You are right about Woodward. His keeping quiet about Trump telling him that covid was going to be really bad, that lots of people would die was particularly egregious. Woodward should have made that public as soon as Trump started publicly claiming that covid was no big deal, just another flu. He might well have stopped that messaging f…
You are right about Woodward. His keeping quiet about Trump telling him that covid was going to be really bad, that lots of people would die was particularly egregious. Woodward should have made that public as soon as Trump started publicly claiming that covid was no big deal, just another flu. He might well have stopped that messaging from Trump and helped save a lot of lives. I think John Bolton is just as bad. He didn’t testify, just put the info in his book to make money.
I have seen several comments on Twitter asking how it’s OK for journalists like Haberman who uncover illegal acts to keep that information to themselves until they are writing a book for $$$. At least Woodward didn’t do that back when he was covering Watergate.
I mean I have to assume that some of this stuff is covered in journalistic ethics courses, no? Like "Hey journalists, if you uncover something so explosive that it's timely release is for the greater good, don't save it for a book...get it out NOW"?
Good question. The media outlets ought to have that standard, too. The WaPo’s motto is “Democracy dies in darkness”! Hiding facts until your book comes out increases the darkness.
I also think journalists ought to expose sources when they find they have been manipulating journalists by feeding them false information for political purposes. For example, no one in the media has been willing to expose those Trump-loving NY FBI agents that even Comey admitted had been leaking information in 2015-16 to damage Hillary. The media also should have told us who was giving them all that bogus information about Whitewater. The Starr investigation made it crystal clear that the media had been played. The story of how the right has been so skillful at manipulating the mainstream media which has badly damaged our democracy is something the public needs to know. Not giving us that information serves to keep the public in that darkness that the WaPo claims to be fighting.
I have good friends who are anything but fools and yet they thought there had to be something to all those Clinton scandals because all of the mainstream “liberal” media said there was. It took quite awhile for some of them to realize just how bad that reporting really was. For most, the Bush administration was the big eye opener. Now they are very skeptical about media coverage. I also know other people who turned to Fox News and are now residents of Crazytown. The few I know well have always been gullible and easily upset by hyped media scare stories.
That's the kind of thing books should be written about! How the right continues to manipulate the media. It's crazy how they'll rush to get out some unsubstantiated story that is clearly been generated by the right wing spin machine, but they will sit on actual news that could save lives and change the course of history for the better.
You are right about Woodward. His keeping quiet about Trump telling him that covid was going to be really bad, that lots of people would die was particularly egregious. Woodward should have made that public as soon as Trump started publicly claiming that covid was no big deal, just another flu. He might well have stopped that messaging from Trump and helped save a lot of lives. I think John Bolton is just as bad. He didn’t testify, just put the info in his book to make money.
I have seen several comments on Twitter asking how it’s OK for journalists like Haberman who uncover illegal acts to keep that information to themselves until they are writing a book for $$$. At least Woodward didn’t do that back when he was covering Watergate.
I mean I have to assume that some of this stuff is covered in journalistic ethics courses, no? Like "Hey journalists, if you uncover something so explosive that it's timely release is for the greater good, don't save it for a book...get it out NOW"?
Good question. The media outlets ought to have that standard, too. The WaPo’s motto is “Democracy dies in darkness”! Hiding facts until your book comes out increases the darkness.
I also think journalists ought to expose sources when they find they have been manipulating journalists by feeding them false information for political purposes. For example, no one in the media has been willing to expose those Trump-loving NY FBI agents that even Comey admitted had been leaking information in 2015-16 to damage Hillary. The media also should have told us who was giving them all that bogus information about Whitewater. The Starr investigation made it crystal clear that the media had been played. The story of how the right has been so skillful at manipulating the mainstream media which has badly damaged our democracy is something the public needs to know. Not giving us that information serves to keep the public in that darkness that the WaPo claims to be fighting.
The problem is frankly the public is a majority of fools that don’t care that they’ve been fooled.
I have good friends who are anything but fools and yet they thought there had to be something to all those Clinton scandals because all of the mainstream “liberal” media said there was. It took quite awhile for some of them to realize just how bad that reporting really was. For most, the Bush administration was the big eye opener. Now they are very skeptical about media coverage. I also know other people who turned to Fox News and are now residents of Crazytown. The few I know well have always been gullible and easily upset by hyped media scare stories.
That's the kind of thing books should be written about! How the right continues to manipulate the media. It's crazy how they'll rush to get out some unsubstantiated story that is clearly been generated by the right wing spin machine, but they will sit on actual news that could save lives and change the course of history for the better.