CNN's Wolf Blitzer Lapdogs While Senator Hatch Lies

This week, Wolf Blitzer interviewed Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT). I watched dumbfounded as Hatch lied, and Blitzer obediently chose not to challenge the Senator. It's the same lapdog reporting that enabled Bush & Co. to marshal public support for war in Iraq, to torture and spy, and allows politicians to continue to lie with impunity. Tough luck if you thought the last eight years would give guys like Blitzer a backbone.

Hatch: "... the president has finally recognized that what really has caused this (mortgage crisis) wasn't the Bush administration, it was Wall Street, it was Fannie and Freddie."

Most Americans are not political junkies. They rely on Blitzer to use his knowledge and position to cut through the bull and tell the real story. But Blitzer is not a reporter; he is a news reader who ignores facts and sticks to the next scripted question: "Will Utah accept stimulus money?"

Here's what Wolf needed to ask: "On what basis are you claiming, Senator Hatch, that President Barack Obama believes that the Bush administration is free of blame for the subprime crisis? And on what basis do you assert that the Bush administration is free of blame for the crisis considering that Bush's Securities and Exchange Commission quietly passed an exemption to a regulation in 2004 that limited the amount of debt that investment banks could take on?" These are the same banks that have received billions in taxpayer money - one of them was Goldman Sachs, led by Henry Paulson until he took over Bush's Treasury Department two years later.

Blitzer would probably say that his job is to present news, give members of each major party equal airtime, and let the public decide. But when you conduct an interview without another guest to provide counterpoint, it is the host's responsibility to cite facts and expose spin. And don't give me the "we had members of both parties on the show" myth. Both parties are awash in cash from corporate lobbyists that compromises their integrity. Yet they continue to get most of the airtime while real experts like economists and public interest advocates are largely ignored. Just look at the bank bailout if you need proof.

Blitzer-style lapdog reporting and the 10-second soundbyte-ification of important news by commercial television - with a few notable exceptions - is the biggest reason that the American public continues to be fundamentally misinformed, and led time and again to support policies and politicians that hurt - rather than help - the public interest. The media's failure to hold the powerful accountable is, along with the corrupting influence of money in politics, the biggest threat to the future of our democracy and our nation.

Those on the far end of the spectrum on both the left and right have their go-to news outlets. But self-identified moderates go for their news to channels like CNN, where unchallenged lies become truth in the mind of a public deprived of skepticism, watchdogging and tough questioning. The danger of an unquestioning press is exacerbated as newspapers continue their financial freefall, laying off reporters by the thousands, and atrophying the most reliable source of investigative journalism.

Blitzer: "If it (bank bailout) requires more than the total $700 billion, are you with the administration on that?"

Hatch: "Some of the big problems with this so-called fiscal stimulus bill, number one, it was totally partisan. The first two bills out of the shot, the chip bill and the so-called stimulus bill were purely partisan bills. We were willing to work with them."

Now I'm not here to defend Democrats, but there are several major stimulus concessions that President Obama and his congressional allies made in an effort to gain Republican support. Those included reduced total spending, increased tax credits, and reductions in family planning and Medicaid spending. Hatch's rhetoric, combined with remarkable Republican unity opposing the stimulus is obviously (even to Blitzer) a smart gamble by the GOP to abdicate their duty to lead the nation out of crisis, and place responsibility for reviving the economy squarely on Obama's shoulders. Expect inflation and higher taxes down the road, and tee up a "we told you so" when they make their bid to regain power.

Without fearless, vigilant questioning, spin masters like Hatch will turn Bush's financial crisis into Obama's financial crisis in a few months rather than a few years. Without tough reporting from the people who are our eyes and ears in Washington, Americans will remain mired in an ignorance that will force us to repeat history by way of more unnecessary wars, more government corruption, and more elections of politicians who legislate against our interests.

As goes critical journalism, so goes our democracy.

Comments

[copestir]

WELL THEN, IF WE ARE TO BELEIVE HATCH, BUSH DID NOT CAUSE THIS ,PEOPLE CAUSED THIS.

[LeeHInAlexandria]

Exactly. There are people who lied on their mortgage application to get a home. There are people who were stupid enough to sign the mortgage contract and not bring a lawyer to look over the details. SO now, when their ARM rate goes up (I know some who've seen the ARM rate cause the mortgage to jump from 1800 a month to near 4000 a month) they can't pay the bill. If they are this stupid, they don't deserve a home. Now those of us who pay our mortgages and pay our bills every month will have to pay for them. Just like those of us who have health care have to pay for the health care of illegal aliens.

[jerzyjc16]

People who smoke are stupid. Tobacco companies who falsify and suppress reports as to the addictive properties of tobacco and nicotine are criminal. Your desire is to punish the victim more than the criminal who exploited the victim. We deride and have no sympathy for the person who is stupid enough to be taken in by the three-card monte grifter. But we don't forget to arrest the criminal, do we?

