“Maureen Dowd at the New York Times opines, "when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens."

    The Washington Post's Harold Meyerson belches, "more than anything else," it is the president's "economic libertarianism . . . that has transformed a great city into an immense morgue."”                        Will Wilkinson, The Cato Institute

Mr. Wilkinson identifies these remarks as leftist diatribes. He understands the need to point the finger at those in the media who have a Liberal mantra they sing repeatedly like an atonal refrain. That kind of journalism from the two largest newspapers in the country is disgraceful. It is stacked with loaded words––phrases that can only be called propaganda.

While it is inappropriate to call for censorship of this kind of journalism, it is critical for readers to identify it as editorializing. It is not news reporting. That’s the distinction.

While it is your choice to read these writers, the consequences will leave you with a left wing opinion. If you do not want to be blinded by Liberal rhetoric you need to ask and answer the kinds of questions that allow you to understand how the elitist media is manipulating the news.

There are certain rules in journalism that mandate the writing of news. These rules are being flagrantly disregarded. It’s time that is changed.

Generally, a distinction is drawn between reporting (just the facts) and opinions: such as editorials, (the official opinions of the paper) and op-ed columns ("opposite the editorial page" commentary). Journalists may unintentionally fall prey to propaganda or disinformation in which case they should be fired.

Journalists may give a biased account of facts by being selective in their reporting, for instance focusing on an anecdote or giving partial explanation of actions. They will use a weeping mother or a disgruntled minority to prove or illustrate a point.

News writing represents the facts of who, what, when, and where of an event or happening. It is the presentation of bare facts to describe news events––direct presentation of facts or occurrences with little attempt at analysis or interpretation

Let the Public Beware

The media brainwashing machine is so much a part of a collectivist position that most people do not know they are being feed propaganda. Even if they did recognize the bias, they do not know where or how to find a rebuttal. It takes a massive amount of research and a major allegiance to truth to identify how this media machine automatically feeds us biased news.

There are many ways to get to the facts of the news. The most important way is to know that the major media outlets are manipulating information. If you understand this premise, it is incumbent upon you to find a way to refute the assertions and premises that are part and parcel of today’s news reports––in much the same way that you would reject the goods or services of an incompetent business person.

One way to do this is to search through the Internet where there are multitudes of places to find alternative options to left wing bias.  

Because one can find opinions opposed to the left wing liberals on the Internet, bureaucrats want to hobble and tax this technology. As reported by The Drudge Report recently:

“China on Sunday (Sept. 25, 2005) imposed new media restrictions designed to limit the news and other information available to Internet users, sharply restricting the scope of content that can be posted on Web sites. In 1998 during a meeting with reporters, Hillary Rodham Clinton said that "we are all going to have to rethink how we deal with" the Internet because of the handling of White House sex scandal stories on Web sites.”

Observe that collectivist/communist/restrictive countries do not allow their citizens free access to the Internet––China, Iran, etc. Examine their fear of this tool. Ask why some journalists who practice bias call Internet bloggers derogatory names such as––pajama clad (fill in the blank)––as witness Dan Rather, formerly anchor of CBS News. It was just such bloggers who searched for the truth, found it and revealed the facts of Rather’s National Guard forgery fraud. It was these Internet users who caused the ruination of Rather.

Furthermore, it is precisely the bloggers on the Internet who have set the scene for challenges to misinformation. They dig for the facts and come up with scoops the elitist print and network media do not choose to report––or even identify as news. These bloggers have caught politicians in contradictions (see Hillary Clinton on illegal immigrants), exposed and uncovered liars, cheats, and disreputable men. They are the budding journalists of the 21^st Century.

Go to the Internet for information you will never find on the nightly news. Here are some places to venture: www.mediaresearch.org, www.cato.org, www.freemarketproject.org, www.capmag.com, www.honestreporting.com, http://frontpagemag.com, http://nationalreview.com, www.weeklystandard.com, www.hermancain.com, www.theconservativevoice.com, and www.fed-soc.org, to name only a few. There are scores more. At any one of these websites one can find another facts that contradict the left wing media.

One of the most visited websites on the Internet is The Drudge Report. www.drudgereport.com Here you can find news stories and writers who represent all aspects of our society. A recent story reported by Matt Drudge is one very good example why Americans interested in fact–based news turn to the Internet.

