Bush re Newspapers - "I rarely read the stories,"

[Pinto]

link (http://www.thebostonchannel.com/helenthomas/2547076/detail.html)

Some fantastic quotes from Bush in an exclusive Fox interview.

"..I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what's moving," Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.

"I have great respect for the media," he said. "I mean, our society is a good, solid democracy because of a good, solid media. But I also understand that a lot of times there's opinions mixed in with news."

To which Hume told Bush: "I won't disagree with that, sir."

Talk about patting each other on the back. What does Bush know about hard media questions? He wouldn't last a minute with British interviewers.

Even the reporter for the Boston Channel who posted this story seems to be in ga-ga land.

Anyone who wants to stay in touch with national, international and local events looks forward to reading the newspaper every day. The variety and breadth of newspaper stories make Americans the best-informed people in the world.

What?? Most misinformed in the world perhaps. At least in those countries lucky enough to have a free press.

I've read the odd paper while traveling through the US. The international sections were pathetic. Maybe she was talking about sports news.

[wwworry]

We may not know who John Howard is but we do know a lot about Jenny from the Block. It's true, US Citizens are badly informed about international issues.

Yes, our president doesn't really want to know what's going on. He just wants the "flavor" as interpted by a headline writer and his staff - "We are doing a good job, sir."

Maybe he is trying the typical defence of corrupt CEOs which is "I didn't know." Pathetic.

[Taft]

Originally posted by Pinto
link (http://www.thebostonchannel.com/helenthomas/2547076/detail.html)

What?? Most misinformed in the world perhaps. At least in those countries lucky enough to have a free press.

I've read the odd paper while traveling through the US. The international sections were pathetic. Maybe she was talking about sports news.

Its true that corporate control of the media is causing some conflict of interest issues. But don't blame the media for lack of international coverage. They are just giving the people what they want to hear.

Most Americans are very insular and, more pointedly, very selfish in that they think only of their lives and how news effects them personally. Hence newscasts tend to focus on local issues, government and business issues effecting the average Joe, and "oh my god, think of the children" stories. Its what gets ratings. People want to watch that trash.

And don't forget the morbid level of celebrity watching done in this country. Horrible, I tell you.

Corporate corruption and subsequent media bias does exist, but I think the American mentality is much more harmful to the quality of media and news we get.

Thank god for the internet!

Taft

[patrick0brien]

Originally posted by Pinto
Bush re Newspapers - "I rarely read the stories..."

"...I look at the pretty pictures."

:D

[IJ Reilly]

Originally posted by Taft
Its true that corporate control of the media is causing some conflict of interest issues. But don't blame the media for lack of international coverage. They are just giving the people what they want to hear.

Almost nothing, you mean? Sadly, that appears to be as true as a generalization can be.

Just this morning I was reading some of the follow-up letters to the editor of the LA Times on the Schwartzenegger groping story. One reader went so far as to call the Times' stories "sleazy." That's right, it wasn't Schwartzenegger's treatment of women that was sleazy, it was the Times reporting the story that was sleazy.

We do get the government we deserve.

[zimv20]

did anyone see the report that bush, tired of the media concentrating on the bad, will now only talk to "news" organizations that don't regularly cover the WH?

[mcrain]

NPR had a 30 min. show on that subject. One of the common things said by all the people, even those who disagreed, was that this administration almost has done no interviews with the major networks, some major news outlets have had no interviews, and on top of that, this WH almost never does press conferences.

The point of the story seemed to be that the WH was tired of the big networks, and so they decided to talk to the smaller fish. The problem is that the WH hasn't yet talked to the big networks, so how can they really complain?

[rhetorical question] Do you think people in the U.S.S.R. knew more about what was going on in the Kremlin than we now know about what goes on in the Bush Jr. WH? [/rhetorical question]