Sarah Palin's E-Mail Account Hacked

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Sarah Palin's e-mail account has been hacked. Contents of messages and family photos have been posted on a website that is now either no longer online or is so overwhelmed with traffic that it cannot be viewed.

AOL News: Left Wing Group Hacks Palin's Email

From the AOL News article: "The current takeaway is clear: as the last two weeks have shown, the online left and their traditional media enablers will stop at nothing, not even the law, in their bloodthirsty quest to tear Gov. Sarah Palin limb from limb."

She must be the most qualified candidate out there, judging from how much the left has become deranged over her nomination.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I just read this too.


How very sad.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

I'm on the website. It's all true - family photos, contents of her inbox, some messages and the worst of all - her address book.

 

[StacieB]

Ugh that makes me sick that people will go this low!!

 

[sklay723]

Wow. I read that she was warned before she accepted the offer to run for the VP office that her privacy would be infringed upon, that she and her family would be "under the microscope" and everything, but this is just ridiculous.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

Whether you agree with her politics or not, this is sad.I wouldn't blame all the liberals for that any more than I would blame all the conservatives for the economy ... those who are responsible know who they are, and they will be punished.

 

[chefjeanine]

Whether you agree with her politics or not, this is sad.

I wouldn't blame all the liberals for that any more than I would blame all the conservatives for the economy ... those who are responsible know who they are, and they will be punished.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this comment!! I'm getting mighty tired of being the scourge of the earth (or at least the USA)

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

So do I, said the member of the "liberal media."HAH! If you only KNEW the conservative tenor of the editorials at my newspaper!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Whether you agree with her politics or not, this is sad.

I wouldn't blame all the liberals for that any more than I would blame all the conservatives for the economy ... those who are responsible know who they are, and they will be punished.

I don't see where "all the liberals" have been blamed any place on this thread.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

Not in this thread ... just in general.

the online left and their traditional media enablers will stop at nothing, not even the law, in their bloodthirsty quest to tear Gov. Sarah Palin limb from limb

So all the "online left" and "media" are responsible. According to AOL. I'm not accusing anyone here of anything.I know when to bow out of political discussions. Toodles. I'm off to find a thread on increasing my sales ...

 

[Jessie Jolly]

That is sad people would do that to her and her family.

 

[Laura420]

its sad anyone would do that to anyone! urgh!

Maybe if the media (either side) would just leave the drama alone and not report garbage and just stick to the issues, maybe this stupidity would stop.

Im so sick of this nonsence... all I want to know is what each side is going to do for the county and how it will effect my abilty to effectively feed, educate and medicate my family without the added fear of a terroist attack.

I really dont care who did what in a past life (unless it was illegal) or who likes to snowmobile... for petes sake... its sickening already!

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

You think you're sick of it now?Watch what happens in the next six weeks.

 

[Kitchen Diva]

You think you're sick of it now?

Watch what happens in the next six weeks.

This is the first time I'm not excited to have a front row seat...:yuck::cry:

 

[pcchefjane]

I think this is absolutely ridiculous. As the article said, it seems Palin's family is fair game but Michelle Obama should not be talked about... This is too ridiculous!

 

[JAE]

I just saw on the news that there were two death threats on Obama. They are being investigated, but I didn't hear where they happened.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

I doubt they were the first, or the last, and we just don't usually hear about them.

 

[Hathery]

I think this is absolutely ridiculous. As the article said, it seems Palin's family is fair game but Michelle Obama should not be talked about... This is too ridiculous!

I'm sure if there was anything juicy discovered about Michelle, it would take no time at all for the media to grab hold of it.

 

[jrstephens]

I think this is absolutely ridiculous. As the article said, it seems Palin's family is fair game but Michelle Obama should not be talked about... This is too ridiculous!

I agree with you!

 

[jrstephens]

I just saw on the news that there were two death threats on Obama. They are being investigated, but I didn't hear where they happened.

They did arrest some people during the Convention that they said was a creditable thread. but if you saw those people, they did not look like they could pull it off.

I think if there is a "creditable threat" that it will happen. There is no way to fully protect a person from a death threat when in the public eye, I think JFK proved that.

 

[heather223]

Like it was said before, it doesn't matter who you agree with, this is just wrong and sad. I know she gave up her privacy, but to hack into someone's personal email account? People really do stop at nothing.

