October 06, 2005
Journalism: It doesnt have to be true, it just has to be "newsworthy"
The Columbia Journalism Review has a blog report on the reaction from the blogosphere to the 60 Minutes/Elian interview where a few blogs are mentioned. Among them, our friend KillCastro at KillCatro - A War Blog and Mora's post on the documentary as well as our guest post by Lola Candela here at Babalu.
For the most part, the CJR story is a straightforward piece, but in keeping with the standard operating procedure of the MSM, there are a couple of instances where the tone and commentary of Felix Gillette - the story's writer - are snide at best, blatantly hypercritical at worst.
KillCastro then documents CBS's coverage of Castro through the decades, touching on interviews by Robert Taber, Edward R. Murrow, Bill Moyers and Walter Cronkite. Eventually, KillCastro gets around to the inevitable Rather bashing. (Somehow you knew that, didn't you?)(emph. mine)
Of course the blog post is going to bash Rathers. In case Mr. Gillette missed it, that's what the whole entry at KillCastro's was about: The unabashed bias at 60 Minutes and Dan Rather and so prevalent at CBS News. It's not about blogs going after Dan Rather like pirhanas, it's not about blogs having it in for Rather. It's about Rathers' and 60 Minutes' obvious misrepresentation of facts in their reporting.
During the controvery with Rather's faked documents story, after it was proven beyond a reasonable doubt to any discerning person that his documents were, in fact, forged, Rather straight faced and puppy dog-eyed stated the documents were "Fake, but accurate." Get that? Fake, but accurate.
I suppose his reply to all the criticism about the Elian saga reports would be the same: fake but accurate. Because we all know, given numerous reports after the fact and yesterday's video post, that the interviews were staged and nothing more than fluff journalism servient to fidel castro's wishes.
Mr. Gillette is also critical of the posts here stating:
But who needs actual interviews when you have bloggers to rehash the scene? "This all goes to show that '60 Minutes'' Elian show was nothing more than a propaganda effort for the Castro regime," claims Babalu Blog, who also published a guest post titled "'60 Minutes': Pimp my Child!" "Some media will do anything, compromise any journalistic standard to get the interview. When the truth comes out about this, it'll be another blow to this news organization's already tattered reputation."(emph. mine.)
Mr. Gillette's bolded question above clearly depicts the problem with the coverage of the Elian case, as well as most reportage on Cuba: you only get one side of the story from the MSM, and handled with kid gloves, I might add. As a Cuban-American, I know what Im talking about when I write about Cuba. I've lived it. My family and friends have lived it. We all know what we are dealing with when it comes to fidel castro and his regime. But the MSM, so in love with fidel castro from the very beginning, chooses to ignore the obvious atrocities commited by his regime, and chooses to relegate the Cuban-American community - who in one household know more about fidel castro and Cuba than the whole lot of the MSM put together - to a bunch of extreme anti-castro hard liners.
The MSM doesnt stop to think for even a second that if the Cuban-American community is in its entirety anti-castro, it's for a reason. It doesnt stop to ask itself why the rafts only go one way. And if it does, it prefers to ignore the obvious answer, perhaps simply to justify their preconceived and ill-informed notions.
The CJR piece also links to the CBS News blog "Public Eye" where we find this little condescending gem:
While it’s an interesting exercise to try and make a psychological diagnosis of an 11-year old boy speaking Spanish (try to top that, Dr. Frist), it didn’t stop a bunch of bloggers from trying in the wake of yesterday’s “60 Minutes” interview with Elian Gonzalez. You’re free to assign whatever motives you want to Gonzalez or “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon. But you can’t really say the interview isn’t newsworthy.
"Newsworthy." I guess your old pal fidel castro calling you up and telling you "come on down, I got a story for you" and then proceeding to use his own people to help with your report as well as telling you exactly what to ask and how to ask it is what CBS News deems as "Newsworthy."
Not exactly.
Newsworthy is a major member of the Mainstream Media manipulating a story or allowing its interviewee to direct said story to suit an agenda. That's newsworthy. And that's exactly what all the bloggers were writing about. Real news. Not the trumped up fake but accurate kind.
Hat tip Kathleen.
Posted by Val Prieto at October 6, 2005 08:35 AM
Comments
I read this post with great satisfaction - it shows, as reflected in Mr. Gillette's (no sharp-edged razor is he) snippy remarks regarding Killcastro's comments, et al, that the MSM pseudo-journalists know they can no longer shovel out the BS without getting called on it - and that bothers the hell out of these get-a-life/get-a-real-job types no end. And what really gets them is that, to borrow the title of a Goya painting (note for MSM types: not talking about a Spanish food company here) - "Y No Hay Remedio." Can't do a DAMN thing about it...que viva la Red y que vivan los bloggers.
Posted by: Alberto Quiroga at October 6, 2005 08:59 AM
Thanks Val for posting this excellent analysis!
And also, thanks a lot for posting the interview with Mr. Porro, it's an excellent material... I referred a few friends (Americans and Cubans alike) to it. Thanks God for blogs and bloggers!
Posted by: CB at October 6, 2005 10:26 AM
The reason the rafts only go one way is because Americans can fly to Mexico and then on to Cuba. There are huge colonies of disaffected left wing Americans living the good life on Cuba's island paradise! It's just that 60 minutes didn't happen to interview them!
Snark/off
Posted by: babs at October 6, 2005 11:05 AM
Francisco de Goya, of "Naked Maja" fame? Back in the pre-MTV, pre-Michael Moore era, eddicated folks used to know their painters. And it wasn't guys who flung balls of paint at a canvas to produce something that looked like a bunch of paint-eating bulimics had just had a purge party in the room.
Posted by: Murel Bailey at October 6, 2005 11:06 AM
Babs, do you honestly believe that desperate oppressed Cubans risking their lives on rafts for freedom is comparable to Americans thumbing their nose at the government that protects them and living it up in Cuba at the expense of Cuban citizens? By your standard, I suppose vacationing at a spa down the road from Auschwitz in say 1942 would have been a real gas as well. (Pun intended)
Posted by: Kathleen at October 6, 2005 12:35 PM
Of Naked Maja fame indeed, Murel. Your posting was priceless. Excellent come-back, Kathleen. Let the Kubanskis keep those folks; this is one trade where Uncle Sam is clearly the winner.
If they ever want to return, let's require they do so on a leaky raft with a large bucket of chum tied behind it...
Posted by: Alberto Quiroga at October 6, 2005 01:06 PM
To all:
A friend Miriam Mata has pointed out that while Spanish judges go around the world taking human rights violators to justice, they are far from even handed. For instance, they avoid judging Castro, saying he is a head of state, but ignore Nicaragua's Ortega. And somehow Franco's people remain immune.
take care and be well
Larry
Posted by: Larry Daley at October 6, 2005 01:43 PM
Hey Kathleen - did you see the snark/off sign? Sorry, but I was being sarcastic!
Posted by: babs at October 6, 2005 03:25 PM
This reminds me of a comment made by Cuban General Genovevo Perez Damera in the 1940s: "A la prensa se le paga, o se le pega." Translation: You either pay off or clobber the press.
Posted by: de la Cova at October 6, 2005 03:49 PM
Babs, I am sorry, I see it now.
Posted by: Kathleen at October 6, 2005 05:32 PM