Meet The Real Press

I'm sure you've seen The Daily Show's Jon Stewart interview with Jim Cramer by now. It's all over the news. In fact, the interview itself has become news. Why? Because for the first time since David Letterman's interview with candidate John McCain last October, someone did their job and asked the tough questions.

Okay, Stewart and Letterman are comedians, but they have taken their responsibility as media far more seriously than most of the people who call themselves real journalists. Stewart and Letterman did their homework. They asked the tough questions and followed up when Cramer and McCain tried to dodge. In each case, the subjects looked dazed, as if being confronted and having to explain their actions was breaking the unwritten rule of television journalism: We're all members of the same club. Show some respect.

A few years ago I attended a Town Hall speaker event at the old Universal Amphitheater. The panel consisted of the late Tim Russert, Bob Woodward, Andrea Mitchell, George Tenet and Paul Bremer. We expected a lively discussion and a grilling by Russert, Mitchell and Woodward regarding the Bush administration's Iraqi policy. Instead we got what looked liked a group of friends sitting around Jack Abramoff's restaurant, exchanging amusing anecdotes about life in DC and quips about how they much preferred the weather in Los Angeles to Washington.

Some people started to boo. A few more walked out. As I watched I realized that this was indeed a club of old friends. No doubt they had all traveled from DC together on a private plane or in a first class cabin. I'm sure they all had dinner together before the show and exchanged snapshots of their families. And I'll bet they all made a deal: Don't throw any hard punches to members of the club. The first rule of the Washington Fight Club: There is no Washington Fight Club.

What we now know is this: At the time of the event, Tim Russert had already been approached by Scooter Libby about Valerie Plame, yet he choose to remain silent until he was subpoenaed. Bob Woodward had been granted unprecedented access to the inner workings of the Bush administration for his own personal gain (a series of books) and Andrea Mitchell was sleeping with Alan Greenspan (her husband), one of the people most responsible for the economic disaster we're now in. Now wonder they treated Tenet and Bremer with kid gloves, least they be asked to defend their actions.

Bob Shieffer is a family friend of the Bushes. George Stephanopoulos is the former Clinton administration press secretary. "Fair and Balanced" Fox's resident sage is Karl Rove, who's been held in contempt of congress and is most likely going to stonewall John Conyer's committee under some bogus "Presidential Privilege" defense. His dance partner at the Washington Correspondents dinner a few years back was the new Meet The Press moderator David Gregory. Do we really believe that it is in any of their interests to ask the hard questions and get to the truth? Has television journalism sunk that low when Katie Couric is hailed as a hero for asking Sarah Palin what newspapers she reads?

Stewart and Letterman aren't members of the club, which is why they're doing the heavy lifting while Cokie Roberts, James Carville and Juan Williams put more energy into their lecture series appearances than doing their jobs.

The fourth estate has abdicated its responsibilities to Stewart, Letterman, Olbermann, Maddow, Campbell Brown and the bloggers on the internet. These are the real heirs to Edward R. Murrow. If I want to watch David Gregory and Karl Rove do their thing, I'll watch Dancing With The Stars. If I want to watch the news, I'll watch The Daily Show

Stu Kreisman is the author of Dick Cheney's Diary available here, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Comments

[EminemsRevenge]

There are a LOT of things the press is guilty of...we're celebrating the sixth anniversary of one of their faux pas today [oh yeah, I haven't forgotten when the NYT played cheerleader to the SECOND Bush/Iraq war, even though both were built on a pack of lies & half-truths: http://www.truthvmachine.com/?p=5689

[Michael McGloin]

I am stiing here laughing because last week posting about John Stewart I said that he was as close as America has to Russert now.

Boy do I miss Tim Russert. America needs him more than ever.

[NoPCZone]

When you make a 7 figure salary sitting in a studio in NY or DC, flying 1st class or private and have the famous and powerful on your Rolodex, you cannot relate to the guy or gal on the block. NBC/MSNBC made me just about vomit with the worship Russert, who wasn't that good. Throwing softballs at people you socialize with is not journalism.

[miamia]

exactly.

[cyrano1]

Thank you!! You've mirrored my thoughts exactly (only much more coherently)!!

All of them are (and were) so immersed in Washington "culture", they can't see beyond their near-sighted bubble - and breaking ranks would appear to be unthinkable.

David Gregory, this Sunday, seemed to be channeling Russert in his pathological need to hammer away at Obama's current statements about the health of our economy against McCain's statements during the campaign. A diversion from real issues and a total waste of time.

[Politisizer]

This lack of journalistic integrity is epitomised by the complete lack of critique che.ney gets while being interviewed on cnn etc. I can't believe that he is allowed to make completely false statements without anyone challenging him. Personally I think a lot of the 'news' outlets are a disgrace.