 

[Hathery]

That "Anonymous" group who did this seems like they're a little nutty.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

I'm sure if there was anything juicy discovered about Michelle, it would take no time at all for the media to grab hold of it.

And after grabbing ahold of it, they would immediately bury it.

 

[kaseydee]

The group Jennifer was talking about that was arrested during convention were never charged with anything regarding the Obama threat. Then was it really a threat?

 

[Shawnna]

It is sad that someone would hack into personal emails. Its quite disgusting actually. I am glad there doesn't seem to be anything really private...like medical info...but then there was cell phone numbers. And, they said someone called her 17 year old's phone...not vey nice at all. But, you should never post/email anything that you don't want someone else to read...hackers are very smart...just as you should never say anything on a cordless or cell phone that you don't want anyone else to hear...people can hear you. We all do it, but we should remember that it seems to be fair game for crazy people who listen/hack into our private lives.

 

[vwpamperedchef]

Welcome to being a public figure.

 

[Hathery]

And after grabbing ahold of it, they would immediately bury it.

I'd love to know what previous examples of this have led you to that conclusion.

 

[Kitchen Diva]

I'd love to know what previous examples of this have led you to that conclusion.

Are you so biased that you can't even see that the media really doesn't report in a balanced fashion? Even before I got into politics, there were stories that the biased main stream media wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole if it pertained to a democrat- but they'd splash it all over the front page if it was something pertaining to a republican.

Even if a story was to break and they actually did cover it, they'd try to hush it up as quickly as possible.

And why is it the Democrat's responsibility to send 30 lawyers to Wasilla, AK to dig up dirt on Gov. Palin? You know darn well that if the Republican's sent 30 lawyers to OH to dig up dirt on Biden there would be mass rioting and lawsuits galore. It's not the Dem's business who the Republican's pick...and it is not their place to break laws just to find anything...even a crumb so they can destroy her-

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Are you so biased that you can't even see that the media really doesn't report in a balanced fashion? Even before I got into politics, there were stories that the biased main stream media wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole if it pertained to a democrat- but they'd splash it all over the front page if it was something pertaining to a republican.

Even if a story was to break and they actually did cover it, they'd try to hush it up as quickly as possible.

And why is it the Democrat's responsibility to send 30 lawyers to Wasilla, AK to dig up dirt on Gov. Palin? You know darn well that if the Republican's sent 30 lawyers to OH to dig up dirt on Biden there would be mass rioting and lawsuits galore. It's not the Dem's business who the Republican's pick...and it is not their place to break laws just to find anything...even a crumb so they can destroy her-

Even the fact that Keith Olberman, and Chris Matthews have become so blatantly biased that they had to be removed from their positions as Anchors of Election News has been kept quiet. Everyone in the MSM seems to be giving them a pass.
For myself, I have become so offended by the Entire NBC family of stations, and find them to be so biased and one-sided, that I refuse to watch any news reports coming from those stations. Although it's touted as fair reporting, it's really just a bunch of opinions.

 

[Hathery]

Are you so biased that you can't even see that the media really doesn't report in a balanced fashion? Even before I got into politics, there were stories that the biased main stream media wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole if it pertained to a democrat- but they'd splash it all over the front page if it was something pertaining to a republican.

Even if a story was to break and they actually did cover it, they'd try to hush it up as quickly as possible.

And why is it the Democrat's responsibility to send 30 lawyers to Wasilla, AK to dig up dirt on Gov. Palin? You know darn well that if the Republican's sent 30 lawyers to OH to dig up dirt on Biden there would be mass rioting and lawsuits galore. It's not the Dem's business who the Republican's pick...and it is not their place to break laws just to find anything...even a crumb so they can destroy her-

Yes, I definitely see bias in the media. Just as you see bias with certain stations and reporters, I'm sure you don't mind the conservative bias of the Fox News Channel.

 

[Kitchen Diva]

Yes, I definitely see bias in the media. Just as you see bias with certain stations and reporters, I'm sure you don't mind the conservative bias of the Fox News Channel.

I don't find FOX News to be conservative... I find them to be in the center because I'm not decieved into thinking that one side is better than the other- it's not about party affiliation...it's about the people and about America.

And for the record the only bias I don't mind is the type where my mommy says I'm her favorite and that I really was the cutest baby in the world!

