Cryin’ at the editorial desk
Lead Summary
By
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By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist
In my column last week, I cited a number from a news organization. It was not very complimentary. In a few days, I hear from that organization with protests that what I looked at online was a “preview” copy, and I should have looked at the “final” copy.
Are you kidding me? How lame is that? If it is online, it is online – and fair game. Rory Ryan, likely the last newspaper person in the country to play it straight down the middle, told the whiner, “Errors happen. Own 'em.”
The pixels were barely dry on that issue when A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, comes out with an opinion piece titled, “The Growing Threat to Journalism Around the World.”
While spending some time talking about the risks and consequences journalists face in assignments in hostile places around the world, Mr. Sulzberger spends a lot of time whining about the way journalists are treated here at home, threats to the First Amendment and so forth.
Well, Sir, you and your kindred in the liberal media have brought this on yourselves. You do not present news in a fair and balanced way. The NYT editorial page has crept into your so-called news stories, without notice. Your staff has a strong left-leaning political bias and likely is not good at math (see my column last week).
You and your kind destroyed the franchise of news reporting. Most of us go to the unfiltered, unverified big boys you cite (Google and Facebook) where we agree we can’t tell real news from fake news. But this is not Google’s fault, Facebook’s fault or our fault – it is yours.
The modern mainstream media is not fit to tie the shoelaces of the likes of Horace Greeley or even the yellow journalists, Joseph Pulitzer or William Randolph Hearst. In modern times, while a liberal in his personal beliefs, Walter Cronkite, sitting at his news desk, almost always played it straight down the middle. Those days are gone.
Today, you and your friends let your cub and intermediate reporters mix their politics with their stories. Just this week, I could not find a straight story out of any of you about the brouhaha that the House Democrats are trying to turn into impeachment.
Do an exercise for me, take your stories from the summer of 2016 on and substitute the name “Obama” everywhere you have the name “Trump.” Go back three years before that and substitute the name “Trump” for every place you have the name “Obama.” See if your bias does not show up in glaring examples.
If you read the book “Andersonville,” you will find that even in that dark, wretched place (which reminds me of the place you are trying to turn America into) there were a group of prisoners that curried favor with the guards, stole the pitiful possessions of new arrivals and whined all the time about how they were treated. You, Sir, remind me of that group of prisoners, doing everything you can to steal what the rest of us have through your constant complaints and shredding of our constitution, the rule of law and societal norms.
President Trump has not taken a salary since he came into office. He donates it to an appropriate cause each quarter. Do you publicize this? No. You yell about the emoluments clause any time anyone stays in the Trump hotel in Washington, the nicest and almost the closest hotel to the White House.
Mrs. Trump is the most poised first lady since Jackie Kennedy. She speaks six languages (Jackie Kennedy spoke four, but who’s counting?). Does anyone in the media give any positive coverage to Mrs. Trump? No. She is “guilty” by association. Can’t dare give her any credit for anything.
Yes, Mr. Sulzberger, you and your kind should feel threatened. It is because you as a group have destroyed a precious resource in our country. You deserve to go out of business. Good riddance.
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press. He may be reached at jthompson@taii.com.
HCP columnist
In my column last week, I cited a number from a news organization. It was not very complimentary. In a few days, I hear from that organization with protests that what I looked at online was a “preview” copy, and I should have looked at the “final” copy.
Are you kidding me? How lame is that? If it is online, it is online – and fair game. Rory Ryan, likely the last newspaper person in the country to play it straight down the middle, told the whiner, “Errors happen. Own 'em.”
The pixels were barely dry on that issue when A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, comes out with an opinion piece titled, “The Growing Threat to Journalism Around the World.”
While spending some time talking about the risks and consequences journalists face in assignments in hostile places around the world, Mr. Sulzberger spends a lot of time whining about the way journalists are treated here at home, threats to the First Amendment and so forth.
Well, Sir, you and your kindred in the liberal media have brought this on yourselves. You do not present news in a fair and balanced way. The NYT editorial page has crept into your so-called news stories, without notice. Your staff has a strong left-leaning political bias and likely is not good at math (see my column last week).
You and your kind destroyed the franchise of news reporting. Most of us go to the unfiltered, unverified big boys you cite (Google and Facebook) where we agree we can’t tell real news from fake news. But this is not Google’s fault, Facebook’s fault or our fault – it is yours.
The modern mainstream media is not fit to tie the shoelaces of the likes of Horace Greeley or even the yellow journalists, Joseph Pulitzer or William Randolph Hearst. In modern times, while a liberal in his personal beliefs, Walter Cronkite, sitting at his news desk, almost always played it straight down the middle. Those days are gone.
Today, you and your friends let your cub and intermediate reporters mix their politics with their stories. Just this week, I could not find a straight story out of any of you about the brouhaha that the House Democrats are trying to turn into impeachment.
Do an exercise for me, take your stories from the summer of 2016 on and substitute the name “Obama” everywhere you have the name “Trump.” Go back three years before that and substitute the name “Trump” for every place you have the name “Obama.” See if your bias does not show up in glaring examples.
If you read the book “Andersonville,” you will find that even in that dark, wretched place (which reminds me of the place you are trying to turn America into) there were a group of prisoners that curried favor with the guards, stole the pitiful possessions of new arrivals and whined all the time about how they were treated. You, Sir, remind me of that group of prisoners, doing everything you can to steal what the rest of us have through your constant complaints and shredding of our constitution, the rule of law and societal norms.
President Trump has not taken a salary since he came into office. He donates it to an appropriate cause each quarter. Do you publicize this? No. You yell about the emoluments clause any time anyone stays in the Trump hotel in Washington, the nicest and almost the closest hotel to the White House.
Mrs. Trump is the most poised first lady since Jackie Kennedy. She speaks six languages (Jackie Kennedy spoke four, but who’s counting?). Does anyone in the media give any positive coverage to Mrs. Trump? No. She is “guilty” by association. Can’t dare give her any credit for anything.
Yes, Mr. Sulzberger, you and your kind should feel threatened. It is because you as a group have destroyed a precious resource in our country. You deserve to go out of business. Good riddance.
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press. He may be reached at jthompson@taii.com.