Ayu Sura

Ted Koppel takes down Bill O’Reilly and launches war on ‘partisan ranting’ | The Raw Story

Watch both videos - I was surprised to see him list Rachel Maddow as one of the culprits, but then what I've seen of her has been from posts on SLU.

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detrius

Or he wants to be Will McAvoy.

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Cindy Claveau

Maybe he's just trying to be "fair and balanced", but I see no equivalence to the (admittedly partisan) rants from Maddow and the outright lamebrain nonsense that O'Reilly and Hannnity spew.

Fact checking any of them can quickly reveal the truth: Maddow goes after the Right with both fists, yes, but she does it with humor and sly wit sprinkled with LOTS of facts. She doesn't call anyone names that I've heard and she's never made the same appeals to fear that Fox is famous for.

O'Reilly, on the other hand, calls people "pinheads" and Hannity won't let a guest say two words without interrupting unless he agrees with them.

Huge difference between these examples and the irony is that Maddow would probably be the first to seriously consider Koppel's points while O'Reilly will just call him a pinhead.

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Rory Patrick

We could really use one right now.

Zaida Gearbox

I've always liked Ted Koppel. Once again, he gets to be my hero for the day.

Siggy

He's coming to the end of his career and thus can kick the anthill and see what comes up.

There's really nothing in those videos I hadn't already said for the last near decade here... I had long debates on the original SL forums and on the budding SLU about the 'liberal media', and how it was actually 'the corporate media'.

Good for Ted, but seriously no young gun is going to rock the boat when (as one of my best friends, and NBC anchor in Las Vegas put it) 'we're paid a ridiculous sum of money to do something that's really not that hard... we will NEVER find another job like this, so given a choice between rocking the boat and towing the line - I'll say what I'm told to say and look how I'm told to look'

The Morrows and the Cronkites have long since departed - the closest we have now are either retiring or dying off.

'Infotainment News' has been around since Wallace caved to big tobacco, and it's not going away anytime soon... it's a shame....


.....'but that's the way it is'

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Edav Nomad

Well from what I can tell Maddow is on the left and that maybe what Koppel is referring to. We need more people that do it from a middle of the road perspective that just gives the news and the facts without taking sides but that'll probably never happen again unless the viewers get tired of how it.

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Han Held

This difference is very real and very profound and I think Koppel; for whatever reason; is deliberately overlooking it.

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Siggy

No matter who puts it forward we're too entrenched in 'what is' for there to be much change without regulation (which will never happen - it's just got too much political currency for anyone to step down on the bullshit that passes for journalism now - doubly so for Fox).

To Fox News Corp there is 'us' and 'the liberal media' and the people that watch fox, watch it to feel validated in their current ideas. Other News Stations are guilty of it too, they might not run with the concept as Fox does - but News stories aren't presented on informational worth - they're presented by things like impact, how the viewer will 'connect' with it... and 'balanced' in that they want to have an equal amount of good news and bummer news and end on a high note like some twat and a skateboarding dog to make you feel warm and fuzzy so you'll come back at 11.

The only way for it to stop is for it to become unprofitable - and so long as folks dial in for Jerry Springer and Honey booboo - that's never going to happen either. You rock the boat - you'll get fired.

The day I worked that out I framed and hung a quote in my edit bay, in it's entirety... and refused for the next 6 years to ever take it down...

"The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.

Which is more or less true. For the most part, they are dirty little animals with huge brains and no pulse. "

Nephilaine Protagonist

Here is the problem with the middle of the road perspective, it is the same problem with the concept of a political center: I carry the same values politically that I have always carried. When I first came into legal adulthood as a voter, I found myself in the center. Fast forward to now, I am solidly on the left. The goal posts on either side have shifted, those standing in what they thought was the center are now off to the side somewhere, the middle of the road doesn't stay the middle.

What doesn't change are facts, what is known about a sequence of events, the comments as they were phrased without any additional editorializing. But nobody would watch that, its too dry and uninteresting.

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Han Held

Especially for Fox; who wouldn't have had even 1/16th of it's current influence if it wasn't for the removal of the fairness doctrine under Reagan; ditto for Rush Limbaugh.

