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Howard Kurtz's Take on Self-Loathing Liberal Media: Naïve, Disingenuous, or Willfully Ignorant?

Posted April 25, 2008 | 02:12 PM (EST)

Read More: Bill Kristol, Bill Kristol New York Times, Howard Kurtz, Howie Kurtz, Karl Rove, Karl Rove Iraq, Karl Rove Newsweek, Markos Moulitsas, Markos Moulitsas Newsweek, Media, Tony Snow, Tony Snow CNN, Tony Snow Fox News, William Kristol, Breaking Media News

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In his column today, Howard Kurtz takes me on over my post on the self-loathing liberal media -- and completely misses the point:

Here's what Arianna isn't telling you. When Newsweek hired Rove, the magazine also hired Markos Moulitsas. Kristol's once-a-week column is balanced on the Times op-ed page by Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, Frank Rich and Bob Herbert. And CNN almost never puts on conservative contributors without balancing them with libs; indeed, Snow appeared with Dee Dee Myers during his debut this week. So is Arianna saying the media shouldn't employ conservatives at all?

Of course that's not what I'm saying. Read the post again, Howie.

The point isn't that the MSM shouldn't employ conservatives at all. It's that they shouldn't employ unabashed propagandists like Snow, Kristol, or Rove -- people who have proven that they are willing to lie, obfuscate, and purposefully ignore the facts to further the agenda of the right's lunatic fringe. I may not often agree with Peggy Noonan or George Will or David Brooks or John Fund or David Frum or Tucker Carlson or P.J. O'Rourke or Tony Blankley -- but they aren't operating as propagandists for Bush/Cheney.

Karl Rove, as well as being one of the architects of the last seven years of disastrous rule, is an advisor to the McCain campaign. Which campaign is Markos Moulitsas advising, which covert CIA agent did he out, and which U.S. Attorney did he have fired?

Media outlets like CNN, Newsweek and the New York Times should absolutely include conservative voices in the mix. Just not those whose careers have been built on intentionally deceiving the American people.

The self-loathing liberal media's trend of embracing soulless shills and professional fabricators goes hand in hand with the look-the-other way ethos that gave us the "military analysts" scandal uncovered by the New York Times this week. And for Howie Kurtz not to make the connection between the two is either very naïve, very disingenuous, or willfully ignorant.

Related:
Arianna Huffington: The Self-Loathing Liberal Media


 

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collapse NoFactsJustTruth See Profile I'm a Fan of NoFactsJustTruth

Some are fully able to benefit from logic, Arianna, some others are compromised by an absolutism that prevents the benefit logic might deliver them, and then there are those that CHOOSE to sell-out their fellow man, intentionally confusing them just to rob them of any possible enlightenment from logic. Whether the Kurtzes of the world actually FEAR for their jobs and the whip of their corporate masters, or worse, they have NO fear yet STILL knowingly steal the ability to reason from less gifted for their own personal gain$, the TRUTH is that 'defenders' of blatant deceivers and 180-spinners are in many ways more damaging to perceptive reality than anything the roves and kristols could ever accomplish on their own.

I think for many sincere but less thoughtful types being targeted, the roves and snow-jobs are far easier to recognize as TRUE liars and hypocrites, somewhat limiting their effectiveness as manipulators. The Kurtzes, on the other hand, provide those 'big-time liars' with cover, and just enough plausibility, to confuse non-critical thinkers and allow them an excuse to escape any internal conflict and instead manufacture some pseudo self-righteousness.

As efforts are made by you and others to enlighten readers to the TRUE nature of some beasts, plagues of MSM Kurtzes these days seem determined to damage 'logic' and even reality itself.

Keep providing the TRUTH to others, Arianna, and perhaps the Kurtzes of the world will find a well deserved obsoleteness. Thank you.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:33 AM on 04/28/2008
collapse Zankee See Profile I'm a Fan of Zankee

Truth is OF the beholders interpretation.., Honesty is OF the soul; wouldn't it be more prudent to persue "Honesty" -as the mainstay for corrections- and, SINCERELY punish the offenders accordingly..?
Truth is but a LIE in disguise....

