This Is Why They Will Never Get It

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Okay, so Conservative legal scholar Richard A. Posner writes, in the New (Old) York Times, a review of several books on the media. Now, if he is truly a "Conservative", then one would expect his review to contain many references to the absolute truth of ridiculous liberal bias... and it does.

So, in an unprecedented tantrum, the executive editor of the New (Old) York Times, Bill Keller, has written a letter to himself (the editor)- raging against Mr. Posner's review.

Here are some of Mr. Keller's deliciously clueless comments- with necessary fisking, of course.

[[ "The saddest thing is that Judge Posner's market determinism leaves no room for the other dynamics I've witnessed in my 35 years in newspapers: the idealism of reporters who think they can make the world better, ... ]]

Did you get that? In decrying a review that there is media bias, this man cites "idealism of reporters". Idealism?? May I offer another "ism"? How about... "Objective professionalism" ?

What? Never heard of it? Hmmm... try watching Fox News for a while, they sometimes display it.

[[ "...the intellectual satisfaction of puzzling through a complicated issue, ... ]]

Oh, he must be referring to a complicated issue like the Cindy Sheehan debacle... and how his newspaper- and countless other outlets- patently refused to share the story of her FIRST meeting with President Bush. That was pretty complicated...

[[ "...the competitive gratification of being first to discover a buried story, ... ]]

Buried story? Ummm... does he perhaps mean all the "buried" stories of the good that our military is accomplishing in Iraq, for example? Or, possibly, he is referring to the air(head) America scandal. Now THAT'S buried!

[[ "...the pride in striving to uphold a professional code of fair play, ... ]]

That he was able to write this without laughing himself into the hospital is an incredible feat. Fair play. Fair play. President Bush's military record... the dan rather memogate affair... the complete lack of followup questions to john kerry during the entire campaign... oh, Lord, we could go on for weeks here! Fair play.

[[ "...the quest for peer recognition and, yes, the feedback from attentive and thoughtful readers. ]]

NOW he's being honest! This is the crucial one... to be a great reporter, one simply MUST work for the real reward- kudos from their buddies and positive feedback from the duped masses. The never ending loop of delusional self-congratulation- best described as renewed justification for aberrant behavior by someone suffering from the same behavior issues... kind of like one alcoholic telling another "Yeah! Slam that shot down!! You are THE MAN!!"

[[ "He makes no allowance for the possibility that conscientious reporters and editors are capable of setting aside their personal beliefs or standing up to their advertisers (and the prejudices of their readers) to do work they believe in.” ]] (LINK to article)

MORE HONESTY! They have a duty to overcome the "prejudices" of the ignorant people who are crying for real journalism. They have to give us what we NEED, not what we want.

The work they "believe in"? As in, trying everything possible to defeat President Bush last year... and now throwing everything into getting America to lose the war...? Well, I do agree that they have been trying very hard to do those things.

As long as the editors and other media leaders think that the first duty of reporters and journalists is to be "idealistic" and that they should work for friends' kudos, they will continue to slip further and further into irrelevance.

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