News: May 2004 Archives
Drudge points to this Oregon Daily Emerald article on a presentation by Los Angeles Times editor John Carroll, who complains about "pseudo-journalists" and calls for speech restrictions.
In a scathing critique of Fox News and some talk show hosts, such as Bill O'Reilly, Carroll said they were a "different breed of journalists" who misled their audience while claiming to inform them. He said they did not fit into the long legacy of journalists who got their facts right and respected and cared for their audiences.Weapons of mass destruction like this? Collaboration with al Qaeda like this? And gee, I'm really sorry that France and Russia (i.e., "the world") are pissed because we eliminated one of their largest arms partners and their source for cheap, illegal oil.Carroll cited a study released last year that showed Americans had three main misconceptions about Iraq: That weapons of mass destruction had been found, a connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq had been demonstrated and that the world approved of U.S intervention in Iraq. He said 80 percent of people who primarily got their news from Fox believed at least one of the misconceptions. He said the figure was more than 57 percentage points higher than people who get their news from public news broadcasting.
"How in the world could Fox have left its listeners so deeply in the dark?" Carroll asked.Ah! Sweet, sweet irony.
As he addressed some of the hard hits journalism has taken in the field of ethics, Carroll noted that anyone could be a journalist because, unlike other fields, journalism had no qualification tests, boards to censure misconduct or a universally accepted set of standards.And unlike other fields, no actual knowledge is required about the subject being reported on -- just a pretty face or a clever sneer. Apparently only some people are qualified to exercise their right to free speech, but I'm relieved that Mr. Carroll isn't entrusted with the responsibility of determining who.
My brother Nicholas, a soon-to-be graduate of Stanford, pointed me to this story about how Stanford students have voted to deny funding to the racist Chicano group MEChA.
Stanford University students have voted to stop funding the Chicano group MEChA after a series of articles in the conservative Stanford Review accused the organization of racism.Stephen Cohen, who my brother knows through his fraternity, Phi Psi, coordinated the effort.In what is believed to be the first such vote on any college campus, Stanford students voted 1,357 to 1,329 to withhold MEChA's special fees, which amount to more than $40,000. The students voted about five months after articles in the Review cited anti-white statements in MEChA documents and compared the group to the Ku Klux Klan.
Stephen Cohen, Stanford Review editor, said the articles were responsible for stirring opposition to the group, especially after campus MEChA leaders refused to renounce the founding documents. ...That's what the group could have demonstrated by renouncing the founding documents, but they refused to do so.However, campus MEChA leaders said the vote was based on "misinformation," insisting that the modern club no longer subscribes to all the views in the founding documents, according to the Stanford Daily, the school newspaper.
What's so offensive in the MEChA constitution?
The students voted as MEChA faces increasing criticism statewide for statements included in some of its original documents, particularly El Plan de Aztlan.Oh, that! It's nothing, really, just some words on paper. Don't worry about it!El Plan de Aztlan describes white people as "the brutal 'gringo' " and "the foreigner 'gabacho,' " saying they invade the Chicano territories, exploit their riches and destroy their culture. It calls for Chicanos to reclaim "the land of their birth" and "declare the independence of our mestizo nation."
The plan's motto, "Por la Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada," means, "For the race, everything. For those outside the race, nothing."
The vote doesn't mean the end of Stanford MEChA. With a total budget of about $100,000, the organization also receives funding from the academic departments, the Stanford Fund and El Centro Chicano, the school's Hispanic umbrella group, according to the Review.But hopefully these groups will start to feel some pressure, now that MEChA has been finally outed for what it is.
Air America continues to falter as two of its largest investors resign from top management positions. That can't be good. The network hasn't even been around long enough for Arbitron to rate! Nevertheless, the media treats the fledgling network as a major story.
Looks like President Bush is trying to undo another one of his father's mistakes.
Supreme Court Justice David Souter suffered minor injuries when a group of young men assaulted him as he jogged on a city street, a court spokeswoman said Saturday.Some Democrats question the President's efforts to appoint a new Supreme Court Justice as "preemptive".The attack occurred about 9 p.m. Friday, court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.
