BuzzMachine

The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

Off the air

12 comments on Off the air

Off the air

: Just got home after taping Deborah Norville’s show; it’s on the air now. I have to say that she does a good job; she runs a sane show; she was well-researched; she involved everybody; and she was tough on CBS — Norville was downright shocked that this happened from the No. 1 guy on a big story about the President only 50 days before an election.

I was impressed with Hugh Downs, who said that anchors used to do commentaries; the last was John Chancellor. I like that idea; it’s a way for an anchor to reveal his viewpoint and separate it from reporting the news — while allowing us to know his perspective and judge his delivery of the news based on that.

As for me… I talk too damned fast, I know. So shoot me. More above.

: I also made the point tonight that when I didn’t cover the Rather story, the commenters here complained and I apologized and then you actually thanked me. I said that Rather could have done likewise.

: Now I’m watching Michael Wolff of Vanity Fair and he’s making no sense. He’s telling CBS that if they believe the story they should keep on it. Then he says that this is a “take down” by those who wanted to discredit the story of Bush. No, no, no. The story is now that Rather based his story on obvious forgeries from a sleazy source and went with it even after ignoring warnings. It’s a media story, Mr. Media Critic. But he chooses to ignore that.

: In the green room before the taping, I watched Tom Shales of the Washington Post practicing similar flagrant cognitive dissonance, or worse. He said that Dan Rather didn’t lie but George Bush does lie.

: On the show, they kept referring to me as a media critic. I kept insisting I just wanted to be called a blogger. It’s not a good night for media critics.

: Later, watching Letterman: “Tonight on the CBS Evening News, we report nine real stories and one fake one. Can you guess which one?”

12 responses to “Off the air”

  1. Lewis C Avatar
    Lewis C

    You were great. I was surprised at how good Deborah was tonight. I was flipping between MSNBC and Fox on the story. Deborah show was much better.

  2. debra Avatar
    debra

    “tarred by a brush we don’t deserve.” Yuck!
    The cable news media and, though oddly ms norville was less egregious than others, gave the Swift Boat Liars tens of millions of dollars in free press without critical coverage. They are tarred by their own actions. And you are tarred by your selective outrage.
    If they applied the same standards that they say Rather should have applied to these memos, then they would not have covered the story at all. That standard is — make sure that what you have on the air is true before you put it on the air. Well they did nothing of the sort. They were lazy and bamboozled and let one lie after another lie get 100’s of daily minutes of coverage knowing this was not true.
    Mr. Jarvis, Is that a standard you carped about in the month of August when lie after lie after lie flooded the airwaves. Didn’t seem too. Then you have no right to show outrage at Dan Rather and CBS. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

  3. Jeff Smith Avatar
    Jeff Smith

    Jeff:
    Your comments were right on the money — and I was glad to get your URL for your blog. I bookmarked it for checking on a regular basis.

  4. Kat Avatar
    Kat

    Yes, debra, and theatres should not have shown Michael Moore’s crap, and leftist media shouldn’t give Kitty Kelley the time of day, and Swift Boat vets should get the same consideration for their true book as Kitty Kelley and Michael Moore got for their lies.
    Great job, Jeff. Thank you bloggers for finally making leftist media accountable and responsible. You are barking up the wrong tree, debra, because Jeff did not give the Swift boat story any coverage. He called it mudslinging. I think he was wrong but he can not be accused of selective outrage–I could be, but not he. He refused to cover the Rather story for some time and i blamed it on his left lean. I also don’t think a couple hundred vets can’t all be liars.
    Yes, people in glass houses should not throw stones–Dan Rather learned that.

  5. ronnie schreiber Avatar
    ronnie schreiber

    debra,
    Actually, regardless of whether you believe them or not the Swift Boat Veteran story involved identified sources who volunteered their names and offered sworn affidavits. Contrast that to CBS’ use of anonymous sources, political go-betweening, and documents that they knew to be of questionable provenance.

  6. Yehudit Avatar
    Yehudit

    “As for me… I talk too damned fast, I know. So shoot me.”
    But did you say “Power to the people!”
    :-)

  7. Yehudit Avatar
    Yehudit

    So far the Swift vets have scored a few points: Kerry had to admit he was never in Cambodia, and a recent unearthed after-action report he wrote confirms the SV version of events (unless that doc turns out to be a forgery, but the Fox station that aired it said they got it from the naval Archives, and it is typewritten in the correct style). So far the SV other claims cannot be confirmed or denied because Kerry refuses to release his medical records and all his after-action reports. So you don’t know they are lies. But if they are, why doesn’t Kerry release his records and end the dispute? O’Neill has challenged Kerry to sue him for libel – you don’t do that unless you are sure of your case.
    Also, one of the SV ads is about Kerry’s testimony before Congress, about which there is no dispute, since it was televised. The only question is – are the former POWs lying when they said their captors played it to them to break their spirit?

  8. pst314 Avatar
    pst314

    “…Tom Shales…practicing similar flagrant cognitive dissonance, or worse.”
    Tom Shales frequently appears on NPR, where he plays at the role of wise and thoughtful commentator.

  9. Jeffersonian Avatar
    Jeffersonian

    I just happened to tune in and was shocked to see you on Norville’s show. You did a fine job, Jeff. Wolff and Shales are, in the polite parlance of the day, “house slaves.” Ostensibly “media critics,” they know when to jab to irritate but rarely to wound and never to kill (unless it’s that awful Murdoch network, of course). When the arrows fly at their supposed targets, they’re right in the middle of the circled wagons, firing out.

  10. Carrick Talmadge Avatar
    Carrick Talmadge

    First time I’ve seen you and first visit to your blog… Great job, but you’re right: You do talk to fast. However, I like that. At least you have something meaningful to say.
    My take on Wolfe was he was playing partisan politics, just regurgitating the related DNC talking point. This particular one was just embarassing… I was wondering if Deborah yanked him early, since he apparently couldn’t say anything coherent.
    I was unsurprised that the main-stream journalists were unable to admit that they have a viewpoint, and that this viewpoint affects how vigorously they cover a given story, how the story gets slanted etc. Journalists, like any story teller, choses which facts to present based upon which fit into his world view.
    One of my favorite sayings is you learn more from your enemies than your friends, and I think this is part of the problem with Kerry’s campaign… My take is that the press has been soft-peddling so hard on him that they are failing to give him the critical analysis he needs for a successful campaign.
    Anyway some random thoughts and a good show.

  11. stan baehman Avatar
    stan baehman

    I too was impressed with how well prepared Deborah Norville was. Not only the questions, but how she kept the show well paced and everyone involved. CBS is living off of its old reputation. Dan Rather MUST RESIGN. There is NO way he can be creditable in the future. I have two sons who are Journalists. I feel very sorry for them and what this will do to them in the future. Journalists spend a lot of time talking about Martha Stewart and Enron, Tyco etc. I do not excuse them, but certainly there has been plenty of similar actions in their field the past few years.

  12. Dishman Avatar
    Dishman

    Good job, Jeff. You were great.
    Deborah Norville seemed to handle things reasonably well, though her saying that bias was “verboten” seemed to indicate that she still doesn’t completely “get it”.
    Ah, well, we’re slowly swinging things around towards putting honesty first.