By Dave Anderson:
Listen, transcribe, submit is the Stephan Colbert indictment of the press corps during the Bush era.
There were minimal "serious people" who actually had the gall to look at what they wrote three months ago from the same source, or three years ago, and comparing it to the line that they were fed that morning. This was the time when Joe Klein said that he knew nothing about warrantless wiretapping and he thought it was necessary because one of his sources told him not to worry about it. This was the time when the UN presentation by Colin Powell had claims in it debunked within hours but the press reported breathlessly about mobile bioweapons labs and drones of death despite the debunking. It was a time when there was no mainstream historical memory deeper than that of a goldfish.
Balloon Juice is highlighting an AP article that is actually doing a good job of looking back at the historical record and current statements and noting the incongruities between the two. They have the quote of the week on the sorry state of the press that this basic task of journalism is a significant improvement:
Imagine that- taking what the Republicans have said in the past, show
that what they are doing today is completely at odds with their past
statements, and point out they are hypocrites. Have these guys been
watching the Daily Show to figure out how this reporting thing is done?
The archive dive, compare and contrast should be a no-brainer for anyone who writes about politics and current affairs. Several liberal bloggers, most notably Billmon, made their name on the archive dive. It is not difficult, and it should be an easy "throw-away" report when a deadline is approaching fast as hypocrisy is an easy story to sell while a more interesting and higher value analysis is being written. It is sad that the fake news is the exemplar of basic journalistic skills in this country.
As I said here the current political climate has made the country ungovernable and should be ended.
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