Comments on: WaPo Happy, Two: Lalalalalala! I Can’t Hear You! http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/ Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:48:32 -0500 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: fatster http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189964 fatster Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:58:56 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189964 <p>Here we are reading about this stuff–as we have been doing for quite some time now as it’s slowly dripped out and EW and a few others contributed their energy, effort and courage to publicize it– our stomachs in an uproar, our hearts hurting and our heads pounding. And then we sit back and realize that those in charge made all this happen in a very deliberate way, and yet there’s so much reluctance to undertake official, thorough investigation of it and to follow through on those investigations. That’s the true horror of it, to me.</p> Here we are reading about this stuff–as we have been doing for quite some time now as it’s slowly dripped out and EW and a few others contributed their energy, effort and courage to publicize it– our stomachs in an uproar, our hearts hurting and our heads pounding. And then we sit back and realize that those in charge made all this happen in a very deliberate way, and yet there’s so much reluctance to undertake official, thorough investigation of it and to follow through on those investigations. That’s the true horror of it, to me.

]]> By: x174 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189954 x174 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:51:09 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189954 <p>We will never know if Bill Keller at the NYT or Marcus Brauchli at the WaPo by turning out real journalism could have forged papers that would have withstood the technological changes brought about by blogs and the internet. We only know they didn’t try. They went for sycophantic, Establishment cheerleading schlock and as we have seen that is not a viable business model.</p> <p><strong>They went for sycophantic, Establishment cheerleading schlock</strong></p> <p>Not completely sure of the dynamics that led to the Schlock Model of American Journalism but i would agree with Hugh that there was a significant loss of journalistic integrity during the information gangsterism that prevailed during George “the incurious” Bush’s reign.</p> We will never know if Bill Keller at the NYT or Marcus Brauchli at the WaPo by turning out real journalism could have forged papers that would have withstood the technological changes brought about by blogs and the internet. We only know they didn’t try. They went for sycophantic, Establishment cheerleading schlock and as we have seen that is not a viable business model.

They went for sycophantic, Establishment cheerleading schlock

Not completely sure of the dynamics that led to the Schlock Model of American Journalism but i would agree with Hugh that there was a significant loss of journalistic integrity during the information gangsterism that prevailed during George “the incurious” Bush’s reign.

]]> By: readerOfTeaLeaves http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189947 readerOfTeaLeaves Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:57:59 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189947 <p>!</p> <p>Oh. My. God.</p> <p>Wow, did we just see the corner of the curtain fly up a bit, or what?<br /> So Whitehouse was not joking when he said ‘the truth’ was going to be ugly…</p> <blockquote><p>personally directing murders from a 24-hour remote monitoring “war room” at the private military company’s Moyock, N.C., headquarters.”</p></blockquote> <p>The mind reels…</p> !

Oh. My. God.

Wow, did we just see the corner of the curtain fly up a bit, or what?
So Whitehouse was not joking when he said ‘the truth’ was going to be ugly…

personally directing murders from a 24-hour remote monitoring “war room” at the private military company’s Moyock, N.C., headquarters.”

The mind reels…

]]> By: Weffie http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189942 Weffie Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:33:46 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189942 <p>Brauchli sounds like the professor who says, “Working at this college would be awesome if it weren’t for those damn students.”</p> Brauchli sounds like the professor who says, “Working at this college would be awesome if it weren’t for those damn students.”

]]> By: Bluetoe2 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189932 Bluetoe2 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:53:48 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189932 <p>Yesterday Michael Moore made an interesting comparison of European newspapers with those in the U.S.. In Europe newspapers primary source of revenue is the readers. In the U.S. it’s advertisers. If the newspapers in Europe do not provide the news to their readers they stop reading and revenues fall. In the U.S. newspapers primary concern are the advertisers, and to insure the bottom line reporting on a variety of fronts (world, politics, police beat etc) are cut thereby making them less appealing to the “public”. Investigative journalism has been all but killed by this model. And they wonder why newspapers in the U.S. are dying. One can’t help but wonder that if Watergate had occurred today if it would have ever been “exposed?”</p> Yesterday Michael Moore made an interesting comparison of European newspapers with those in the U.S.. In Europe newspapers primary source of revenue is the readers. In the U.S. it’s advertisers. If the newspapers in Europe do not provide the news to their readers they stop reading and revenues fall. In the U.S. newspapers primary concern are the advertisers, and to insure the bottom line reporting on a variety of fronts (world, politics, police beat etc) are cut thereby making them less appealing to the “public”. Investigative journalism has been all but killed by this model. And they wonder why newspapers in the U.S. are dying. One can’t help but wonder that if Watergate had occurred today if it would have ever been “exposed?”

]]> By: Ann in AZ http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189931 Ann in AZ Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:52:05 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189931 <p>Anyone and everyone is invited to join Scarecrow’s <a href="http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/8198" rel="nofollow">post already in progress</a>: “How Max Baucus Would Bail Out the Insurance Industry at Your Expense”</p> Anyone and everyone is invited to join Scarecrow’s post already in progress: “How Max Baucus Would Bail Out the Insurance Industry at Your Expense”

]]> By: fatster http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189928 fatster Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:43:24 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189928 <p>O/T (Old Topic). The piling on begins. Yay!</p> <p><strong>Another lawsuit targets founder of Blackwat</strong>er<br /> By Bill Sizemore<br /> The Virginian-Pilot<br /> © September 16, 2009</p> <p>“Yet another civil lawsuit accuses Blackwater guards of driving through the streets of Baghdad randomly shooting innocent Iraqis.</p> <p>“The latest case accuses Blackwater founder Erik Prince of personally directing murders from a 24-hour remote monitoring “war room” at the private military company’s Moyock, N.C., headquarters.”</p> <p><a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2009/09/another-lawsuit-targets-founder-blackwat" rel="nofollow">More.</a></p> O/T (Old Topic). The piling on begins. Yay!

