Obituary for the Major Dailies

By Rose Pedenko and Tanya Simon

Titans of journalism, such as the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, are a dangerously few columns short of their own obituary. If they continue their careless disregard for truth and accuracy, and, worse, rank dismissal of their readers’ intelligence, their ending might eventually read like a Special Report bulletin:

*** “Newspapers and the once mighty network news organizations in this country are dead – (that’s DED for their still loyal audience). Forensics determined the deaths were self-inflicted: They had hermetically sealed themselves within their ivory towers, turned the laser printers on full blast and were asphyxiated by their own biased reporting.

“Rescue teams described ghastly scenes upon breaking through to the inner sanctums of those swaggering houses of power: the air was choked with the stench of decaying yellow paper and ink which had been utilized for amoral, leftist political and anti-American propaganda. One rescuer emerged quite shaken, saying he could still hear the disconnected wailing of bitter telemarketers begging former subscribers to accept free weekly issues.

“Analyses of their demise included owners’ and editors’ long-standing ingratitude of subscribers’ trust, increased arrogance thinking readers’ opinions were inconsequential, and, finally, ignoring the ominous rumble caused by the massive loss of advertising revenue buckling and caving under their slippered feet.

“Why did such a horrible end come to be for these powerful gods of clubs and racetracks? The front pages of these once respected newspapers, particularly the most liberal-minded of them, had become theme parks for irresponsible treatment of the truth. Plagiarism, concocted scenarios and shadowy sources had become the accepted journalistic path to success for lazy writers and even lazier editors.

“Lastly, the newspapers failed to accept that the public stopped caring about their so-called experience, their elitist ivy-league degreed writers and Pulitzer Prize winners because updated, fact-based and unbiased information came faster than the speed of sound via the Internet. The last forensic find was false pride.

“The number of mourners estimated to attend the services is expected to be low.” *** End of bulletin.

We realize this is an extreme example of what could be referred to as an alternate history. On sober reflection, and taking into account all of the unchecked embarrassments perpetrated by the liberal media, this bulletin doesn’t sound that outrageous, because in the parallel universe of professional journalists and the unstoppable increase in number of citizen journalists, there is no longer anywhere for the MSM to run or hide. Their open mishandling of sensitive national security information concerning the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, their relentless attempts to disparage the President of United States, their foolish support of blanket amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants, and their limelight attention on pre-chosen presidential candidates has been more than sufficient to demonstrate their foolhardy and predictable actions.

The recent passing of William F. Buckley was the final death knell for the wretched excesses of the Dailies, because the loss of that giant reminded us – conservatives and rational Democrats alike – of what a real journalist and editor looks like, and how a real journalist and editor conducts himself.

A dispiriting aspect of their impending demise is that a modicum of fairness would have staved off “curtains” for the Dailies. The rapid rise of cable news ratings and the proliferation of citizen journalists should have been their wake-up call. The superciliousness and snobbery of the liberal media has proven to be both mind-bending and shortsighted in scope and measure.

Recently, we were on the receiving end of a call from an L.A. Times telemarketer. To our surprise he did not hesitate to acknowledge mistakes made by that paper. In desperation for our subscription he was quick to add that Sam Zell, the new owner of the Tribune, was a forward-thinking man who would be putting forth effort to present both sides of a news story (like this is a novel idea), and, on that basis, would we consider re-subscribing.

It seemed too little, too late. But we did say we would “keep an eye on the paper” for the changes he talked about. That’s when his impersonation of a Baptist preacher suddenly poured forth, asking if we believed in forgiveness. Lordy! If that ain’t desperation, then we really are as dumb as they believe.

The bottom line is, we and all concerned Americans want this from the media: no fuss, no muss, no egocentricities, and certainly not just what they want us to hear and read. We want information on both the Left and the Right, in equal proportion – no more heavyset front-page reportage that skews their way, and the news that doesn’t relegated to page 18.

Americans demand and deserve the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us all.

http://www.lowdowncentral.com/feature-article/2008/3/5/obituary-for-the-major-dailies.html