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

SIGH

One quick post, and them I'm bowing out of this thread.

First of all ... many of those I'm about to disagree with are my friends, and I hope they still will be after I've said what I'm about to say.

I am a career journalist. Granted, my career has been spent working for the local media and not the national media ... but since my college days I have noticed a distinct pattern. If you're a conservative, the paper is too liberal. If you're a liberal, the paper is too conservative. And if you're a moderate and you WORK for the media, nobody believes you're an objective moderate. Obviously, you're hiding your "bias."

We are charged with being fair. I have been blessed throughout my career to NOT live in any of the communities I've covered. This means I don't have to vote for the clowns I quote in the paper regularly. If I report both sides of a story, I've done my job. If both sides love or hate me equally, I've done my job.

It is not my job to "make me sound good." It is THEIR job to represent themselves the way they want to be represented.

The media is charged with being a watchdog over people in public office. When a public official starts using their private e-mail account for official business to avoid public records requests, it begs the question of what they have to hide. Not that any person had the right to hack into her e-mail account, and in fact, the person claiming responsibility for it seems not only nutty but lacking a junior high school education. But still, it seems fishy when a public official goes out of her way to hide what is normally a public record.

Would any self-respecting journalist bury a story about Michelle Obama or Biden? PUH-LEEESE! Sorry, that's a conspiracy theory, and I'm not biting.

I will be SO glad when this election is over!

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

I'd love to know what previous examples of this have led you to that conclusion.

Fifty years of watching the mainstream media and studying media bias in journalism classes in college. You can find examples of left bias in the mainstream media anywhere you look, national and local.

All you have to do is watch and read the mainstream media and pay attention to what they report and how they report it. The bias is so painfully obvious unless, of course, one doesn't want to see it.

The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post are like the official newsletters of the DNC.

• Compared to their audiences, journalists are far more likely to say they are Democrats or liberals, and they espouse liberal positions on a wide variety of issues. A 2004 poll by the Pew Research Center for The People & The Press found five times more journalists described themselves as “liberal” as said they were “conservative.”
• A number of journalists have admitted that the majority of their brethren approach the news from a liberal angle. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Newsweek’s Evan Thomas predicted that sympathetic media coverage would boost Kerry’s vote by “maybe 15 points,” which he later revised to five points. In 2005, ex-CBS News President Van Gordon Sauter confessed he stopped watching his old network: “The unremitting liberal orientation finally became too much for me.”
• Remember Dan Rather's completely made up story about George W. Bush during the 2004 election? During the height of CBS’s forged memo scandal during the 2004 campaign, Dan Rather insisted that the problem wasn’t his bias, it was anybody who criticized him.

Then all you have to do is take a look at some of the "objective" journalists in the MSM today.

• Brian Williams, who suggests Jimmy Carter is one of the greatest former presidents in history and that the Founding Fathers could be called terrorists, landed in the anchor chair at NBC’s Nightly News on Dec. 2, 2004. (Jimmy Carter is arguably the worst President of the 20th Century is credited by many as the father of modern terrorism for his bungled handling of the Iranian hostage crisis.)
• Walter Cronkite, anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, has made clear his liberal views on a range of issues, including how being a liberal is essential to being a good journalist.
• Katie Couric has a long history of liberally biased reporting: a soft spot for Jimmy Carter, Hillary Clinton, and the U.N., knee-jerk posture on global warming, war on terrorism, higher taxes, more regulations, national health insurance, and blatant hostility towards conservatives. She was almost in tears after Sarah Palin's speech at the RNC because it wasn't what she hoped it to be.
• Meredith Vieira replaced Katie Couric as co-host of the Today show. In picking Vieira, NBC chose a journalist with a record of liberal views on many contentious issues: participation in anti-war protests, anti-capital punishment, very critical of abstinence-based sex education, and on record as saying the Iraq war was "built on lies."
• George Stephanopoulos will take over as the solo host of ABC's Sunday interview show This Week in the fall, ABC News President David Westin announced on June 18. Stephanopoulos served in Bill Clinton's cabinet.

There's plenty more out there - just pick up a newspaper.

 

[Stephaniecafe]

Wow. This thread is pretty tense. Nobody shoot me. Just want to say I agree with you Kitchen Guy. I'm out.

