Re: [grendelreport] The Apocalypse, Space Aliens, Vampires and Unbiased Journalists

Beowulf wrote:

>http://www.businessandmedia.org/commentary/2009/20091202122152.aspx
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>The Apocalypse, Space Aliens, Vampires and Unbiased Journalists
>Americans believe three out of the four, but know one is a fantasy.
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><http://www.businessandmedia.org/printer/commentary/2009/20091202122152.aspx
>> By Dan Gainor
>The Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow
>Business & Media Institute
>12/2/2009 12:24:06 PM
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>The imminent end of the world. Aliens (the ones from space, not the illegal
>kind). Witches and warlocks. Those are some of things Americans believe in.
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>Unbiased journalism? Not so much.
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>That's what the polling tells us. A 2008 Harris Poll reinforced that belief.
>More Americans believe in ghosts (44 percent), UFOs (36 percent) and witches
>(31 percent) than believe journalists. No major media outlet scored that
>high according to the 2009 Pew State of the Media report.
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>Hollywood must be paying attention. Nearly every top film of 2009 reflects
>those topics. Everything from the "Transformers" sequel to the "Night at the
>Museum" sequel to the latest "Star Trek" and "Twilight" movies has been a
>success. Top 100 films have taken in more than $8 billion according to
>Boxofficemojo.com. Nine of the top 10 are fantasy, science fiction or
>horror. They amount to more than $2.2 billion of that total.
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>You don't see Hollywood doing many big budget movies about journalism. Of
>course, that might be due to the wonky and mundane life of reporters and
>editors. Or it might be because simply no one trusts journalists any more.
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>The biggest example of a journalist in entertainment these days is the
>sleazy, Tokyo Rose-like reporter on "V," who says he modeled his character
>after real-life CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. "V" star Scott Wolf described
>his character on "Good Morning America" as a "morally compromised news
>journalist" or in terms the viewing audience can appreciate, "he's more of
>Anderson Cooper-y."
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>This natural distrust of the news is essential if Americans are to dig their
>way out of some of the biggest issues of the day - including the economy,
>health care reform and climate change. In every case, journalists have been
>spinning the debate in favor of big government, big cost solutions.
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>That film is really just getting started. The fight so far has just been the
>opening scenes of an epic. This week the plot thickens, as they used to say
>in the old movies. The White House holds its summit on jobs, the health care
>reform debate heats up and President Obama gets ready for next week's
>climate catastrophe marathon in Copenhagen.
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>The jobs event is laced with irony. Thanks to the stick-it-to-business
>policies of the Obama administration, the only one hiring is Uncle Sam. And,
>after the incredibly wrong predictions from the Obama gang that unemployment
>wouldn't pass 8 percent if the stimulus passed, it's amazing he has any
>credibility on the issue at all. Even lefty blogger entrepreneur Arianna
>Huffington cautioned that the "unfolding unemployment disaster is
>threatening to do the same for the Obama White House" as Hurricane Katrina
>did for Bush.
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>Why then did network broadcasts first promote the stimulus and then try to
>defend its impact on the economy. First they picked stimulus supporters by
>more than 2-to-1 over anyone who questioned the $787 billion bill. Then when
>the economy settled a little, journalists were quick to call an end to the
>recession. Back in August, Newsweek declared the "recession is over."
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>The July 28 "Good Morning America" did the same thing, bringing on two
>separate experts who said the recession was over. Sure, unemployment is
>called a "lagging indicator," but it's not just lagging, it's in double
>digits. Ordinary voters know that 10.2 percent - more than twice what it was
>for much of the Bush administration - isn't a recovery.
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>The latest episode of the health care reform saga is much the same script.
>Obama has pushed for a quick national takeover of one-sixth of the economy.
>Even many liberals have balked at that. If he doesn't get the votes, the
>curtain comes down on his whole plan.
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>Imagine where Obama would be without his media support on health care
>reform. Back in spring, network journalists ignored the whole issue of cost
>- mentioning it in just 9 percent of their many stories on the topic. Now
>even those rare times when journalists are honest about the failings of
>health care reform, they still support it. Newsweek Assistant Managing
>Editor Evan Thomas recently described it as "a fiscal fraud." Of course,
>here's the kicker: "I'd still vote for it," he said.
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>Then there's the ClimateGate scandal, which is rapidly escalating into a
>media scandal as well. So far only a few in the media are even addressing
>this possible scientific fraud just days before the Copenhagen summit. Phil
>Jones, director of the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit,
>has stepped aside pending a probe into whether he helped overstate the
>danger of climate change.
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>That story is all over the Internet and even in major print outlets. But you
>can't find it on the evening and morning news shows on ABC, CBS or NBC, even
>with a global climate conference just days away.
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>In every case, the media position has been clear: root for Obama, back
>bigger government and hope for a happy ending.
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