MSM Derides Bloggers For Asking Hypothetical Bad Question
A remarkable exchange from the media watchers at CNN:
KURTZ: Meanwhile, one person who was called on was Sam Stein of the Huffington Post. So is this a new era for bloggers in terms of White House recognition?
CARLSON: I don’t know where Arianna was at moment, but she popped the champagne and cheered, because this is what bloggers have been waiting for, and he got it. And it’s — and it’s right. The Huffington Post…
IFILL: And he had a perfectly reasonable question.
CARLSON: He did. Huffington Post is as much a player in this last campaign and now in this White House coverage as anybody.
KURTZ: He asked a question about a proposal on Capitol Hill to start a truth and reconciliation commission to look into Bush-era wrongdoing.
IFILL: Something which the judiciary chairman in both the House and the Senate are interested in investigating. I was interested to hear what the president had to say, which was not much, because it was off topic, but it was perfectly reasonable to ask it.
I would be a little crazier if it was a blogger who’d never covered anything, who just showed up and said, You know, I was woke up this morning, thinking that, you know, I have a hangnail, Mr. President. Can you help me with that?
I’m glad to see Sam Stein getting credit for asking a smart question, but where’s the surprise that he asked a smart question coming from? The guy is a professional political reporter. The fact that his reporting underlies writing that appears on computer screens rather than on extremely cheap sheets of paper shouldn’t lead anyone to expect that given a chance to ask the President of the United States a question he didn’t turn to hangnails. The only surprising thing about Stein’s question was that he asked a question about a substantive matter of policy rather than following the usual MSM political reporter schtick of asking a political process question. That preference for process over substance is part of the reason America hates the media and the success of the new media is in part driven by the determination to avoid those mistakes that was on display in Stein’s choice of question.
52 Responses to “MSM Derides Bloggers For Asking Hypothetical Bad Question”
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February 15th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Ifill: I would be a little crazier if it was a blogger who’d never covered anything
hmm. Good point.
Gwen, how would you feel about a gay hooker who’d never covered anything before, asking questions of the President at your press conferences?
February 15th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
It would sure be an awful, horrendous, shocking thing if reporters at press conferences failed to ask the really important question. Thank god that before bloggers screwed everything up, reporters were always there to do everything right.
February 15th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Sam Stein is a reporter, he reports stuff.
Matthew Yglesias is a blogger.
Big Difference.
February 15th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you….” (Check.) “Then they fight you, and then you win.” (We sure hope so!)
February 15th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
-but where’s the surprise that he asked a smart question coming from?
**** It’s coming from the beltway “hoi-paloi”,you know,the ones who think that cuz Sam don’t work for one of the big Corp media corruption companies he ain’t gat no bzs-ness asking POUS any question.They are the ones who think they are above we,ordinary humans,they seem to think that their shit don’t stink nomo.But pay attention to Ifill,you would think that she above all else would recognize the shit slinging.Proves what most decent humans know that the environment where you fornicate has more to do than skin color.
February 15th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
I forget, was it the blogger that asked Obama about A-Rod or was it (in my best church lady voice) Chuck Todd? God the “mainstream” media are so out of touch its surprising they can even drive cars, order coffee or you know…speak for “everday Americans” with any sense of identity. These people are dinosaurs.
February 15th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Gwen should be grateful that Stein did not ask whether female reporters will be able to get as close to the new Secretery of State as they did with the old.
February 15th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
OK, putting my pedant hat on — “hoi polloi” means the common people, not the elite. “Hoity toity” means elite. Otherwise, carry on.
February 15th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Todd didn’t ask the A-Rod question. I think it was a WaPo reporter, which makes the point just as clearly (if not more).
February 15th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
“Hoity toity” means elite.
And as I’m sure you are aware from having studied Latin, a single elite person is a hoitus toitus.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
As for the larger point, I think reporters have it in their heads that “bloggers” are synonymous with “the anonymous cranks on the internet who email me” — hence this caricature of self-absorption and general oddball-ness. For them, to blog means to rant about opinions. That’s why they’re so much on guard against the skeery influence of bloggers and “snark.”
February 15th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
“..America hates the media…”
Yup. The purpose of the MSM isn’t reporting, it’s framing each and every story the way the elites want it framed.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Oh, of course. And when you stop being an elite person, that’s known as hoitus interruptus.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I hate to be shallow, but Howie Kurtz in that picture looks like an incredibly smug DB. Just stare directly at it for a couple minutes and tell me you don’t want to punch him in the face.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Let’s look at how dense MattY is.
1. The MSM fears bloggers and thus the derision. They fear bloggers even though almost all of them aren’t a threat to the MSM because almost none of them are capable of doing any kind of reporting.
2. Stein’s question was only good in the “Comrade Stalin, grain production in the Ukraine was 2% higher than you predicted. How do you respond?” sense.
3. Here are just some of the questions you will never ever hear from anyone who’s invited to a BHO press conference, MSM or not.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Um, as for (2), Stein’s question was critical in nature, Obama dodged it, and Stein then made news-show appearances to talk about how unsatisfied he was with Obama’s answer.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Etymologically speaking, the original meaning of hoi polloi was not “the many’ or “the masses”, but “the breeders” (which fits right in with the GOP right-to-life position. Cannon fodder!).