 

[Hathery]

I don't find FOX News to be conservative... I find them to be in the center because I'm not decieved into thinking that one side is better than the other- it's not about party affiliation...it's about the people and about America.

And for the record the only bias I don't mind is the type where my mommy says I'm her favorite and that I really was the cutest baby in the world!

I honestly don't even know what to say to that.

 

[Hathery]

Di Can Cook, great post BTW. You hit the nail on the head, and said it way better than I could have. Thanks for your input.

Kitchen Guy, you failed to mention quite a few MSM figures today...Tony Snow, Bill O'Reilly, Brit Hume, David Asman. What's their bias?

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Tony Snow's bias is that he's dead. That's the same reason I didn't mention Peter Jennings, but since you brought up the dead guy, let me add that Jennings was so far to the left that he made Dan Ratherbiased look conservative. His 1994 diatribe about American voters accused having a "temper tantrum", after a sweeping Republican victory in Congress, exposed him for what he was - a biased reporter.Bill O'Reilly is marketed as a commentator, not a mainline reporter.Funny how the only names you come up with are on Fox. That pretty well illustrates my point, that you have a tough time finding a conservative in the main stream media. Lefties love to hate Fox News, because Fox doesn't march in lock step with the rest of the MSM. That is why they stand out. Fox also has several left-leaning reporters, which aids their fair and impartial moniker. (I do not watch Fox News, either.) So Brit Hume is a conservative-leaning anchor in a world of liberal anchors like Couric, Williams, Gibson and others. (Three of them followed Barack Obama to Europe like puppies, but pooh-poohed any international trip John McCain made.) The 1-in-5 conservative-to-liberal ratio (see my previous post) stands out in that list, doesn't it?You missed John Stossel, a breath of fresh air at ABC News. You can just see the pain on Barbara Walter's face, and the strain in her voice, when she is forced to introduce Stossel's segments on 20/20. He loves to skewer the opinions of the MSM that are held in high esteem and promoted as "accepted fact" when they are anything but. One of his favorite targets has been Michael Moore, probably the only person in the MSM to challenge Moore's baloney for what it is - baloney.You also forgot to mention Matt Drudge, and I'm sure reading his name just now sent your blood pressure up several points. Drudge's website is actually more of a list of links to other media outlets, but he is also a reporter that has broken many stories that otherwise never would have come to light. That said, I tend to take his reports with a grain of salt - but when he breaks a story, even the MSM stands up and takes notice. Drudge has been wrong sometimes, which has always been quickly pointed out. At the same time, when Williams, Couric, Viera et. al. are wrong, it either slides by or gets a shrug. The idea here is not to get into a p*#!ing contest to see who's liberal and who's conservative, the idea is to get you to read and listen to media reports with a more critical and skeptical eye. Ask yourself, why is this story being covered this way? What is this reporter really trying to tell me?Since you live in the People's Republic of Dane, you are subject to more media bias than most people in Wisconsin. Find the radio listing for Vicki McKenna, hold you nose, and listen to her for awhile. She is a lone voice in the winds of Madison.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

"Lone Gunman" Being investigated in Palin email hacking

Shocking new revelations in the Palin e-mail hacking case are currently breaking. The lone guman angle looks to be panning out. As best as I can sift the information currently, a single user has been identified as the target of the investigation: the son of a Democratic member of the Tennessee House, Rep. Mike Kernell!

Link: Caleb Howe, AOL News

Howe goes on to say...

"Putting the events together, it seems the suspect allegedly posted the information to the Anonymous groups at website 4chan, then backed away from his involvement at some point. It is not clear if he was the person who forwarded the information to website Wikileaks, which was offline from late last night until afternoon today. It seems the user may have claimed the hack on behalf of Anonymous. Whether this was to cover his tracks or not is also unclear. I'm trying to update as available. The current buzz is essentially that the suspicion of political motivation is back up high, and the suspicion of the group Anonymous as being "behind it" is at the lowest since the story broke. More to come, I'm sure."

 

[Hathery]

Tony Snow's bias is that he's dead. That's the same reason I didn't mention Peter Jennings, but since you brought up the dead guy, let me add that Jennings was so far to the left that he made Dan Ratherbiased look conservative. His 1994 diatribe about American voters accused having a "temper tantrum", after a sweeping Republican victory in Congress, exposed him for what he was - a biased reporter.

