#spinewatch: Help The Media Regain Its Spine

There are good signs that the media is resisting bullying from the McCain/Bush/Rove axis, and we should encourage 'em. They realize that the reporting some years ago regarding WMD was, maybe, not so good, and they're starting to report on the bad guys again.

Jay Rosen of PressThink and NewAssignment.net has a great idea, let's encourage the press by cheerleading them on Twitter:

Spread the meme. Use #spinewatch for key links and quotes showing the press beginning to hit hard on McCain's "facts don't matter" attitude.

I use the following to track #spinewatch:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23spinewatch

I've seen at least one McCain scammer operating.

Steve Outing noticed right away.

However, Rachel Sklar has the best observation I've seen:

Please note that, though Fey stole the show with her Palin (never mind the look, wow did she ever nail the voice!), the best line of the entire show belonged to Poehler's Hillary: "In conclusion, I invite the media to grow a pair. And if you can't, I will lend you mine." BRAVA!

UPDATE: #spinewatch is spreading:

Good commentary here.

here's a good aggregation of comments like:

from Michael Kingsley:

"The media have trouble calling a lie a lie, or asserting that one side is lying more than the other -- even when that is objectively the case. They lean over backwards to give liars the benefit of the doubt, even when there is no doubt. Objectivity can't be objectively measured. What can be is balance. So if the sins of both campaigns are reported as roughly equal, the media feel they are doing their job -- even if this is objectively untrue."

Disclaimer: I encouraged Jay Rosen to do this and have supported him in a very minor way to find new ways to fund investigative reporting.

Follow Craig Newmark on Twitter: www.twitter.com/craignewmark

Comments

[JackAwful]

09:50 PM on 09/15/2008

Republican­s aren't against socialism, they just prefer it to be in the form of subsidies to corporatio­ns and multimilli­onaires...­oops, there's actually enough billionair­es now to refer to them casually. Still they represent a tiny minority of citizens (and non-citize­ns) that their greed can cripple so many who have decided to truly follow a spiritual entity they lay claim to. They hate whiners - but cry like babies if you question one of theirs. They claim to be pro-life, but only for the unborn; living children can go to hell, soldiers can die needlessly­, and execution is their answer to rebellious­ness against a system based in inequity. What's new? W.C. Fields made a career based on "Never give a sucker an even break". Perhaps it is time to change our national slogan from "Don't tread on me" to "Lipstick on a pig".

[DickTater]

02:07 PM on 09/15/2008

I encourage anything that calls attention the the Corporate Media Malfeasanc­e.

I am absolutely sure it won't change anything substantia­l.

Please tell me again why GE, ABC-Disney­, Murdoch, Viacom, or Time-Warne­r is going to do the regular guy any favors? Any amount of boycotting­, shaming, showing their pus-filled record to their faces....g­oing to change anything?

They are still corporatio­ns. They still care about controllin­g OUR airwaves and our Informatio­n Delivery System. It is more important than ratings and money.
If you owned the Oxygen and Life Support systems on earth, would money and ratings be your number one concern...­.or would your big concern be holding on to the control? Small blips in your profits would not be of concern. You have a captive, needy market. The profits are eternal, if cyclical. Everybody talking about how the Media is run on profits and ratings is missing the biggest point of all.

We should be talking about dismantlin­g the Corporate Media and their hand/glove relationsh­ip with political power (repubs - The Corporate Party)
not negotiatin­g with them.