UPDATED: Memo to journalistic colleagues, including self
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
UPDATED: Memo to journalistic colleagues, including self
Investigate this moron.
UPDATE: You would be shocked, shocked to learn that the Rocky Mountain News --whose death is being celebrated here by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Polis -- endorsed Polis' opponent in last year's Democratic primary, and said some harsh things about the eventual winner Polis. They wrote:
Just in case the viewer failed to get the point, words flashed on the screen: "Jared Polis, Standing up to Big Oil."
It always gives us vertigo when a powerful man mimics Huey Long, so we checked Polis' Web site to see if he provided a more sophisticated analysis of Big Oil's sins. No such luck. The "TV ad fact sheet" there was just as simplistic.
As it happens, federal marshals could confiscate every penny of Big Oil's assets and not moderate prices at the pump, but never mind. When a populist is talking trash, nothing can slow him down.
We actually had hope for Polis' campaign given his obvious intelligence, attractive record as a entrepreneur and avid support for educational choice. But we should have foreseen trouble when he pretended last year that he had never backed the state's pilot school voucher program, though he clearly had. When he went to Iraq and started issuing feverish blog posts suggesting that contractors might "have me killed as an 'accident' if I published anything they didn't like," we knew he'd veered into a ditch.
Ironically, this whole exercise proves why we need more watchdogs -- both newfangled bloggers and also those old-school conventional journalists whose job loss and personal misery (disclosure: a friend and former Daily News colleague was one of the many who lost her job there last week) is of no concern to Jared Polis. Because there needs to be someone to point out that maybe his glee over the rise of new media is really just old-time, ugly and kind of pathetic personal schadenfreude over the death of a paper that didn't endorse him.
Unfortunately, the Denver Post, the only remaining daily paper in town, didn't mention Polis' personal history with the RMN, even though it took literally 30 seconds to find out on "The Google." Ironically, one of Polis' pet issues is ethics in government, but he's quite content to have one less set of eyeballs following up on that commitment, and on him. That's unethical.
Just by way of background, Polis' remarks do expose a schism that I've sensed evolving in liberal-land. Some progressives, especially since the mostly horrendous coverage of the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, are so angry at the mainstream media that they are happy to see news orgs fail. Other liberals -- and bloggers like Philly's own Atrios have written frequently on this -- don't want the traditional media to fail, only for us to do our job better. Celebrating the death of the mainstream media is traditionally what conservatives do. Progressives should think long and hard before jumping on that bandwagon.
By the way, regulars here know I have a strict rule of not endorsing candidates. I might break that rule if this Will Shafroth guy runs again.
Dang!!! Gotta hurt when even the Democrats don't want you folks around.— bird11
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
It is extremely sad that people do not realize that good reporting and good writing are skills that require years of training and experience in order to excel. To me, the demise of newspapers are a confirmation of this misconception taking root. We are slowly setting the stage for a population of dullards.— citizenkane- Hey, all it takes for somebody to be investigated by the GOP/Media Complex is for President Obama to appoint them to something. It even works if he picks a Republican. Just ask Judd Gregg -- his family's done all sorts of hinky deals in NH for decades and nobody's done much about it. But let a Democratic president show him favor in some way, and presto! Investigations out the wazoo!— Phoenix Woman
- What are the good people of Colorado to do when they need something to wrap their fish in or house train the dog? Does the Inky deliver that far Wilbur?— WriteWinger
Why would you investigate someone for giving his opinion?— jmc- "We are slowly setting the stage for a population of dullards." - Rush Limbaugh's dittoheads say "hello"— E.Plebnista
- Because clearly he wants fewer watchdogs. Whenever someone wishes for that, then he deserves more watchdogs. Do you remember the "opinions" that Vince Fumo -- a fan favorite here at Attytood -- had about the Inquirer?— will
- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- The difference between lefties and righties is that lefties do try to police themselves and hence aren't as drawn to screamers like Michael (Savage) Weiner and Rush Limbaugh. Will isn't afraid to go after a fellow lefty who is well thought of by many other lefties, yet the few conservatives who touch the third rail that is Rush soon learn not to do so. Speaking of Limbaugh, he really is the untouchable god of the GOP, isn't he? Phil Gingrey tried dissing him -- and was forced to apologize. Michael Steele tried dissing him -- and was forced to apologize. I'm not normally a fan of Rahm Emanuel, but boy howdy did he call this one!— Phoenix Woman
- "Sanctimoniuos drivel and clearly masked impartiality is not worth the paper it's printed on." - or the air it's broadcast through, eh? At least Rush is good for one thing - recycling oxygen as carbon dioxide to aid in plants' photosynthesis. Aside from that, not much.— E.Plebnista
- MR Bunch-something tells me this guy is going to have a party when the Fairness Doc ... I mean, "localism" ends conservative talk radi. Less opposition, after all, for fascists like this creep.— Paul B
"Its stale and old by the time it shows up. If it shows up" . . . . Good observation, mack. Isn't that the essence of their problem?
- Andrew Sullivan
- Blinq
- Blogorrhea
- Blonde Sagacity
- Free Republic
- Instapundit
- James Taranto
- ScrappleFace
- The Corner
- Buzzmachine
- Eat the Press
- Editor and Publisher
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Media Bloodhound
- Mickey Kaus
- Pressthink
- Romenesko
- The Inksniffer
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Above Average Jane
- BlankBaby
- Citizen Mom
- Keystone Blog
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- Phawker
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Philly Future
- Phillyblog
- Phillyist
- The Clog
- The Next Mayor
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Young Philly Politics
- Afro-Netizen
- All-Spin Zone
- Atrios
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- Booman Tribune
- CorrenteWire
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- iFlipFlop
- Kiko's House
- MyDD
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Rowhouse Logic
- Slacktivist
- Suburban Guerilla
- Tattered Coat
- upyernoz
- AmericaBlog
- Andy Borowitz
- BuzzFlash
- Crooks and Liars
- Cursor
- Daily Kos
- David Sirota
- Drudge Report
- Echidne of the Snakes
- Fire Dog Lake
- Glenn Greenwald
- Hullabaloo
- Jesus' General
- Jon Swift
- Josh Marshall
- Juan Cole
- Kevin Drum
- Mad Kane
- Majikthise
- Matthew Yglesias
- Oliver Willis
- Raw Story
- Swing State Project
- Talk Left
- Taylor Marsh
- TBogg
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Think Progress
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- A Citizen's Blog
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Beer Leaguer
- Dick Polman
- Phillies Nation
- Philling Station
- Shallow Center
- The 700 Level
- The Good Phight
