A column from the Green Bay Press from the Wausau Daily Herald
The headline should of been,
" I will carry the MSM water".."COLUMN: Newspapers serve democracy
By Mike McCabe • For the Wausau Daily Herald • July 29, 2008
Newspapers are in trouble all across the country. They are bleeding readership. Papers from The New York Times to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel are cutting staff. An American journalistic institution, the Wall Street Journal, was sold to foreign media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Closer to home, The Capital Times of Madison and Superior's Daily Telegram have ceased daily print publication." COLUMN: Newspapers serve democracy | greenbaypressgazette.com | Green Bay Press-Gazette
Do we have to explain things to Mr. McCabe? Bleeding readership, cutting staff, I wonder why!
It's quite possible that the business model upon which the newspaper industry was built has fallen apart and can't be pieced back together. But God help us if we don't figure out a new business model or otherwise fight for the survival of the news business.
Oh please, give me a Kleenex! I thought the left doesn't believe in God?
I
t is hard to imagine how democracy works without a free and tenacious press. That "press" does not necessarily have to be ink on newsprint, but it absolutely has to be more than entertainment clothed in the day's events. It has to be more than TV, talk radio and the blogosphere.
Ok, we hear how newspapers are going through changes, Yea, yea O K.
Just as dissent is the highest form of patriotism, relentless scrutiny of government is the greatest service to democracy. But there is a growing school of thought on the left that criticism of public officials and government is destructive.
The papers are laying off people and we now talk about "dissent is the highest form of patriotism", where did that come from?
The line of thinking goes like this: Ever since the Reagan presidency (although some date it back to Goldwater), the right has battered government and has systematically worked to turn the American people against it. Against this backdrop, journalists and whistle blowers who call attention to wrongdoing by politicians or expose government corruption are now bizarrely seen as being in league with right-wingers who, as neocon guru Grover Norquist said, want to shrink government "down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."
Reagan and Goldwater, psst (the RIGHT) "has battered government and has systematically worked to turn the American people against it." What? "Journalists and whistle blowers who call attention to wrongdoing by politicians or expose government corruption are now bizarrely seen as being in league with right-wingers", Those evil right wingers! Dos waskawe wepubwicans!
What a load of bull.
First of all, Ronald Reagan's record hardly shows he was a pioneer when it came to reining in government. Federal spending as a percent of gross domestic product actually was considerably lower during the Clinton administration. Reagan's innovation was legitimizing the practice of spending like a drunken sailor while cutting taxes and running up huge debt.
Can we let the record show what Ronald Reagan did. From Wikipedia. " In June 1987, Congress had attempted to preempt the FCC decision and codify the Fairness Doctrine (S. 742, 100th Cong., 1st Sess. (1987)), but the legislation was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan," Mr. McCabe must want the Fairness doctrine brought back. The right wing press and right wing blogs have to be stopped! We need fairness!
In any case, Reagan did not invent or manufacture anti-government sentiment. Nor did Goldwater, for that matter. They merely recognized a prominent feature of the American political culture and exploited it. But then Bill Proxmire, a Democrat, became a legend in Wisconsin politics mining the same terrain.
They exploited the press?
Proxmire understood the same thing Reagan did. A strong individualist streak runs through Americans. The well-defined sense of the commons that Europeans possess is missing here. We're hard-wired to distrust government.
Bill Proxmire was one of the last honest politician from the GREAT state of Wisconsin.The press would never cover an honest politician today! Sure, we should be like Europe, excuse me , didn't we help Europe a while back? I seem to remember something like WWI and WWII.
When times are tough and our backs are against the wall, though, government can come in pretty handy. What's called the "Greatest Generation" was the product of just such experience. But even the trauma of the Great Depression and the Second World War could not permanently extinguish the strong sense of individualism that underlies the widespread wariness toward government.
I have no idea what that means, one,two, three, four, five, calm down Paul!
Building trust of and support for government by being less vigilant and less vociferous critics of government is similarly a fool's mission. If building a "government is good" movement depends on looking the other way when political corruption is visible or excusing government foul-ups, then such a movement is doomed before it begins.
Sorry, I lost that one too!
There's only one way to boost public confidence in government: Make it work better.
And to make it work better, there's one ingredient that surely needs to be in the recipe: Make sure government officials know their every move is being watched.
How can you go to newspapers loosing circulation, layoffs and come full circle to government corruption, and we need to "boost public confidence in government"?
Which is why we need newspapers, or something that is their equal.
Mike McCabe is director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan watchdog group. WDC's Web site is www.wisdc.org.
Let me make this real simple to Mr. McCabe and to the Main Stream Media.
Newspaper are loosing circulation because most, not all, are printing left leaning liberal crap that most level headed people are sick and tired of? They do not look to government to solve their problems. They do not want a NANNY state! People are not hearing the whole story! The media can tell people all they want that they are not bias when it comes to news, their circulations numbers tell a different story.
To go from newspapers hard times to government corruption, to the nanny state is a wagon full of horse manure! People who are willing to kiss the feet of the media and big government should move to Europe where they belong!
And I wonder why we worry about our future leaders ( young children to you media types) of today. What crap they are forced to hear.
What a bunch of H_ _ _ _ _ _ _ T!