Truth will reveal itself as Honor and Respect are restored....

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:55 PM on 04/28/2008
collapse Zankee See Profile I'm a Fan of Zankee

Arianna:

Awareness is the guide to "Enlightment".., your unyielding attempts to reveal the deceptions and lies, inspires the spirit to "post", and, "toast" to your Being.., keep your beacon focused on the hidden hazards.., it's a heavy "fog" we're in....

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:42 AM on 04/27/2008
collapse Intrepid44 See Profile I'm a Fan of Intrepid44

It's not only our African-American brothers and sisters who are disgusted with the turn of the Clintons. I am thoroughly disgusted with Ms. Hillary's attempt to destroy Barack Obama so that if he does get the nomination, he will not win the general election so she can run in 2012.
FORGET IT HILLARY, YOU HAVE LOST ME FOREVER.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:40 AM on 04/27/2008
collapse letsgetsmart See Profile I'm a Fan of letsgetsmart

I just love those who say, lets be fair and admit that both sides have bad apples. Saying that the three that Arianna mentioned are on the same level with all others is purposeful blindness. The term liberal media is nothing but a sales job right out of Machiavelli. Steal a presidential election, approve mass ownership of media, have conservative moguls buy it all up, put out your message and blame all problems on the other side.. Takes a lot of nerve to do this or maybe a total disregard for most of the other citizens of this country. It is true that Arianna has shown her tastes and preferences between Obama and Clinton but then again who hasn't? I am not the biggest fan of her older track record but since Bush and crew got into power, she has been one of the few voices worth listening to concerning the direction of our good old USA. Even Keith shows a leaning toward Obama instead of an even keel. The point is that you all have brains and the opportunity, like this web site, to get the full story and other peoples views and make up your own minds. Just as long as you all get out of your homes this fall and vote dem for everything, we will get better.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:10 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse BuckarooBanzai See Profile I'm a Fan of BuckarooBanzai

It always amazes me that people can't tell the difference between a pundit with an point of view and a political operative. Sure there are conservative thinkers and, yes they are trying to promote a point of view and they should have a forum.

Political operatives like Rove, Snow and Kristol are not their to inform they are there to promote the specific interests of their party in what ever way they can.

A good example was Bill Kristol's hawkish position on Iran last fall. Because he was pretending to be a pundit he made it sound reasonable and necessary. In fact, we know now after the NY Times broke the NIE story, that the Republicans were deliberately ramping up the tension on Iraq to give their candidates more traction in November.

The NY Times, Newsweek and CNN have have turned over some of the most prestigious media platforms to party operatives who will use them to do the dirty work of their organizations.

ps. Howie: CNN canned Carville and Begala when they found they were doing Hillary's work rather than the network's. The same should hold true for Republicans.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:42 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse Sneaky See Profile I'm a Fan of Sneaky

"The point isn't that the MSM shouldn't employ conservatives at all. It's that they shouldn't employ unabashed propagandists like Snow, Kristol, or Rove -- people who have proven that they are willing to lie, obfuscate, and purposefully ignore the facts to further the agenda of the right's lunatic fringe."

Only if you agree they shouldn't employ unabashed propagandists who have proven that they are willing to lie, obfuscate, and purposefully ignore the facts to further the agenda of the left's lunatic fringe. Let's be fair, here, and admit that there's no shortage of folks on either side, and calling for the exclusion of one and not the other isn't entirely fair or balanced.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:31 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse nazcalito See Profile I'm a Fan of nazcalito

who are the lunatic fringe leftists employed by the mass media? I can't think of any offhand.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:10 AM on 04/29/2008
collapse MrBeale See Profile I'm a Fan of MrBeale

Howard Kurtz doesn't get it and he never will. He's done this same kind of sick, nihilistic equating before and he'll do it again. For him, there really is no difference between Rove and Kos because in his simple mind, one is conservative and one is liberal. Thus, they balance each other out, and there's no problem. Except Moulitsas never crafted policy for a Presidential administration. I can't defend Dowd because she's as petty and vile as Kristol. She just doesn't cheerlead for endless war.