Bill O'Reilly is marketed as a commentator, not a mainline reporter.

Funny how the only names you come up with are on Fox. That pretty well illustrates my point, that you have a tough time finding a conservative in the main stream media. Lefties love to hate Fox News, because Fox doesn't march in lock step with the rest of the MSM. That is why they stand out. Fox also has several left-leaning reporters, which aids their fair and impartial moniker. (I do not watch Fox News, either.)

So Brit Hume is a conservative-leaning anchor in a world of liberal anchors like Couric, Williams, Gibson and others. (Three of them followed Barack Obama to Europe like puppies, but pooh-poohed any international trip John McCain made.) The 1-in-5 conservative-to-liberal ratio (see my previous post) stands out in that list, doesn't it?

You missed John Stossel, a breath of fresh air at ABC News. You can just see the pain on Barbara Walter's face, and the strain in her voice, when she is forced to introduce Stossel's segments on 20/20. He loves to skewer the opinions of the MSM that are held in high esteem and promoted as "accepted fact" when they are anything but. One of his favorite targets has been Michael Moore, probably the only person in the MSM to challenge Moore's baloney for what it is - baloney.

You also forgot to mention Matt Drudge, and I'm sure reading his name just now sent your blood pressure up several points. Drudge's website is actually more of a list of links to other media outlets, but he is also a reporter that has broken many stories that otherwise never would have come to light. That said, I tend to take his reports with a grain of salt - but when he breaks a story, even the MSM stands up and takes notice.

Drudge has been wrong sometimes, which has always been quickly pointed out. At the same time, when Williams, Couric, Viera et. al. are wrong, it either slides by or gets a shrug.

The idea here is not to get into a p*#!ing contest to see who's liberal and who's conservative, the idea is to get you to read and listen to media reports with a more critical and skeptical eye. Ask yourself, why is this story being covered this way? What is this reporter really trying to tell me?

Since you live in the People's Republic of Dane, you are subject to more media bias than most people in Wisconsin. Find the radio listing for Vicki McKenna, hold you nose, and listen to her for awhile. She is a lone voice in the winds of Madison.

I actually listen to Vicki McKenna quite often. I find her terse and relentless style very amusing, even though I rarely agree with her. She's the kind of person that makes liberals dislike right-wingers. But if you have a good head about it, she's a funny listen on the way home from work.

In the mainstream media you're probably right that things tend to swing more to the left, but I would argue that's only because people are really sick of the garbage this country has been put through for the last 8 years. I can't blame them for wanting to point people in the correct direction.

BTW, I LOVE John Stossel. I never really saw him as having any sort of bias though...he seems like he just de-bunks myths on every angle of the spectrum.

 

[Hathery]

Re: "Lone Gunman" Being investigated in Palin email hacking

Link: Caleb Howe, AOL News

Howe goes on to say...

"Putting the events together, it seems the suspect allegedly posted the information to the Anonymous groups at website 4chan, then backed away from his involvement at some point. It is not clear if he was the person who forwarded the information to website Wikileaks, which was offline from late last night until afternoon today. It seems the user may have claimed the hack on behalf of Anonymous. Whether this was to cover his tracks or not is also unclear. I'm trying to update as available. The current buzz is essentially that the suspicion of political motivation is back up high, and the suspicion of the group Anonymous as being "behind it" is at the lowest since the story broke. More to come, I'm sure."

Mike Kernell must be so proud right now...not.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

You can find examples of left bias in the mainstream media anywhere you look, national and local.

KG ... as a friend ... I am asking you to please don't paint local and media with the same brush.Broadcast media is all about RATINGS. What looks good on TV, what soundbytes will draw viewers, what will get people to watch. Commentators generally are allowed to broadcast their views for that reason ... either to get people to watch them to pick them apart ... or to watch them b/c they agree with them.Print journalism is all about objectivity. However, if you have a bias toward a certain point of view, you will read your own bias into what you're reading. It's very easy to pick apart a story, especially if it's about you or a viewpoint you hold strongly.

Ask yourself, why is this story being covered this way? What is this reporter really trying to tell me?

Hmmm ... both sides, if the reporter is doing their job!Of course, I'm now banished to the outer limits so it's been a while since I've been in the middle of anything controversial!

