Rectal Journalism

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Sat, 14 Jan 2006 19:45:55 -0700

" Rectal Journalism "

 

 

The Rise Of

Rectal Journalism

 

David Sirota

Working For Change

1-12-6

 

A lot has already been written about Joe Klein's latest column - a

true foray into fantasy. The man is the epitomy of a journalist who is

so self-absorbed, so obsessed with himself, or so lazy that he quite

literally thinks he can just make things up. But sadly, Klein

epitomzes a new brand of journalism sweeping the nation. It's what I

call Rectal Journalism because its based on reporters and pundits

simply pulling stuff right out of their asses and peddling it as fact,

when in fact it is anything but.

 

Here's what I'm talking about. Klein writes:

 

" A strong majority would favor the NSA program [bush

ordered]...Democrats are about as far from the American mainstream on

these issues as Republicans were when they invaded the privacy of

Terri Schiavo's family in the right-to-die case last year. "

 

Klein published his piece one day after the Associated Press published

its poll showing " a majority of Americans want the Bush administration

to get court approval before eavesdropping on people inside the United

States, even if those calls might involve suspected terrorists. " In

criticizing the administration for not getting warrants as required by

law, Democrats were standing with 56 percent of the public. By

contrast, ABC News reported that just 27 percent of the public

supported the Republicans' intervention in the Schiavo affair. In

other words, Klein made this assertion even though the hard data was

there for him to check. He just chose not to look at it (and by the

way, it was Klein who, during the Schiavo affair, urged Democrats to

support the GOP's actions).

 

This penchant by pundits to pull things straight out of their rectum

is really becoming a widespread problem - and it has been on full

display over the last few weeks. For example, MSNBC's Chris Matthews

recently painted Rep Tom DeLay (R-TX) as living a middle-class

lifestyle - days after the Associated Press published an expose

actually analyzing hundreds of documents showing that as DeLay " became

a king of campaign fund-raising, he lived like one, too. "

Specifically, " over the past six years, the former House majority

leader and his associates have visited places of luxury most

Americans have never seen, often getting there aboard corporate jets

arranged by lobbyists and other special interests. "

 

Then Newsweek's Eleanor Clift called Newt Gingrich a " bipartisan

reformer " in the wake of the revelations about the GOP corruption.

There is, of course no mention about how Gingrich was the architect of

the K Street Project at the center of the scandals.

 

Then we saw Time Magazine's Matt Cooper and Mike Allen pull out of

their asses the fairy tale that President Bush is fully distanced from

the GOP corruption scandals because he supposedly " does not like to

have contributors or local officials in his cars, planes or holding

rooms unless they are there for a good reason, and he sometimes

questions his underlings sharply if someone he considers extraneous is

admitted. " No, that wasn't the recollection of some acid trip Cooper

and Allen had - they repoted that as fact, and simply decided not to

mention that " GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team

logged nearly 200 contacts with the new administration in just its

first 10 months, according to a May 2005 story by the Associated Press.

 

And there was CNN's Wolf Blitzer claiming that Democrats took cash

directly from Jack Abramoff and are thus equally implicated into the

corruption scandals - again, a line wholly fabricated.

 

Obviously, this is disturbing on a number of levels. First and

foremost, rectal journalism grossly misinforms the public to the point

where it's actually unfair to blame ordinary citizens for not knowing

what's actually going on in the political system that is supposed to

represent them. How could they know? More and more of what they see,

read and hear is made up fiction by the media " experts. "

 

Additionally, it is quite troubling to look at how Rectal Journalism

is substituting for coverage of truly important stories. For instance,

as the media ramrodded the President's illegal wiretapping into a " he

said, she said " story, fawned all over Newt Gingrich, and portrayed

Democrats as deeply involved in the Abramoff scandal, they wholly

ignored the Bush administration's declaration that the U.S.'s official

foreign policy would be officially taking a radical turn. Also, in

their entire coverage of the New York transit strike, they never once

mentioned that workers were asking for a fraction of what New York

city and state governments had just handed over to Goldman Sachs, the

wealthiest investment bank in the world. And the list of uncovered

stories goes on...

 

To be honest, I'm not sure what can be done to combat the rise of

Rectal Journalism. Because this is not just something that has

happened accidentally. I'm not a conspiracy theorist - I just think

reporters aren't that dumb as to accidentally peddle horseshit as

fact. I think it's a reflex of today's media - whether conscious or

subconscious - to worship power and celebrity, to fear making enemies

on the D.C. cocktail party circuit, and to ignore the stories that are

actually important because they are too hard, or too complex, or too

frightening to cover in a serious way.

 

© 2006 Working Assets.

http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?

 

 

(It is really very highly crafted and scripted propaganda, given down from on

high, and reported/read by idiots. And watched by morons. Rush and a few others

were the advance guard to a wave of professional liars and bullshit artists )