But examinations such as this would require more than two seconds of thought from Kurtz and his empty vessel of a mind can't comprehend the distinctions a middle-school civics student could grasp. Kurtz not only has a made-up job, but he's bad at it.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:08 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse LewisWalsh See Profile I'm a Fan of LewisWalsh

I had previously respected the work of Howard Kurtz; I thought that he was performing a valuable service. I must now rethink my previous evaluation. His criticism of your well thought out views indicates to me that he has given way to corporate media pressure, those individuals and organizations that are primarily interested in the bottom line, and secondarily, in keeping their empires sacrosanct.

No one who has his faculties intact can believe that the individuals in question are serious thinkers who are only interested in the public good. The fact is that they are operatives, a kind of fifth column for the extreme right, or to be more accurate, the fascist right.

Please, Arianna, you must use the more accurate terminology in describing these people. They are not simply strumpets for a "lunatic fringe;" they are operatives for the fascist right.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:32 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse Mykel See Profile I'm a Fan of Mykel

Attagirl, Arianna, you keep PUSHING those Neocon propagandist cockroaches right back into the dark corners they scurried from!

And another f*cking thing, the media is, by virtue of its questioning of authority, spreading of knowlege to the masses and empowering democracy, INHERENTLY LIBERAL.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:59 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse Albertde See Profile I'm a Fan of Albertde

It would be if it were doing its job. Which it isn't.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:18 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse Forest See Profile I'm a Fan of Forest

You've articulated perfectly the differences in the MSM hiring a conservative journalist and hiring a conservative journalist who's lies proved they were an enemy of "the people." Maybe the Clintons know what they're doing by employing mirror tactics on those who've used their power to undermine democracy.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:50 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse Swegin See Profile I'm a Fan of Swegin

The problem with Arianna's premise is that what she calls the "liberal media" is corporate MSM .... It goes well beyond self-loathing ..... these organizations and the people who manage them have no scruples ..... no integrity...... they have no interest in the truth ..... Their only concern is selling advertising based on the numbers of folks that read their rag or listen or view their tripe.

The hire a slime ball like Rove because they know he will sell advertising ..... end of story ...
It all about the Benjamen ..... They remain willfully ignorant of the harm they are doing to America in the process whoring after the almighty dollar.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:13 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse fightorleave2 See Profile I'm a Fan of fightorleave2

Uhm, Arianna, David Brooks is operating as a propagandist for Bush/Cheney, so is Peggy Noonan, and so is John Fund; Fund in particular is a hack and shill. If you want to get down to it so is Will. You will never hear Will say that McCain is a lying piece of dog shit. No, Will will claim that mccain is a hero, a straight talker, a lover of America, noble, brave, exuberant, Reaganesque. He will say all those things and more. Ariana, you are right that Snow, Rove or Kristol are as deluded and full of shit as Bush, Cheney, Perle, Feith, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Hadley, as well as Powell, Gates and the rest whose names are not yet known, but most of these so-called thinkers on the right will spin it every which way so long as it doesn't help any of us who ain't part of the establishment.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:48 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse Prism See Profile I'm a Fan of Prism

Posts like these are why we will lose in November. Are we really to take Arianna's version of truth as ultimate truth? There are many of us who find much of what she is talking about right here at HuffPo in the form of endless distorted emphasis on Obama's strenghths and Clinton's weaknesses. We get a daily dose of sensational headlines and misrepresentations of the facts. HuffPo's editorial "truth" is terrifying to an old pragmatic Dem like myself who sees a daily smear campaign against the tougher more electable Clinton. We ARE damaging the best hope for reclaiming the
White House but the TRUTH IS it is not prickly poet Obama, but the feisty chick who has a breathtaking ability to reach out across the country by speaking in everyday prose. Physician heal thyself.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:33 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse Albertde See Profile I'm a Fan of Albertde

