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Did Jacob Weisberg Ever Call MSNBC “Un-American”?

Posted by B. Daniel Blatt at 1:46 am - October 19, 2009.
Filed under: Hysteria on the Left, Media Bias

What is it with normally sensible, highly educated liberal pundits? Why do they get so hot and bothered about FoxNews?

Michelle Malkin calls it Fox News Derangement Syndrome.  It’s one thing to criticize their coverage and their surfeit of “platinum pundettes,” but to call them “un-American” as does the once*-sensible Jacob Weisberg, now that really takes the cake.

Perhaps, he should actually watch their evening coverage.  I’ll grant that Glenn Beck (at least the few times I’ve watched him) is quite over-the-top, but on Special Report with Bret Bair (my favorite program on the network), they regularly have guests representing both sides on any given issue, often with a quite intelligent and eloquent liberals defending Democratic policies, officials and candidates.

A far greater balance that I’ve ever seen on MSNBC when they play it on the TV monitors at my gym.  If Fox is “un-American, then MSNBC even more so.

What is it that makes so many on the left (particularly those in the Administration) hate FoxNews so?  Is it its success? Or is it something else?  Perhaps the greater prominence it gives for Administration criticism in particular and conservative views in general?

(H/t:  Jim Hoft)

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*I would call him “normally” sensible, but this latest piece is just beyond silly.UPDATE:  Meryl Yourish points out that Weisberg blames Fox “not only responsible for tilting itself right, but . . . also for the leftward tilt of the other cable news networks.“  Weisberg had said, “Fox hasn’t just corrupted its own coverage. Its example has made all of cable news unpleasant and unreliable.”  The other networks are just “unpleasant and unreliable,” but only Fox earns the epithet of “un-American.”

Weisberg does have a habit of blaming liberals’ failures on conservatives.  Mark Steyn observed how he blamed “Bush for the horrors of the Obama presidency“:

As a sympathetic Jacob Weisberg sees it, the understandable urge to be the unBush has sent the Obama pendulum swinging way off the charts

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6 Comments »

  1. The fault lies not in those people’s stars (Bush, Fox, etc.) but in themselves.

    Comment by ILoveCapitalism — October 19, 2009 @ 3:48 am - October 19, 2009

  2. Why do they get so hot and bothered about FoxNews?

    Ratings. Penis envy. Moonbatshitcraziness. It’s all the same in this case.

    they regularly have guests representing both sides on any given issue, often with a quite intelligent and eloquent liberals defending Democratic policies, officials and candidates.

    Try Cavuto.

    Comment by ThatGayConservative — October 19, 2009 @ 4:16 am - October 19, 2009

  3. I will go with the Penis Envy. It seems the most logical reason.

    Comment by straightAussie — October 19, 2009 @ 4:52 am - October 19, 2009

  4. Interesting comments from WH Comm. Director Anita Bidet Dunn:

    “Very rarely did we communicate through the press anything that we didn’t absolutely control,”

    “One of the reasons we did so many of the David Plouffe videos was not just for our supporters, but also because it was a way for us to get our message out without having to actually talk to reporters,”

    “We just put that out there and made them write what Plouffe had said as opposed to Plouffe doing an interview with a reporter. So it was very much we controlled it as opposed to the press controlled it,”

    “Whether it was a David Plouffe video or an Obama speech, a huge part of our press strategy was focused on making the media cover what Obama was actually saying as opposed to why the campaign was saying it, what the tactic was. … Making the press cover what we were saying.”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLR5jHlytRg&feature=player_embedded

    So sorta like when DJs do those “interviews” where they read a script and play recordings of the replies? How much of this is going on now?

    Comment by ThatGayConservative — October 19, 2009 @ 5:07 am - October 19, 2009

  5. Weisberg ends his lecture piece on bias with this:

    Whether the White House engages with Fox is a tactical political question. Whether we journalists continue to do so is an ethical one. By appearing on Fox, reporters validate its propaganda values and help to undermine the role of legitimate news organizations. Respectable journalists—I’m talking to you, Mara Liasson—should stop appearing on its programs. A boycott would make Roger Ailes too happy, so let’s try just ignoring Fox for a while. And no, I don’t want to come on The O’Reilly Factor to discuss it.

    Wow, it is now an issue of “ethics in journalism” to boycott Fox. Jacob Weisberg will refuse to appear live on The O’Reilly Factor to make his case because it would be “unethical” and he would no longer be a “respectable journalist.” And does he have a list he could publish to guide us to “legitimate news organizations”?

    Tell me again why Jacob Weisberg is worth reading. From my seat, Jacob Weisberg is telling the kids on the sandlot that they should pick up their marbles and go home. Game over.

    Why doesn’t he just threaten to hold his breath until he turns blue or clap his ears while saying na-na-na-na-na-na-I-can’t-hear-or-see-you,-Fox-News.

    Comment by heliotrope — October 19, 2009 @ 9:42 am - October 19, 2009

  6. “What is it that makes so many on the left (particularly those in the Administration) hate FoxNews so?”

    The reasons should be obvious. The real issue is, why aren’t conservatives as successful at making the same point regarding ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS, et al? People need to know those sources are far more biased than Fox, but most people haven’t gotten that message. Our ObamaKing paints Fox as the devil, leaving people to believe all the other sources must be a better alternative. Sure, those outlets are the LIBERAL alternative, but they are not better.

    Eh, success is its own reward, huh?

    Comment by DoorHold — October 19, 2009 @ 12:02 pm - October 19, 2009

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