A day after the resignation of NPR CEO Vivian Schiller, the media biz armchair quarterbacking has kicked into high gear.
It came as not that much of a surprise, particularly in the light of the Juan Williams fiasco of last fall, that Schiller stepped down on Wednesday. James O'Keefe, who also orchestrated ACORN's demise, set up NPR senior fund-raising officer Ron Schiller (no relation) by videotaping him saying he thinks the Tea Party is "racist."
Two things come to mind when you watch the video.
First, we have entered a "gotcha" age, where any opinion you might have can be recorded and then cost you your job, as in this case of Schiller and Schiller. Second, media has lost its post as societal watchdog, leaving room for pricks like O'Keefe.
A few months ago, I put O'Keefe on blast about an attempt he made to set up CNN journalist Abbie Bordreau in a somewhat similar way. As far as I'm concerned, it was a disgusting sexist ploy that should have resulted in legal action against him - not to mention O'Keefe is also a borderline federal criminal because of his attempt to wiretap Louisiana lawmaker Mary Landrieu's office.
The reason O'Keefe went after NPR is because Republicans want to cut off federal subsidy for the news network. Honestly, that's not such a bad thing because, without it, the GOP would have one less political punching bag to fill their B.S. propaganda agenda with, and that's why they're not really going to cut it off.
But Schiller's opinion of the Tea Party is probably shared by lots of Americans.
They might not be walking around with swastika T-shirts, but there's no question that there are some seriously fringe elements in their ranks that have no problem undermining those who disagree with them.
It's not like liberals aren't guilty of "gotcha" recordings either: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took a prank call from a liberal blogger pretending to be infamous arch-gazillionaire David Koch. In the call, Walker, who just pushed through union-busting legislation in his state, pretty much reveals how committed he is to doing the bidding of the wealthy far right.
Here's the thing, though, how did we get here?
Citizen journalism was never meant to shoot at people. O'Keefe probably thinks he's cute (he's not), and he's got the support of despicable people like Andrew Breitbart who cost Shirley Sherrod her job at the agriculture department over re-edited video.
Sherrod was innocent.
The right wing pronounced her guilty and the liberals in power went running scared.
Schiller was innocent.
Someone who worked with her spoke a gaffe and her head had to roll.
This is what the hyper-conservative movement wants: It's never been about budget balancing or spending cuts. It's always been about having all the power all the time.
There was once a time when investigative reporting was actually left to professional journalists. People who were experienced at interviewing, looking up public records and analyzing data. It resulted in government being kept in check when needed and an informed populace.
People like James O'Keefe are the result of our lazy attitude in the media toward covering news. When we pay constant 24/7 news-cycle attention to idiocy like the Charlie Sheen fiasco, it leaves room for pranksters who pass themselves off as journalists to do actual harm to people and their careers.
Decades ago, there was no room for people like O'Keefe, because the technology wasn't there and he never would have been taken seriously. But because we've let the news business come to the point where nobody wants to read anything but scandal, we've left room for characters like this to do damage that may one day cost us more than we can afford.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Donna Feldman Jodi Lyn OKeefe Emma Watson Amy Smart Sarah Wynter
No comments:
Post a Comment