Right-Wing Media Watchdogs Can't Handle the Truth
Katharine Seelye made Wednesday's edition with "A Blog New World," a print version of her post on the Times' political blog about the founder of the Bush-hating Daily Kos's declaration that the mainstream media will heretofore be known as the "traditional media" -media which have become outmoded, thanks to...the Daily Kos.
Markos Moulitsas, founder of the DailyKos Web site, the biggest liberal hub online, wrote on Monday that the heretofore "mainstream media" should be called the "traditional media." Calling it mainstream implies that the Internet is fringe, he said, when in fact liberal bloggers, at least, are "representatives of the mainstream, and the country is embracing what we're selling."
In addition, he said, the term "mainstream" adopts the argot of the right. And, he wrote, in a gesture that may surprise his liberal followers, the term "traditional" is a less negative way to distinguish the old media from new media. He says the old media, er, the traditional media, does serve a useful purpose when it writes the "truth" and reflects reality - something he says the right can't handle."
Seelye forwarded more ofMoulitsas's clichéd left-wing media watchdog talkingpoints:
"Sure, we need to keep the media honest, but as an institution, it's important they exist and do their job well," he wrote. "And insulting and dismissing them out of hand, using the same language the right-wingers use, doesn't help us achieve that goal."
Isn't it odd how serenely the Times accepts its new second-rate status when the bad news comes from the left? Then again, maybe it's justified humility, given that the New York Times Co. stock dipped to a 13-year-low Wednesday (to $12.38) on a disappointing earnings report. The Times is also raising its newsstand price a quarter to a $1.50. As blogger Ace of Spades explains, to an urban elite readershipadapted to Starbucks' premium prices, that's not necessarily a bug but a feature!
Reporter Michael Falcone forwarded another suggestion from the left-wing net-roots in a July 17 story: Place a badge of shameon Fox News.
It may be the blogosphere's equivalent of the scarlet letter, and the organizers of Netroots Nation, a gathering of liberal bloggers that is taking place this week, say they will be more than happy to pin it on Fox News.
Planners of the conference want to force representatives of the cable news network to wear credentials identifying them as opinion media rather than providing them with the regular press passes other news outlets will receive.
Falcone bolstered the idea by citing that well-known source of even-keeled commentary, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann:
The idea to label Fox journalists as opinion media is, in fact, not a new one. It's been tossed around on blogs, and MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann also mentioned the idea on his show last summer.
No mention by Falcone of MSNBC's liberal slant.
