Quote Originally Posted by Gawain of Orkeny
Could you imagine the screams from the left if Rush Limbaugh had a show like Moyers on PBS
Now that's something I would like to see! Have Rush Limbaugh as the secret new co-anchor for Bill Moyers. Bill Moyers face when Rush Limbaugh walked in would be priceless.

There is a definite liberal bias in the news media, but I think Bill Moyers made a few good points here.

the conventional rules of Beltway journalism. Those rules divide the world into democrats and republicans, liberals and conservatives and allow journalists to pretend they have done their job if, instead of reporting the truth behind the news, they merely give each side an opportunity to spin the news.

Too often reporters are just mouthpieces for sound bites and are not doing a credible job of reporting what is behind the story. Any idiot can listen to what Bill Clinton or George Bush says on the podium. This is proven by the number of idiots doing exactly that. We do not have any need for a reporter to repeat back to us what they just said. A good cameraman would be enough for that. Journalism to be of any value must be more than that. Too often what is behind a story is left in silence. Stories about the military for example are frequently poorly done from a basic lack of knowledge on the part of journalists, and from a lack of desire to learn or find any sources that do know more.

news is what people want to keep hidden, and everything else is publicity.

This is true and seems to be poorly understood by modern day journalists. Sound bites, talking points, news conferences, and political think tank publications are just part of the machine and the journalist must get beyond them or be irrelevant.

I realized that investigative journalism could not be a collaboration between the journalist and the subject. Objectivity was not satisfied by two opposing people offering competing opinions, leaving the viewer to split the difference. I came to believe that objective journalism means describing the object being reported on, including the little fibs and fantasies, as well as the big lie of people in power.

This was seen with the claims of Bill Clinton, and George Bush in their wars. The ultimate justification of their wars aside the media did a shabby job of reporting the substance of their claims and never seemed to actually find the truth behind what we now know to have been somewhat shaky in both cases. Any news reporter could have gone to Yugoslavia or Kosovo to report the truth. Any news reporter could have gone to Niger to find out the facts in the case.

Why this failure to do what anyone with a plane ticket and a MasterCard could have done?