Compared to their audiences, journalists are far more likely to say they are Democrats or liberals, and they espouse liberal positions on a wide variety of issues.

If you were to ask me if I was a) liberal or b) conservative, I'd probably say c) None of the Above. I hold liberal positions on some issues and conservative positions on others .... and generally vote a very mixed ticket. However, you have to be registered with a party to vote for candidates ... so I am still a registered Democrat, the party my parents told me to pick when I first registed at 18. Sometimes it is the only way I can have a choice on candidates in a primary election. So if somebody were to survey me, they'd probably pick choice A even though that's not how I'd classify myself.(This post is meant to be educational in nature and is not meant to be hard-natured toward anyone.)

 

[MissChef]

Fifty years of watching the mainstream media and studying media bias in journalism classes in college. You can find examples of left bias in the mainstream media anywhere you look, national and local.

All you have to do is watch and read the mainstream media and pay attention to what they report and how they report it. The bias is so painfully obvious unless, of course, one doesn't want to see it.

The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post are like the official newsletters of the DNC.

• Compared to their audiences, journalists are far more likely to say they are Democrats or liberals, and they espouse liberal positions on a wide variety of issues. A 2004 poll by the Pew Research Center for The People & The Press found five times more journalists described themselves as “liberal” as said they were “conservative.”
• A number of journalists have admitted that the majority of their brethren approach the news from a liberal angle. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Newsweek’s Evan Thomas predicted that sympathetic media coverage would boost Kerry’s vote by “maybe 15 points,” which he later revised to five points. In 2005, ex-CBS News President Van Gordon Sauter confessed he stopped watching his old network: “The unremitting liberal orientation finally became too much for me.”
• Remember Dan Rather's completely made up story about George W. Bush during the 2004 election? During the height of CBS’s forged memo scandal during the 2004 campaign, Dan Rather insisted that the problem wasn’t his bias, it was anybody who criticized him.

Then all you have to do is take a look at some of the "objective" journalists in the MSM today.

• Brian Williams, who suggests Jimmy Carter is one of the greatest former presidents in history and that the Founding Fathers could be called terrorists, landed in the anchor chair at NBC’s Nightly News on Dec. 2, 2004. (Jimmy Carter is arguably the worst President of the 20th Century is credited by many as the father of modern terrorism for his bungled handling of the Iranian hostage crisis.)
• Walter Cronkite, anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, has made clear his liberal views on a range of issues, including how being a liberal is essential to being a good journalist.
• Katie Couric has a long history of liberally biased reporting: a soft spot for Jimmy Carter, Hillary Clinton, and the U.N., knee-jerk posture on global warming, war on terrorism, higher taxes, more regulations, national health insurance, and blatant hostility towards conservatives. She was almost in tears after Sarah Palin's speech at the RNC because it wasn't what she hoped it to be.
• Meredith Vieira replaced Katie Couric as co-host of the Today show. In picking Vieira, NBC chose a journalist with a record of liberal views on many contentious issues: participation in anti-war protests, anti-capital punishment, very critical of abstinence-based sex education, and on record as saying the Iraq war was "built on lies."
• George Stephanopoulos will take over as the solo host of ABC's Sunday interview show This Week in the fall, ABC News President David Westin announced on June 18. Stephanopoulos served in Bill Clinton's cabinet.

There's plenty more out there - just pick up a newspaper.

Tony Snow's bias is that he's dead. That's the same reason I didn't mention Peter Jennings, but since you brought up the dead guy, let me add that Jennings was so far to the left that he made Dan Ratherbiased look conservative. His 1994 diatribe about American voters accused having a "temper tantrum", after a sweeping Republican victory in Congress, exposed him for what he was - a biased reporter.

Bill O'Reilly is marketed as a commentator, not a mainline reporter.

Funny how the only names you come up with are on Fox. That pretty well illustrates my point, that you have a tough time finding a conservative in the main stream media. Lefties love to hate Fox News, because Fox doesn't march in lock step with the rest of the MSM. That is why they stand out. Fox also has several left-leaning reporters, which aids their fair and impartial moniker. (I do not watch Fox News, either.)

So Brit Hume is a conservative-leaning anchor in a world of liberal anchors like Couric, Williams, Gibson and others. (Three of them followed Barack Obama to Europe like puppies, but pooh-poohed any international trip John McCain made.) The 1-in-5 conservative-to-liberal ratio (see my previous post) stands out in that list, doesn't it?