Another lawsuit targets founder of Blackwater
By Bill Sizemore
The Virginian-Pilot
© September 16, 2009

“Yet another civil lawsuit accuses Blackwater guards of driving through the streets of Baghdad randomly shooting innocent Iraqis.

“The latest case accuses Blackwater founder Erik Prince of personally directing murders from a 24-hour remote monitoring “war room” at the private military company’s Moyock, N.C., headquarters.”

More.

]]> By: readerOfTeaLeaves http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189924 readerOfTeaLeaves Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:36:56 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189924 <p>My information (true of the papers that I know about) is correct on the topic of ‘where does the money come from’? The money came from ads, not subscriptions; the subscriptions were underwritten by ads. That doesn’t necessarily mean that papers don’t care about subscribers (!).</p> <p>And at least in my region (W Wa), newspapers have very good ‘paper in the classroom’ programs to try and get newspapers into classrooms for part of social studies, or other related curriculum. However, I have no idea how well those programs are functioning at this point.</p> <p>Smaller papers are trying really valiantly to keep people employed in their communities, to keep people updated about current local events.</p> <p>There are newspaper publishers who are not grandiose, they are trying to keep ‘family wage’ jobs in their communities and the few that I’m acquainted with are devoted to their communities — these are the people who show up at auctions, donate whatever they can, and do believe that newspapers have a key role in ‘building community’ (which, FWIW, is precisely what the best blogs also do).</p> <p>However, like scribe, my own bookmarks include European (and occasionally East Asian) papers. </p> <p>I think the WaPo is confused about its purpose, its biz model, its customers (the real ones), and what it wants to be 10 years out. But I don’t think that every valiant small paper publisher should be smeared by that brush.</p> <p>The fact remains: there is some crackerjack reporting.<br /> Just go look at McClatchey’s DC team of reporters, and how they got it <em>right</em> all along.<br /> Culturally and institutionally, why didn’t that level of reporting occur (except for Dana Priest) at the WaPo?</p> My information (true of the papers that I know about) is correct on the topic of ‘where does the money come from’? The money came from ads, not subscriptions; the subscriptions were underwritten by ads. That doesn’t necessarily mean that papers don’t care about subscribers (!).

And at least in my region (W Wa), newspapers have very good ‘paper in the classroom’ programs to try and get newspapers into classrooms for part of social studies, or other related curriculum. However, I have no idea how well those programs are functioning at this point.

Smaller papers are trying really valiantly to keep people employed in their communities, to keep people updated about current local events.

There are newspaper publishers who are not grandiose, they are trying to keep ‘family wage’ jobs in their communities and the few that I’m acquainted with are devoted to their communities — these are the people who show up at auctions, donate whatever they can, and do believe that newspapers have a key role in ‘building community’ (which, FWIW, is precisely what the best blogs also do).

However, like scribe, my own bookmarks include European (and occasionally East Asian) papers.

I think the WaPo is confused about its purpose, its biz model, its customers (the real ones), and what it wants to be 10 years out. But I don’t think that every valiant small paper publisher should be smeared by that brush.

The fact remains: there is some crackerjack reporting.
Just go look at McClatchey’s DC team of reporters, and how they got it right all along.
Culturally and institutionally, why didn’t that level of reporting occur (except for Dana Priest) at the WaPo?

]]> By: fatster http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189922 fatster Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:26:13 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189922 <p>O/T Civil liberties alert. It’s now official.</p> <p><strong>Police to get access to classified military intelligence</strong><br /> BY JOHN BYRNE 

Published: September 16, 2009 
Updated 2 hours ago </p> <p>
”In a move raising eyebrows among civil liberties advocates, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that it would give so-called local and state “fusion centers” access to classified military intelligence in Pentagon databases.”</p> <p><a href="http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/16/police-to-get-access-to-classified-military-intelligence/" rel="nofollow">More</a>.</p> O/T Civil liberties alert. It’s now official.

Police to get access to classified military intelligence
BY JOHN BYRNE 

Published: September 16, 2009 
Updated 2 hours ago


”In a move raising eyebrows among civil liberties advocates, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that it would give so-called local and state “fusion centers” access to classified military intelligence in Pentagon databases.”

More.

]]> By: Hugh http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189921 Hugh Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:24:35 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/16/wapo-happy-two-lalalalalala-i-cant-hear-you/#comment-189921 <p>As for Brauchli, he could not organize a two car parade. We have seen this all before when the WaPo parent company reformatted NewsWeek. They knew going in that they were going to lose readership and they didn’t care. They wanted to create a magazine of and for the Beltway.</p> <p>We will never know if Bill Keller at the NYT or Marcus Brauchli at the WaPo by turning out real journalism could have forged papers that would have withstood the technological changes brought about by blogs and the internet. We only know they didn’t try. They went for sycophantic, Establishment cheerleading schlock and as we have seen that is not a viable business model.</p> As for Brauchli, he could not organize a two car parade. We have seen this all before when the WaPo parent company reformatted NewsWeek. They knew going in that they were going to lose readership and they didn’t care. They wanted to create a magazine of and for the Beltway.

We will never know if Bill Keller at the NYT or Marcus Brauchli at the WaPo by turning out real journalism could have forged papers that would have withstood the technological changes brought about by blogs and the internet. We only know they didn’t try. They went for sycophantic, Establishment cheerleading schlock and as we have seen that is not a viable business model.

]]>