February 15th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
That’s what they think of the liberal bloggers. When right-wing cranks e-mail them, they inject the propaganda directly into the public discourse. Wouldn’t want to be biased.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
So have Kurtz, Carlson, and Ifill found Saddam Hussein’s nukes yet?
February 15th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I have a friend in Rome named Hoitus Toitus.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Of course to Kurtz that was a terribly unserious question from a terribly unserious reporter.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Am I the only one who thinks the Huffington Post is not a “blog” and that Sam Stein is not a “blogger”? The Huffington Post is an online tabloid newspaper that is is a bit heavier than most newspapers on the op-eds. The only reason people confuse it with blogs and the blogosphere is that it has no print version.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
But if it has no print version, then it has no value, just as your paper money wouldn’t be worth anything if not for the gold in Fort Knox.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Isn’t the reason that surprise was expressed at a blogger being able to ask an intelligent question clear?
Either the MSM person thought blogging is all about hangnails or he/she thought that is what they’re supposed to say on national TV. You must be patronizing. How else are people going to know you are superior?
February 15th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Good discussion.
Kafka, you wrote: “The purpose of the MSM isn’t reporting, it’s framing each and every story the way the elites want it framed.”
This assertion sounds interesting, but meaningless. Which elites are you speaking about? how does these particular elites want the story to be framed?” I’m not disagreeing here; I just think you need to turn it into a meaningful assertion.
I wouldn’t mind having a Youtube press conference (similar to what was done occasionally on the campaign). We get a variety of questions, and then certain questions get voted up.
Re the press conferences; I think Obama did a masterful job explaining the nuances of his beliefs. But talking to people of different political persuasions, the impression I got was that Obama seemed too wishy washy and that the questions of reporters seemed “staged.”
February 15th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Did anyone see the roundtable on this week? At the first break, this was the announcement:
“The roundtable is sponsored by Chevron.”
February 15th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
I wonder what Mr. Kurtz’s stylist calls that haircut? It looks like an unusual combination of the “classic businessman” and the “dipped mushroom” using the blade of a razor or a blowtorch instead of scissors. Fascinating.
February 15th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
The layering at the top suggests a nod toward the style nowadays (and perhaps a battle lost to the hair cutter), but the looong slightly puffy side parts ever so slightly covering the tops of the ears say, nope i’m not gonna change too much.
February 15th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
FlipYrWhig Says: Stein’s question was critical in nature, Obama dodged it, and Stein then made news-show appearances to talk about how unsatisfied he was with Obama’s answer.
Stein’s question, unlike the ones I’d ask, wasn’t intended to discredit BHO. (Note: I tried to ask BHO a question two years ago, thanks.)
Dan Kervick Says: The Huffington Post is an online tabloid newspaper that is is a bit heavier than most newspapers on the op-eds.
Yes, heavy op-eds from nobody celebs. AlyssaMilano is their most famous op-eder.
BTW: I just posted a new question for BHO or anyone else who supports the stim bill. I’m sure Sam Stein will be asking it any day now.
February 15th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
24, I guess you say “BHO” in order to draw our attention to the HUSSEIN part of his name, no?
And – he’s really a Muslim/Moslem and all that, right?
Thanks! Great stuff!
February 15th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
In other words, you have no interest in economic policy or the law, only in promulgating bogus talking points that you can use to “discredit” the president. After all, it’s not like economic policy actually affects anyone.
February 15th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
I’d love to see digby show up and ask some questions…. so long as she uses her real name.
Hell, why not Matt Drudge? Beats Jeff Gannon.
Such snobs those DC media folk are……
February 15th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Wait – Ifill is a reporter?
February 15th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Back before they started deleting comments that made them look bad, I (”TLB”) and someone else (”theAmericanist”) made short work of someone using the name Mnemosyne here: washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_05/011405.php
It might be the same person, but that isn’t known since there are a lot of people who are wrong. In any case, this Mnemosyne fails to understand that a) my questions are not “bogus” but contains cites as necessary, and b) the goal of my questions is to send a message that politicians shouldn’t advance highly flawed policies and that if they do they’ll be discredited.
It’s those – like Sam Stein – who fail to ask real questions that enable politicians to advance highly flawed policies.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Yep those eeleegle alienz can haz all r jobzz! A blogger with cites sed so!!
February 15th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Asking about a hangnail would be “a little crazier” than asking about a truth commission. Hmmm. I have tried to point out to a friend that CNN isn’t really liberal, but to no avail.
February 15th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
24, I guess you say “BHO” in order to draw our attention to the HUSSEIN part of his name, no?
Well, I’m no fan of the troll formerly known as lonewacko, but in all fairness, you have to admit that “BHO” is preferable to calling him “BO”
February 15th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Hadn’t thought of that.
February 15th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Uh, how about “Obama?” “BHO” saves all of two letters. I suppose “Obama” doesn’t properly emphasize his evil foreignness enough.
February 15th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Maybe I’m a little punchy after breathing in Fantastik for several hours while cleaning my kitchen this afternoon, but I’ve been laughung for twenty minutes at Vidal Sassoon’s comment at #27 above.
Well done, sir. Thank you.
February 15th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
I (”TLB”)
And once you get banned again for spamming, Kellybot, what will you be calling yourself next? The OhNoesMexicanGovernment wants to know.
February 16th, 2009 at 12:08 am
hmmm….I didn’t know there was an agenda and list questions you are supposed to ask at a Presidential press conference?
These guys and gals give more away about their village than they even know…
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