You missed John Stossel, a breath of fresh air at ABC News. You can just see the pain on Barbara Walter's face, and the strain in her voice, when she is forced to introduce Stossel's segments on 20/20. He loves to skewer the opinions of the MSM that are held in high esteem and promoted as "accepted fact" when they are anything but. One of his favorite targets has been Michael Moore, probably the only person in the MSM to challenge Moore's baloney for what it is - baloney.

You also forgot to mention Matt Drudge, and I'm sure reading his name just now sent your blood pressure up several points. Drudge's website is actually more of a list of links to other media outlets, but he is also a reporter that has broken many stories that otherwise never would have come to light. That said, I tend to take his reports with a grain of salt - but when he breaks a story, even the MSM stands up and takes notice.

Drudge has been wrong sometimes, which has always been quickly pointed out. At the same time, when Williams, Couric, Viera et. al. are wrong, it either slides by or gets a shrug.

The idea here is not to get into a p*#!ing contest to see who's liberal and who's conservative, the idea is to get you to read and listen to media reports with a more critical and skeptical eye. Ask yourself, why is this story being covered this way? What is this reporter really trying to tell me?

Since you live in the People's Republic of Dane, you are subject to more media bias than most people in Wisconsin. Find the radio listing for Vicki McKenna, hold you nose, and listen to her for awhile. She is a lone voice in the winds of Madison.

WOW~! KG, I think I love you!
I am thoroughly enjoying your posts! You and my Dad would have a blast together! I think adding me and my DH to the mix and we would really have an enjoyable time! I couldn't agree with you more!
I'm out of here, before I end up getting so sucked in that I destroy my day and not work my business. I'm off to see if there is some threads on here to help my business and then go pick up the that darn HEAVY phone!!! LOL!
I just was very enthralled with your posts KG, and wanted to tell you that!

 

[Hathery]

KG ... as a friend ... I am asking you to please don't paint local and media with the same brush.

Broadcast media is all about RATINGS. What looks good on TV, what soundbytes will draw viewers, what will get people to watch. Commentators generally are allowed to broadcast their views for that reason ... either to get people to watch them to pick them apart ... or to watch them b/c they agree with them.

Print journalism is all about objectivity. However, if you have a bias toward a certain point of view, you will read your own bias into what you're reading. It's very easy to pick apart a story, especially if it's about you or a viewpoint you hold strongly.



Hmmm ... both sides, if the reporter is doing their job!

Of course, I'm now banished to the outer limits so it's been a while since I've been in the middle of anything controversial!



If you were to ask me if I was a) liberal or b) conservative, I'd probably say c) None of the Above. I hold liberal positions on some issues and conservative positions on others .... and generally vote a very mixed ticket. However, you have to be registered with a party to vote for candidates ... so I am still a registered Democrat, the party my parents told me to pick when I first registed at 18. Sometimes it is the only way I can have a choice on candidates in a primary election. So if somebody were to survey me, they'd probably pick choice A even though that's not how I'd classify myself.

(This post is meant to be educational in nature and is not meant to be hard-natured toward anyone.)

I think you're definitely right about local vs. mainstream media. I pay very little attention to mainstream media; I get nearly all my news locally. Our local news stations are very good about reporting stories as stories and not inputting any opinion. Some of the newspapers here seem to lean left, but my parent's paper in the Fox Cities leans waaaay right...it's very dependant on the pursuasion of your community as far as print media, it seems.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

As far as painting the local media with the same brush, in Wisconsin, we have a developing story that should soon be getting national play. It has to do with the possibility of voter fraud occurring in Wisconsin.

In a nutshell:

• There are numerous third party groups that are out soliciting voter registrations. Many of the registrations are suspicious, it has been reported, by government officials, that as many as 1 in 5 may be phony. (They are taking no steps to correct the flaws.)
• There is a Federal Law that specifies that all third party voter registrations must be checked against the state drivers license database to verify that the information is correct.
• Most City and town clerks in Wisconsin are refusing to do the checks.
• The AG has filed an injunctive suit to force the clerks to obey the federal law. His suit calls for the check against the database, it does not specify what to do about those that do not pass the check.
• The governor has hired an attorney to fight the suit that simply asks for the state to follow the federal law. (Anyone want to take a guess why that might be? Hmmmm?)

