Saturday, September 13, 2008

From the Split Airport

UPDATE: below

Commentary's Jennifer Rubin reports that she "was in the designated media area next to "a well-known New York Times reporter" trying to get some interviews with the pro-McCain crowd:
When she told two middle-aged ladies that she was from the Times they recoiled. She breathlessly assured them that "editorial has nothing to do with the news." They stared blankly. She grabbed a copy of the Grey Lady from her bag, as if to point out that there were different pages for opinion and news. They looked skeptical. She pressed on, "Do you read the New York Times?"

One of the ladies meekly replied, "I read about the New York Times." I began to chuckle softly. She turned, "Who do you write for? Why are you laughing?" I began to respond that her line was likely not effective with this crowd, but she interrupted, "I do this all the time." She then turned to her interviewee (who was now on the receiving end of a painful sales pitch) and continued, "You have to read the New York Times . Don’t just listen to what Bill O’Reilly says."
MORE:

AVI and MaxedOutMama in comments say the MSM still hasn't figured out that the Internet allows Americans, even in flyover country, to fact check for themselves. M_O_M also observes:
One thing I have noticed is that many career military people have been posted overseas so much that they have a pretty wide perspective. Maybe it's drifted over; maybe it's just that you can only read so much nonsense for so long before you realize that something's way off.
Agreed.

MORE & MORE:

Roger Simon: "The (condescending) media is the message."

(via TimesWatch, which speculates the condescending reporter was Elisabeth Bumiller, who covered the event)

3 comments:

Assistant Village Idiot said...

The Times still thinks of itself as the source of real news, and that its competitors are the Washington Post and the LA Times. They still try to live in the old media world, because the ruled it.

They don't even get what the competition is about, and that the people going to other sources are not rubes listing to entertainment, but people looking for accurate reporting. They are aging heavyweight boxers who have wandered in to a MMA competition and getting the crap beat out of them.

MaxedOutMama said...

It's just a sad display of how living in a bubble of self-importance distorts your perceptions.

I would not call South GA a sophisticated place, but most of my friends read at least one foreign newspaper (often an Israeli one) plus check multiple sources on the web. Nobody has a lot of confidence in the major US news outlets any more.

One thing I have noticed is that many career military people have been posted overseas so much that they have a pretty wide perspective. Maybe it's drifted over; maybe it's just that you can only read so much nonsense for so long before you realize that something's way off.

bobn said...

Totally Off-Topic:

Support The 2nd Amendment Rights of D.C. Residents.