The Royal Treatment

The media has had some problems of late. Plagarism, Dan Rather and those forgeies and now the Newsweek debacle. Newsweek offered and apology, then some very lame excuses. The old media seems to be circling the wagons in defense of Newsweek and the tin foil hat brigade on the far left is coming up with all sorts of conspiracies, claiming the Newsweek piece was true or that Newsweek was set up. Hugh Hewitt has some things to point out in his commentary.

"Terry Moran joined me for a three-part, on-air interview yesterday, the transcript of which is posted here. Moran's view of the world is interesting: including Moran's candor on the subject of hatred for Bush among a few "big fish" White House correspondents, the voting pattern of White House correspondents, the state of John Kerry's political future, the newsworthiness of Kerry's pledge--broken again--to release his SF 180, and the hostility of the media to the military in general and Newsweek's sins in particular.
But more than anything else, listeners and emailers reacted negatively to the arrogance that seeped from almost every answer Moran gave and to the press corps's hostility to the president and to the idea that the president's spokesman could legitimately call upon--not order, but urge--Newsweek to do more to reverse the damage done by their story. Here's one small bit of Moran's view of the world:

"I don't think the media should be immune from criticism. I think the elected leader of the United States has his or her hands full, and plenty of things for the elected leader of the United States to do. I think media criticism is a great thing. I think what you do is a great thing. I do not think it's a great thing for the president's spokesperson to begin instructing the media how to go about its business."

The White House press corps often calls on the president to comment on--and criticize--everything under the sun, from Enron to the Saudis to the Israelis to you name it. But Moran's demand for immunity from White House cajoling, and the undeniable air of superiority Moran and most White House press types project is damning evidence that the elite media have gone from purveyors of news to Guardians of Truth.

Moran really thinks that the press ought not to be criticized by the president or his spokesmen. In making his demand for a special status above that of every American, Moran at least gave honest voice to the elite media's view of itself: above every citizen, above every elected official, above, well, everything."

You can see the attitude of the media as represented by Moran's comments. It also make one wonder just how far these media elites will go to push their agendas. Do read the transcript. It is interesting, informative and very revealing. The old media still does not get it. - Sailor