Ok…I can’t hold my tongue any further. This is seriously concerning and extremely alarming.
While growing up I watched the news on local tv to see the events that were going on around me and in my home country, Canada. Mostly, I was watching news for the sports highlights. Honestly, I was never really interested in much more than local news & sports. However, as I grew older I became more interested in the what, where, when, why, and how of the news. A big hot point for me lately have been media & politics in the country I now call home, the United States of America. The fact that I now call the US my home, I have made a commitment to myself to learn the aspects of the political system and everything about it.
Now, I understand when I get hired for a job, apply for a carry concealed weapons permit, or anything as such that I have to go through a criminal background check and I accept that without issue. However, why is it that the Czar’s being appointed by the current Administration are getting a complete free pass to their appointments? Nobody is asking questions as to who these people are & what are their backgrounds? Other than a very few (probably one) media outlet(s), no one is questioning these appointments; not the FBI, ABC, MSNBC, or CNN. I really cannot understand why. It obviously changed in the not so distant past. I recently recall a Vice Presidential candidate by the name of Sarah Palin and the mud-slinging that was thrown her way. And WOW, did some media stations “tee-off” on her digging up dirt and attempting to expose everything and every angle about her. However this alleged dirt was not only about her but sadly, also her family! MSNBC made no apologies for dragging the Palin kids into the political forums. This is the point at which I lost all credibility for the media; well, at least MSNBC, ABC, & CNN. To be honest, I somewhat respect CNN the most of these three stations but still, their credibility is gone in my books. I guess the political views of the parent ownership person/group supersedes unbiased journalism across ALL media outlets.
I thought ‘real’ journalism and reporting was supposed to question things, good and/or bad, and to present both sides of the story and then explain it to the American public. The media is supposed to question the government and watch the government for the people NOT the other way around. When did ‘unbiased’ journalism stop because I honestly cannot remember? Why so? Is it that there is much to hide? Kind of seems that way. It’s obvious from the reporting from MSNBC, ABC, & CNN that these outlets are in the POTUS’ back pocket. I have yet to hear any of these three so-called news stations question any of the POTUS’ appointments. The US public are the ones that are being questioned especially when dissent is being expressed toward the Administration. Unfortunately for the so-called media, the power of blogging, social media, and twitter, the American people are getting information that these outlets refuse to report on. The American public are intelligent and more well informed than ever and they will unite.
I mean, really, in this day and age is investigative journalism that difficult? Uhh, hello, ever heard of Google? Now by no means am I saying Google is the end all of news BUT it’s a darn good start. And, before you ask, no I do not believe everything written on the internet but I do make an attempt to read credible sources. Personally I feel that MSNBC is a joke of a news station and Keith Olbermann, well…whatever! As for ABC, they seem ready to jump whenever the POTUS “needs” air-time. Personally, I have never known a modern day President that required so much air-time.
So…to complete my point on all of this, let’s take the recent appointment of Van Jones. A quick Google search brings up dozens of links & videos. A lot of the videos I would find hard to dispute especially since they are of him speaking directly to an audience or being interviewed. What about the ‘Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement’ (STORM) radical group he founded and led? A section of STORM’s manual that describes Jones’ organization as having a “commitment to the fundamental ideas of Marxism-Leninism.”
Here are a couple of quotes from Van Jones in speaking with East Bay Express where Jones said he first became radicalized in the wake of the 1992 Rodney King riots, during which time he was arrested.1
“I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th,” he said. “By August, I was a communist.
“I met all these young radical people of color – I mean really radical: communists and anarchists. And it was, like, ‘This is what I need to be a part of.’ I spent the next 10 years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary,” he said.
Not only these quotes but here is a more recent (February 2009) video of Van Jones and what he thinks of Republicans. See for yourself – ‘What I think of Republicans’ by Van Jones.2
Now, I’m not a journalist and would never claim to be BUT simple searching of the Internet will probably get you started in the right direction. From here, those professionals in Media & Journalism should use the techniques they learned in their formal training and start reporting unbiased and objectively for both sides of the issue. Good luck with that though. Finally MSNBC, ABC, & CNN = news media failures.
References:
1. Klein, Aaron. “Czar: ‘Spread the wealth! Change the whole system’ Using the White House position to push communist policies“. World Net Daily August 30, 2009.
2. Real Clear Politics. September 2, 2009. <http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/09/02/obamas_green_jobs_czar_van_jones_republicans_are_aholes.html>