Your own sense of shame and lack of self-worth about who you are makes you want to obliterate and punish the weak and the gullible. That's because you are afraid that you are weak and gullible.

[Owlygirl]

Joel, YES! Thank you. We really need to start holding CNN accountable and putting their slimey feet to the fire. As much as I like Blitzer as a person he is a HUGE part of the problem because essentially the man has rolled over for his network. Baaaad Wolf!

If I didn't have enough on my plate I'd be hosting a site calling for CNN to die. That sounds childish, but you know what I mean. They are so complicit in the dumbing down of the news and, yes, part of the corruption that allowed the Bush admin to soar free and bring this country to near ruin (oh but now watch them get tough with President Obama *roll eyes*). Add that to the fact they allowed Bush's cabinet to have generous amounts of time during the weeks leading up to Obama's inauguration. It was as if they were being feted by the network for a job well done! I can't think of anyone who was the least interested in looking at Condi, Bush or Cheney - never mind hearing a g/damned word they had to say. But all this is only the tip of my complaints. They really make me sick - especially that nauseating Rick Sanchez who acts like a cross between a smug reptile and cat who ate the canary. THIS is the direction they want to go? Tune out, I say. I just thank goodness our new satellite system gives us more options for news.

[moonejes]

The MSM is the BIG TOOL for the GOP.That's all?!

[Snowball]

Take any Blitzer interview with a Democrat, and compare it with any interview that he does with a Republican. You will note a stark contrast as Blitzer consistently pummels Democrats with loaded questions based on Republican talking points, while he refuses to question any lie or distortion made by Republicans.

It's deliberate journalistic malpractice with a political agenda, not a journalistic standard of balance or fairness.

[ALC]

Never in the checkered history of journalism has a more benign, passive and possibly dim-witted "newsman" gotten more career mileage from something than Blitzer did the first Gulf War. He's built his whole career on that 15 minutes of fame with CNN's help. Wonder why people consider MSM lame?

[Mixpixlix]

The fact that CNN anchors constantly referr to themselves as the BEST Team in TV NEWS is proof that they're not! It's sickening and unprofessional.

I've always wondered how Mr. Blitzer wound up with a 3 hour program when he's apparantly clueless.

He recently commented falsely that Dashle withdrew due to tax issues. Not so, Dashle withdrew when it become know he made millions by cashing in on his Congressional contacts to help lobbyist.

I find myself waching less and less TV news these days.

[winchestereast]

billions skimmed from the top of all industries by ceos and top execs on a binge - billions more gambled in toxic credit default swaps (the number of mortgage defaults by homeowners was miniscule in comparison) and hatch has the gall to blame fannie and freddie - BLIZTER IS NOT KRUGMAN - he clearly did not have the knowledge, facts, or desire to pin the blame where it belongs - the lie is simple to deliver and the truth is complex - Hartford Financial, which is requesting bail-out $$, has no plans to curtail the proposed $30,000,000 plus pension guarantee for Ramani Ayer - (Mark Maremont has a lovely article in WSJ, about the pension /bonus deal of these guys, which will make you smarter and angrier) - and hatch wants to talk about the little guys - gimme a break -

[batmanindy]

Wolf is not a journalist. he is a TV personality. Nuff said.

[Wozzeck]

Wolf just reads from the prompter with appropriate gravitas. Those really culpable of misinforming and distracting the public are the people that decide content, and those that tailor Wolf's script to achieve the desired propaganda or distraction goals.

[murf 1 98]

Hey Josh, can I assume that in your hunt for accountability, we can agree that Frank and Dodd should be removed from office for their role in the Fannie and Freddie cover up?

[batmanindy]

Speaking for Josh, well, if that were the case then yes. But as you know, that is not the case (or reality). See you again in 2012 murf. FYI -- YOU LOST!

[murf 1 98]

You shouldn't speak for Josh, because it is indeed the truth. They have them on video saying that Fannie and Freddie were in solid shape when we know now (and they knew then) they were not. Both Frank and Dodd were at the front lines of encouraging these sub-prime loans and should be held accountable for their part.
There are a lot of people who deserve blame on this issue on both sides. I don't make excuses for anyone, regardless of affiliation. You might consider doing the same.

[Josh Silver - Huffpost Blogger]

Hi Murf, Yes and yes. The Dems have been terrible on this, and what Congressman Frank allowed with the first TARP -- no strong conditions on payouts -- should be grounds for losing his chairmanship. The intent of this article is/was not to vindicate Dems. They are corrupted by the money nearly as much as R's, and they deserve some of the blame for the subprime crisis from decisions going back 30 years. The intent was to show how Wolf Blitzer and many commercial TV hosts do not call out politicians whey they blatantly lie to the American people.