CNN PRODUCERS TOLD ON-AIR GUESTS: GET ANGRY
Mon Sep 12 2005 12:42:11 ET

“After weeks of intense Katrina coverage from the main press, LA TIMES guru and former CNN host Michael Kinsley divulges that CNN was coaching guests to artificially enhance emotions!

“Kinsley writes: "The TV news networks, which only a few months ago were piously suppressing emotional fireworks by their pundits, are now piously encouraging their news anchors to break out of the emotional straitjackets and express outrage. A Los Angeles Times colleague of mine, appearing on CNN last week to talk about Katrina, was told by a producer to 'get angry.'"

If you think these unethical manipulations by CNN are shocking, you are naïve. I can personally attest to admonitions by television news directors years ago, ‘get them to cry on camera, Sara.’ This is precisely the mind–think of the mechanics who are in charge of the media today.

Identifying Media Mind Think

Take a look at your TV screen and watch the misfortunes of those who suffered from such disasters as Hurricane Katrina. Most sound bits featured them sobbing or haranguing on camera. Of course, their pain was understandable. But where were the sound bites from people who weathered the storm with great heroism? What about those success stories? Surely these people are as much a part of the news story or those who suffered.

Those good news sound bites are not in evidence because most news producers think them boring or non–essential to the story. It is a mind set that is repulsive and lopsided. It is not the total news picture.

www.newsmax.com, a respected Internet magazine, recently reported an astonishing fact. Add this to your opinion of the mainstream media. This revealing report shows how the NY Times fabricated news. It is worth reading in its entirety in order to understand the mechanics of the media.

Sunday, Sept. 25, 2005 10:45 a.m. EDT

NY Times Admits Fabricating News - Again

“The mainstream media's newspaper of record admitted late Saturday that one of its reporters fabricated part of a news story on Hurricane Katrina relief.

Saying his paper "flunked" the test of basic journalistic fairness, New York Times public editor Byron Calame said Alessandra Stanley's Sept. 5 report claiming that the Fox News Channel's Geraldo Rivera "nudged" an Air Force relief worker out of the way so he could film himself rescuing a Katrina victim had been made up out of whole cloth.

"Since Ms. Stanley based her comments on what she saw on the screen Sept. 4, the videotape of that segment means everyone involved is looking at exactly the same evidence," Calame noted.

"My viewings of the videotape - at least a dozen times, including one time frame by frame - simply doesn't show me any 'nudge' of any Air Force rescuer by Mr. Rivera," the Times internal watchdog said, adding, "Ms. Stanley declined my invitation to watch the tape with me."

Times editor Bill Keller, however, is still standing by Ms. Stanley's bogus report. He told Calame that she was "writing as a critic, with the license that title brings - [and] was within bounds in her judgment."

"Ms. Stanley's point was that Mr. Rivera was show-boating - that he was being pushy, if not literally pushing - and I think an impartial viewer of the footage will see it that way," Keller insisted.

But Calame countered: "Ms. Stanley certainly would have been entitled to opine that Mr. Rivera's actions were showboating or pushy. But a 'nudge' is a fact, not an opinion. And even critics need to keep facts distinct from opinions."

Stanley's bogus report continues a pattern at the Old Gray Lady of making up the news.

Two weeks ago, columnist Paul Krugman was forced to admit that he falsely claimed media recounts in Florida showed Al Gore winning the 2000 presidential election.

In August, a Times profile of Hillary Clinton changed a quote first reported by NewsMax where Clinton said she was "adamantly opposed to illegal immigrants." In the toned down Times version, Clinton's opposition was to "illegal immigration" rather than the immigrants themselves.”

Notice that when The Times’ own public editor, the internal Times watchdog, identified the bias, The Times editor refused to admit the sham. In the face of the facts, The Times editor arbitrarily changed Ms. Stanley’s status as journalist from news reporter to critic––after the publication of her story. The dishonesty of this act is undeniable. It is a flagrant act of evasion of his duties as a chief journalist at ‘the most respected newspaper in the world’. He apparently feels that no one will notice. But we did.

Take note, this is not a one–time example of the left wing mainstream media. It is, in fact, the rule not the exception. And, it is our responsibility to make note and fight for our media to tell the truth without bias.

Sara Pentz is a journalist, editor/writer and media consultant. She has been a TV news reporter in New York City, Dallas and for CNN in LA. She has hosted radio talk shows. She has been the editor of a variety of  magazines. Her political and ethical commentaries are published at: www.sarapentz.com.

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