The problem with Clinton is she will bring back the good old days - all of them. And start a new war while she is at it.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:20 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse professormoriarty See Profile I'm a Fan of professormoriarty

Oh my God! Rove at Newsweek. I had not heard. I have loved my Newsweek, but I cannot subscribe any more. They could not offend me more if they put the Grand Wizard on their editorial board.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:32 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse evekendall See Profile I'm a Fan of evekendall

I agree with you, Arianna, except for when you use the term "self-loathing LIBERAL media." The mainstream media has not been liberal for decades.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:14 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse LiberalBuzz See Profile I'm a Fan of LiberalBuzz

I watched about five minutes of Tony Snowjob on CNN yesterday and about threw up. He was his usual lying self taking the point of view that being liberal or progressive was not much different than being a terrorist and that anyone who vote for anyone except republicans is anti American.

I am watching about 30 percent of the time I used to on CNN because of their nonstop turn to the right. It shows that they could care less about journalistic integrity and more about trying to get some of that rightwing audience. There are NO liberal voices on CNN and when I hear people say there are, I have to point out that they are basically colmes (I love how Al Franken could make his name appear in tiny print and wish I could too) who put up a token opposite from Neo Clowns and the Cons on CNN.

And as soon as Kurtz used the phrase "Libs" you could tell where his tiny mind was going. You don't see him refer to conservatives as "cons" do you? Which would probably be more accurate.

I wrote CNN and told them I rarely watch their version of The FoxNewsWhoreHouse anymore. That until they had REAL conservatives and REAL liberals on the show and not phony liberals appearing with KNOWN LIARS who helped lie us into war, they could kiss my butt goodbye.

Keep giving them hell Arianna.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:08 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse Hallucinocynic See Profile I'm a Fan of Hallucinocynic

I agree with you, Arianna. The hires of Rove and Kristol were calculated moves intended, solely, to create a more provocative landscape on the op-ed page. MSM, both electronic and print, have become shills for the corporate entities that own them. An essentially nonregulated FCC has allowed the level of public discourse to become, largely, a battle of non sequitors and innuendo; and those who earn their living at the feet of those corporate entities are the least desirous of having this arrangement disturbed. And that goes for Howard Kurtz as well.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:53 AM on 04/26/2008
collapse speakingtruth2power See Profile I'm a Fan of speakingtruth2power


The MSM's "balancing" of opinions runs from fascist to centrist.

Populism is the cure for the destructive cancer of corporatism.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:31 AM on 04/26/2008
collapse WarrenChristmas See Profile I'm a Fan of WarrenChristmas

QUOTE
_______
I may not often agree with Peggy Noonan or George Will or David Brooks or John Fund or David Frum or Tucker Carlson or P.J. O'Rourke or Tony Blankley -- but they aren't operating as propagandists for Bush/Cheney.
______

Bullshit.

If you really believe this, then you have no right to question Kurtz's grasp of reality.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:09 AM on 04/26/2008
collapse Giordano Bruno See Profile I'm a Fan of Giordano Bruno

Oops, I meant belie not bely

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:02 AM on 04/26/2008
collapse Giordano Bruno See Profile I'm a Fan of Giordano Bruno

You are on target as usual Arianna. I would encourage all of you to take a look at this video. Beppe Grillo is basically saying the same thing. That the media has gone from being journalists, to disseminating the propaganda that the corporate media wants to hear. He says he has had enough. The passionate oratory he gives stirs my soul. He uses a few vulgarities that bely the seriousness of his discourse. The media has been hijacked, and its new mission is to drug the public into an even lower level of conscious thought. Truth will not be found in mainstream journals. Not the NYT, not the WaPo, not even the New Republic. And where shall we go to discover it? Beppe suggests the Internet is our potential savior. Check this out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e8XS7oLMUA

Beppe basically tells this audience that the media is the corporate establishment and vice versa.