[murf 1 98]

Thank you for the response. I appreciate your point and agree that the media is far to lax in forcing all political people to defend their positions. My question is, why pick this specific interview? Why not any of the hundreds of Obama interviews in which he is never asked to explain how he is going to accomplish anything.
This stimulus package is a great example. These are not new ideas Obama is trying. But if they were to succeed, that certainly would be new. I work at a small manufacturing company and can tell you that there is nothing proposed to date that will help create jobs. And that is supposed to be the goal of all the spending.
I don't question your point, just the target.

[cariintexas]

I watch [sometimes] Rick Sanchez. Other than that , forget CNN. Blitzer has always been a tool for the right wing. John King and Dana Bash King are totally in love with John Mc cain, and tonight larry King is giving the floor to Mc cain on L K Live.

[Mixpixlix]

I believe John and Dana are Mr. & Mrs. That must be some pillow talk.

Their reports are not objective and I think we should demand CNN lose it's license for abuse of the public airwaves.

[Polyh3dron]

Get Wolf interviewing Michael Moore and watch him turn into Chris Matthews instantly.

[haval2]

I bailed from CNN a few months before the election. Except for Jack Cafferty the level of journalism there is awful. Ashamed that Wolf just declines to ask the hard questions and then lets these fools lie repeatedly. A strong press is supposed to be the watchdog of the goings on in Washington. Perhaps if it had been more aggressive Wall Street wouldn't have been able to get away with all they have. These are not times for softballs to be lobbed.

[RepugsOut08]

I remember being stunned! Stunned, I tell you, when Charlie Gibson asked the follow up questions of Sarah Palin, that showed her to be the incompetent candidate she obviously was.
I'd grown so used to having the person being interviewed spout out a complete distortion, and then having the interviewer move on to the next question. I actually think that is what the Palin handlers were counting on, since that's what they'd become used to over the years.
Was Charlie's Palin interview a sign that the MSM had returned to real journalism? HA! FAT CHANCE!
I'm sick of watching the Repubs just spout one untruth after another unchallenged. Why do people even go into journalism anymore? It certainly doesn't seem to be a desire to get the facts of a story or issue.
And the disturbing trend in MSM management continues, with the new VP of CBS being a person who believes Dems are basically bad people, and Reps are basically good. I can't imagine that would affect the reporting coming out of CBS. :(
It's no surprise that the Repubs won't go on Rachel Maddow or Olbermann's shows, as they're two interviewers who'll call them on their bull. If only we had more reporters like them......

[givesflack]

How do we start to address this extremely serious and terrifying usurpation of journalism by big business and Republican dominated content. For example, every Sunday news show have a 3-4 to 1 ratio of conservative guests and analysts including host to the lone liberal. Another, The New York Post should be up on criminal charges for that deliberate analogy to killing the stimulus messenger (get it ha ha- no) which is really a right wing inside joke(I get it). It's a very dangerous joke at that and if The NYT had done a piece similar in tone to the lead up to a real policy fiasco, the Iraq War lead up, about Bush they be ruined. Our national dialogue is solidly framed by conservative perspective. All Democrat positions are anaIysed in context to Republican spin. Conservative doctrine concedes nothing and thus everything is discussed in reference to their dominant viewpoint. They own the platform and GOP complain about the "liberal media" as a reference to any liberal input. In other words its a code term for suffocating liberal out of public acceptance. I mean these guys are smart in how they trick the public, they have to because while they entertain the public as CNN does they don't represent the public and see the public as only consumers(I get that too). I think we need another fairness doctrine or we need another tea party.

[wesinohio]

I think that central ownership and control of media creates these media problems. Break them up and the fairness doctrine would occur naturally, but you'd still have the fans of right wing spin just tuning into their favorite propaganda and tuning out the truth. However, there are alternative media now even without the fairness doctrine and the power of that was shown in the last presidential election. More and more people are just not tuned into the traditional MSM anymore. It doesn't make sense and it doesn't cultivate good will. I haven't watched a TV news program in years. That stopped during the recount fiasco in 2000. I do newspapers quite a bit though, listen to NPR and visit here regularly.

[rlkinny]

If you want news and information -- turn to PBS: Lehrer News Hour, Frontline, Bill Moyers Journal. I know some of Conservatives consider this to be "Liberal" reporting -- but that's because they consider facts and data to be a liberal plot.

[TBinNJ]

Great post! I cannot stand to watch Wolf Blitzer for more than 5 minutes. He knows absolutely nothing. Say what you want about the partisan hosts on Fox or MSNBC.....­at least they know policy to some extent and can ask intelligent questions to their guests. AC and Blitzer add nothing to the conversation.

[Golfer59]

Old Wolf will hammer democrats.