, we'll be bailing out the newspapers...while Obama's shutting down the internet ON US.

VAT A KOUNTRY.

Unknown said...

Haven't been by in awhile. Don't know why, because your posts are always bright and informative!

Anonymous said...

Just another case of the inmates running the asylum Z.

Pris

WomanHonorThyself said...

youre right girl..u cant make this stuff up!..Just one more step closer to government funded propaganda...oiy!

Anonymous said...

I first question why Time Magazine, following the hatchet job Tim McGirk did on innocent Marines in Iraq, would comment on this situation at the Washington Post. But I believe your reference to “so-called objective journalists” reaches beyond reality.

Objective journalism exists where reporters let the facts tell their story. This doesn’t happen anywhere in America these days. Rather, journalists today write stories and then manufacture facts and stretch circumstances to their limits in order to file credible (not truthful) stories. Any journalist who isn’t published is no more than an employee in transition. So we must understand that journalism is a cutthroat business; that journalists will do whatever it takes to get their by-line into print, and give their editor exactly what he or she wants in terms of a story line.

Beyond this, the first question suggests that hiring policy at the Washington Post should follow some fair and balanced guidelines. Are you kidding? What has the Washington Post ever done to make anyone think the Washington Post produces balanced news? Such organizations simply don’t exist; I don’t think they ever did. Now as it happens, my son received his degree in journalism from the very liberal UT Austin … and I can attest that ‘uncontrollable disdain for conservatives’ is part of the curriculum there. Writing a story that demeans the United States is an automatic A; turning in a thoughtful, balanced piece earns the professor’s public criticism.

Anonymous said...

BTW ... speaking of objectivity, the Kagan hearings today prompted one pundit to note that Ms. Kagan is not a leftist at all; she's very moderate in her views. This prompted me to consider, "Moderate in the sense that she wouldn't endorse sending Jews off to concentration camps, but neither would she attempt to interfere with the process."

Sam

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

What's MSNBC? Is that the channel that sells discount jewelry to the fisrt 500 callers?

Z said...

Mustang, I'm afraid you're right about objective journalism, it just doesn't exist.
Then you have lefties screeching at FOX for allowing people to give opinions when those shows ARE opinion shows, admittedly OPINION and these same screechers feel Wolf Blitzer, Rick Sanchez, and others at CNN are fair and balanced when they're at LEAST as left in their coverage as O'Reilly is right in his (even tho the jerk says he's not ideological, who's he kidding?)
Ya, Wolf Blitzer's love of Palestinians and stilted coverage of Israel, etc. is "balanced!" Honestly. Sanchez is as almost as bad as Olbermann but his show isn't billed as opinion so that's supposed to be NEWS?!!! The adoration of Obama by Crowley, Borger, etc etc at CNN is NORMAL?

Ah, well...we have lefties teaching journalism students, lefties teaching teachers, and the beat goes on.

SAM...Good analogy. I'm not quite sure how I feel about kagan yet and hope to see more of the hearing tomorrow if I can. I know she's not qualified because she's barely written anything and hasn't the experience I'd personally like to see for the highest court in the land...and I know she leans very left......but I"m not sure HOW much I think she doesn't deserve to sit on the bench, if that makes sense :-)
Thanks for being here!

Z said...

Beamish, it might as well be..it's JADED :-)

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

One of the most left-wing Senators ever to befoul the halls of power in Washington passed away Monday leaving his legacy of Ku Klux Klan loyalist racism and pork project spending behind, and we're passing comment on this putz instead?

I guess if we can't say anything nice...

I Ain't Got No Blog said...

Note to Michelle:, I for the first time was disappointed in our country when your lying husband was elected but I can assure you that mistake won't be made again.

Brooke said...

I can't believe that Ducky hasn't been by yet to tell us that the media is actually controlled by the right-wing and all the news stories out there are so slanted.

Heh.

GM Roper said...

I'm offering a song and a PB&J for a copy of the archives of the JournoList.

Speedy G said...

Newspeak Dictionary entry for...

Object-ivity: How today's journalist's view the minds of their readers, as objects to be manipulated.

Z said...

GM...I have to Google Journolist, I have to admit not having a clue on that.

Brooke...:-)

I AIN'T GOT NOT....From your lips to God's ears.

Speedy...perfect definition. Things just get worse every minute lately, huh?

Ducky's here said...

"This would be a vastly better world to live in if Matt Drudge decided to handle his emotional problems more responsibly, and set himself on fire."

--------------
I LOVE this guy !

MathewK said...

"Why did the Washington Post hire someone with uncontrollable disdain for conservatives and Republicans to cover conservatives and Republicans?"

I suppose they couldn't find anyone unbiased in the MSM. I'm sure most truly objective reporters wouldn't want to work for one of the msm outlets.

I mean, who would want to compromise their integrity and engage in ass-kissing slimy democrat ass all the time.

Z said...

Ducky, that says an awful lot about you. Sometimes I just hope you're trying to inflame my readers and don't really see how awful some of the things you say are.

Mathew, you have a point....