[truthglow]

Wonderful article, except about Campbell Brown. I don't think she belongs in this category at all. The MSM has been getting worse and worse, and with the above exceptions, it's very difficult to watch the news. (Or much of anything else, for that matter.) I used to look forward to the Sunday morning shows, but now I can't watch any of them, for fear of becoming violently ill. The recent additions of David Gregory and John King finished me off. Now, if I want to watch TV, I watch a Sopranos re-run or PBS on Sunday morning. It's really sad, because you get the idea that these networks believe that they are "spinning" to audiences that are listening to them and changing minds, but I think they are living in a fantasy world all of their own making. Those days are over, and they're never coming back! Bush "spun" us to death, and we are more the wiser for it!!!

[galinha]

John King is a closet Obama hater. I discovered that in the primaries.

[MaryKathO]

Just how honest and ethical do you expect the MSM to be when GE, Disney, Viacom, Newscorp, and TimeWarner sign your paychecks?

[drkazmd65]

The only National News programs I ever watch for news any more are the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, and (on occasion) PBS Newshour. I watch Maddow once in a Blue Moon, and Meet the Press on Sunday (to see the most recent sets of lies being exchanged among cronies), but haven't stopped on any of the 'News' networks on Cable all year otherwise.

It's all a crock. None of these Bozos have been doing their jobs for years.

[texaslib82]

Real Journalists today: Bill O Reilly...no doubt about it..

[BBackSoon]

That was so funny; I almost shot coffee out my nose.

Good one.

[brklynivn]

Yeah, can't get enough of his "truthiness"

[numbnuts]

Stu you nailed it.
Real Journalism is on barely on life support.

[CitizenFace]

...CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

Later, he BLASTED Hillary Clinton for making perceived racial comments and raising the specter of assassination. Whether or not such a scathing critique was deserved, it confirmed to me that Olbermann had lost his touch. How can he hold one politician accountable with passionate and fiery commentary for what was an irresponsible, racially-tinged, and impolitic remark--and say nary a word about another politician who votes to block the truth from becoming public by granting retroactive immunity to the very companies that participated in a government program that Olbermann himself had been railing against as illegal, immoral, and anathema to Democracy for MONTHS?

Olbermann does not deserve our accolades. Sadly, he and his colleagues have demonstrated that they are not even in the same class as a comedian with NO journalistic responsibilities.

[CitizenFace]

I don't see why everyone is so quick to praise Olbermann. His ability to speak truthfully and without bias has declined as his ratings have grown.

The day that the House of Representatives passed HR 1955, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act (a/k/a/ "the thought-crime bill"), the blogosphere exploded with analysis and criticism. I was looking forward to getting Olbermann's take on the bill, assuming he'd say SOMEthing--the wide margin that this controversial bill passed by should have made the news alone. When I tuned in I was dumbstruck by his lack of coverage. He never mentioned it that week or ever (nobody else in the MSM did, either).

That's when I started to notice there's nothing particularly special about Olbermann. This was confirmed when he gave Obama WAY too much leniency on his FISA Amendment vote, given how much Olbermann had repeatedly and ardently skewered Bush for the very policies that Obama was voting to cover up via retroactive immunity. Eventually, it was demonstrated to Olbermann that his hesitance to critique Obama on the matter was hypocritical, and he came out with a weak, uninspired admonishment.

CONTINUED ON FOLLOWING POST...

[larry278]

The MSM media may well have abdicated their responsibities to JS, KO, RM, DL, BM, JL & an army of bloggers but this group of commentators & citizen/journalists have sharp elbows & aren't reluctant to push before push comes to shove. It's a simple matter of those who can & will do the job taking the job & doing it better. Let the names of the MSM abuse their sinecures. They are no longer trusted by Americans. The MSM, star, types are good for laughs; that is all.
To puff Jason Linkins & HP, they now occupy the niches & places the traditional MSM once occupied. Let's be gentle & say the the MSM flew the coop. They could have been afraid of the fox guarding the chicken coop of the MSM or just liked the places of luxury of the famed better than the drafty chicken coop that MSM types once occupied.
Weep if you wish as MSM outlets continue to fold. The news business has changed for the better. We have news sources on the web to replace the dying & dead traditional MSM. WTF cares about the traditional MSM, really?

[exoevolution]

The Main Stream Media is a COMPLETE JOKE & it is a waste of time to listen to their CORPORATE & MILITARY PROPAGANDA!

The ONLY honest "News Sources" that speak TRUTH to POWER are - Olbermann, Maddow, Moyers, Stewart & Colbert!

NEWS without TRUTH in these dire times is UNAMERICAN & subversive to attaining the goal of life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness for ALL AMERICANS! The MSM has become like the Limbaugh Corporatist Republican Party - a mouthpiece & cheer leader for the top 1% or as George W called them, "the haves & the have mores, my base."

ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cat401]

Love Olbermann, Maddow and Maher. Olbermann must do some serious research, he has date, time and quotes. He has the facts and throw in some jokes. Love Him.