Giordy

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:01 AM on 04/26/2008
collapse gregjones See Profile I'm a Fan of gregjones

The media diagnoses every demo....the old...young...rich....poor...educated....uneducated.... bowlers, gun toters and beer drinkers.....And somehow ALWAYS finds a way to give the advantage to Clinton. But just yesterday, the media finally began to raise the most incredible point in the whole race. HILLARY HAS LOST THE SUPPORT OF AN ENTIRE RACE OF PEOPLE !!!!!!!! Do you know how incredibly sad this fact is ? Hillary Clinton (who's husband was so loved as to have been called The First Black President) has alienated the black people of America to such a degree that there is no way blacks will support her EVER. This has nothing to do with Obama !!!! Keep in mind folks....Hillary started this campaign with 82% of the black support. But as blacks learned more about her (Goldwater Girl....Against Civil Rights Act of '64...etc.) combined with her LBJ statements and Bill's minimizing of Obama (fairy tale...Jesse won S.Carolina too...etc) blacks were shocked...and then incredibly offended by these revelations to a degree that can never be recovered. WE FEEL DECEIVED !!!! We hope that our friends of all races understand how we as blacks feel. This is the main story that needs to get out to the superdelegates. People across America are contacting the DNC 202-863-8000 to let them (and superdelegates) know that Hillary ABSOLUTELY KILLED HER ELECTABILTY. The truth is the truth !

Greg Jones
Blacks4Barack.org
(A Multi-Racial Organization...Dedicated To Truth)

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:48 AM on 04/26/2008
collapse KindAndThoughtful See Profile I'm a Fan of KindAndThoughtful



Arianna,

Thank you for the post. You are truly an original and deep-thinker.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:27 AM on 04/26/2008
collapse ubuntu See Profile I'm a Fan of ubuntu

It is so obvious that the media, probably realizing that Obama can win, is trying to throw up a roadblock to his election. I want to just throw up myself when watching the cable news stations. It's as if they have all received a memo. Chris Matthews is almost as wide-eyed as Tom Cruise before jumping on Oprah's couch, as he contemplates calling Obama "Mr. President. One has to remember that it was Matthews who attacked Texas senator with the "Name one thing Obama has done" question on the eve of the Texas two-step.

The rest of the media are suddenly buying into Clinton's "Fantasy Math," much as they went into step with the Bush Administration's cries of "WMD" before invading Iraq.

This has to be the saddest indictment of the media, and a media-driven electorate.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:18 AM on 04/26/2008
collapse Crozier See Profile I'm a Fan of Crozier

I, among many, are not surprised that global corporations like Murdoch, Disney,Time Warner, General Electric hire retired general and flag officers to hawk their MIC wares as pundits and lobbyists.
For years, these Right Wing borgs saw a boon in hiring liberal or progressive or populist anchors in order to maintain the myth of a "Liberal Media."

Now, with the End Game for the PNAC and the NWO, it is time to assure the sheeple that the " Liberal Media" is no more and that the Karl Rove, Tony Snowjob and the myriad of openly Neocon Pols who are now " independent analysts."

The few liberal, progressives or populists on MSM - Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow ????? The first has been painted as a nearly 50 year old with a 20 something girlfriend....and Rachel is lesbian.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:42 AM on 04/26/2008
collapse racetoinfinity See Profile I'm a Fan of racetoinfinity

"Crozier", when you say "NWO", I assume you're referring to "New World Order", which is a very fuzzy term, used by many on all "sides" of the political spectrum. Better perhaps to use "The Trilateral Commission, IMF, World Bank, WTO" to point to the global corporatist plutocrats you're talking about.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:30 PM on 04/26/2008
collapse ThunderclapNewman See Profile I'm a Fan of ThunderclapNewman

Howie the Putz is a hack's hack.

He is not only willfully ignorant, he is proud of it.

For him to miss the point is SOP for Howie. He's built a career on the shifting sands of missing the point.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:39 AM on 04/26/2008
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