A local reporter on WISN-TV filed a report that claimed that if the lawsuit is upheld, a huge number of voters will be disenfranchised.

That is a blatant lie.

No one will be disenfranchised. The federal law calls for the verification of the third party registrations, nothing more. The suit does not call for striking the registration, it does not call for disenfranchising the voter.

The story about the fraudulent news story on WISN, so far, has been reported by only one journalist. He has tried to contact the reporter and the news director to try to get their side of the story, and he is, so far, being stonewalled.

Now, we expect the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel to be biased to the left, the Journal was always unabashedly left-leaning paper and the Sentinel was unbiased or leaned slightly to the right. When the papers were merged, the Sentinel staff pretty much went away, so the resulting paper leans left. No surprise there, in fact, one of my high school classmates was a reporter there. As you might guess, no one at the Journal thought they were biased and if they were, they thought they were too conservative.

But the television stations?

Now, as for what to do with the registrations? I say they should all just be thrown out. That does not disenfranchise anyone, except those who are trying to cast fraudulent votes. If a legitimate voter gets to the poll and does not appear on the roll, they are simply sent over to a table where they are allowed to register day-of, and cast a ballot. So who's disenfranchised?

The other alternative is to have those with suspicious registrations cast a "provisional" ballot that is held aside while their information is validated. When it is validated, the ballot will be put into the system. Again, who is disenfranchised? Only the frauds.

 

[Hathery]

I didn't know you were from WI, Kitchen Guy? I take it you must be from the Milwaukee area? Cool!

 

[Kitchen Diva]

I think you're definitely right about local vs. mainstream media. I pay very little attention to mainstream media; I get nearly all my news locally. Our local news stations are very good about reporting stories as stories and not inputting any opinion. Some of the newspapers here seem to lean left, but my parent's paper in the Fox Cities leans waaaay right...it's very dependant on the pursuasion of your community as far as print media, it seems.

Come to MN- Our Fox news stations is just as liberal as CBS and ABC and NBC!!! Our local media here is more left leaning than the MSM on a national level... Thankfully we have Jason Lewis to shed the light for us!

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

KG .... I agree that balloting thing needs to be seriously looked at. However, as a journalist, I would seriously disagree with throwing out all the registrations, simply because I know what a late night election night is for me ... and forcing everybody to file a provisional ballot at the board of elections would a) prevent a lot of folks from voting (who has time to go all the way to your county seat just to wait in line and b) mean that it takes waaaaaayyyy too long to count ballots!

But I agree ... it does need to be looked into.

I have to be up in about 5 hours to work a festival ... so I am saying buh-bye ... but the only reason I have posted at all is that I am trying to help people see how wrong it is to categorize people. What if I were to say, "All men are pigs" or "all men who sell pampered chef are gay" or "all conservatives are mean?"

Of course ... I would never say ANY of those things. And I would expect you to be justifiably hurt if I did!

Likewise, saying "all media members are biased" or "all journalists are liberals" brings out the defensive side in me, and it is not a side of me I like.

Nighty-night ....

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

If you do not believe there is bias in the American mainstream media, ask yourself this question, and answer it honestly...If Saturday Night Live, in a lame attempt at humor, had done a skit that made up a story about incest in the Obama or Biden family, what would the media be saying about it today?Would the crickets be chirping as they are today? After all, it was only the Palin family that was portrayed in the skit.

 

[Kitchen Diva]

If you do not believe there is bias in the American mainstream media, ask yourself this question, and answer it honestly...

If Saturday Night Live, in a lame attempt at humor, had done a skit that made up a story about incest in the Obama or Biden family, what would the media be saying about it today?

Would the crickets be chirping as they are today? After all, it was only the Palin family that was portrayed in the skit.

I heard about that skit on talk radio today. I was disgusted that they even felt humor of that kind was not off limits...disgusting!

 

[MandyK]

And why is it the Democrat's responsibility to send 30 lawyers to Wasilla, AK to dig up dirt on Gov. Palin? You know darn well that if the Republican's sent 30 lawyers to OH to dig up dirt on Biden there would be mass rioting and lawsuits galore.

Biden is from Delaware. I'm originally from DE.