Siggy

The clever thing they've done - actually quite brilliant - is to sandwich what are basically editorial shows between what was once News.. People tune into O'Reilly and stay for the News.

They call the whole block 'News' and can have the fallback to say 'oh no... O'Reilly is ACTUALLY current affairs' if the shit hits the fan.

It's also warmed the audience to the more abusive style of newscasters they have there.. go back 10 years and you'll still see the same bullshit half-facts and carefully injected opinion wrapped around implied sources 'some people say....... remember that buzzphrase?' - but it wasn't the same caliber of vitriolic diarrhea you hear today... by using a 'sandwich' they have climatized their viewers to what they want to be like.. They start in the morning and the fear and hate doesn't stop till evening..

And folks can't tear themselves away from it... It's great business... and lousy news.

For some reason I find myself using sammiches as examples of the right more and more nowadays - for instance I can sum up the GOP election platform as 'a big shit sammich' - the more bread you have... the less shit you're gonna taste..

Eric Knox

Fox News should really be illegal. They're NOT a news organization at all. Fox News is nothing more than the propaganda/media arm of the right-wing conservative portion of the Republican party.

Cindy Claveau

While I agree that they're not a news organization, trying to outlaw Fox would be a direct assault on freedom of speech - and I'm not talking about some whackadoo's insane street corner ranting. I'm talking about the Constitutional protection of the press (using the term loosely, here).

Not only that, but it would probably backfire and set off an epic backlash from the Right that would make the Tea Party look like ... well, a tea party.

Siggy

Silenced - no. Constitutionally wrong.

The only thing that could possibly be done as far as I see, would be a firmer hand on dealing with yellow journalism.

"Say what you like, but you can't call it News"

This is a pie in the sky pipe dream that will never happen, and to tell the truth I don't think it would make a lick of difference if it did.

The Daily Show is a current affairs comedy show, with a setup and presentation that satirizes the News. It's honest in it's dealings as such - and constantly reminds the people at large 'WE ARE NOT A NEWS SHOW'

And yet it's probably one of the best places to get information on a national/global scale in America today - you will get your facts and a bit of a laugh besides.. It lambasts both right and left with equal aplomb, and thus is actually 'fair and balanced'.
It's won several peabody awards - ironically for 'excellence in journalism'
John Stewart has had to defend his position on Fox News several times - reminding and berating the people there to remember 'I am not a News Show!'

The point is - it's also about how you're viewed... with all The Daily Shows disclaimers, it is still viewed as 'the News'. You can scream at them all day long that you're not - it won't change their viewpoint.

Fox Infotainment would only have to pay 'lip service' to any kind of regulation or naming convention... people ALREADY see O'Reilly's show as News Fact and Rush, well he might as well be blogging on stone tablets.

For change in that arena to happen, it has to be the people changing.

Void

of course he is... it's called lack of examples.

now, there's no question that Maddow is partisan... it's pretty rare when she hammers a democrat. but Then again, the dms seemto do a better job of avoiding doing much that average joe on the street care about (or at least are better at hiding it... politicians are still politicians). But her schtick is the utterly ridiculous, and easily falsifiable. Thanks mostly to the disorganization caused by the tea party pseudo split, that comes mostly from the (R) side of the aisle. She's about a step above stewart on the professional level, and I have little doubt that if the Dems were getting caught more in insane circumstances she'd have a merry day with them too.

but back to why Ted used her for an example... a possible reason is that he's aiming for a non-partisan news style... laudable, assuming that both sides are well behaved. another possibility is that he's trying to play the good guy voice of reason that attempts to set out a middle ground policy... which is only workable if a) both sides are not diametrically opposed on particular high value issues, and b) both sides are reasonable (if one isn't, the middle is no longer the middle, if both aren't you've got a grand canyon divide, neither is workable)

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Beebo Brink

I would welcome a conservative voice that was as insightful and fact-based as Maddow, but so far I haven't seen one.

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Jopsy Pendragon

I tried watching the Bill O'Reilly video... I had to stop.

I'm a non-violent person.. honest I am. But listening to the raw arrogant smug lying ego that he is... fills me with an incredible urge to put my fist through my screen where his face is, and I'd rather not pay for a replacement monitor.