Petitioners to NBC: stop parroting Fox News

This is the kind of stuff I love to see - it certainly doesn't happen enough these days. The organizers of this petition drive have more than a beef; they have a legitimate point. The path from Republican talking point to the mainstream media is becoming more apparent and transparent over time.

It's pretty well known that Matt Drudge, the right-wing hack behind The Drudge Report, is in regular contact with the powers that be on the Republican National Committee. Hence, a talking point becomes a story on Fox. Since Fox is the number one rated cable news network, and every other network wants to catch them, they often parrot what Fox is reporting.

I've got a $20 that says those 200,000 signatures ended up in the trash, but I don't mean to sound cynical. I admire the effort, and I wish I would have known about it ahead of time, because I certainly would have signed it. It's only movements like these that will bring about much needed changes in the mainstream media, because it won't happen without making our voices heard.

We ARE the fifth estate

I'm newer to Taylor Marsh's work, but I flat out love her writing. Today, I read a piece on her blog about bloggers being the Fifth Estate, and it really resonated with me. I'd never really looked at it that way, but the so-called Blogosphere really is turning into just that - an alternative to the increasingly consolidated and pliant Fourth Estate.

Each and every day, I see something ridiculously slanted or hardly believable, and I lose just a little more confidence in our free press.

Most troubling and annoying of all is how easily manipulated the press is, specifically by this administration. For instance, on the Sunday before the 2006 election, Iraq announced the Saddam Hussein verdict. Or this past February 15, when Bush faced the first significant "No" vote about the war, the Army conveniently announced that it had "captured" a senior Al-Qaeda member. It later turned out to be false.

Blogging is incredibly empowering. The only other time I've felt this empowered is when I campaigned very hard for John Kerry in 2004.

My favorite passage from Marsh's piece:

Since the fourth estate is The Press, then I think it's safe to finally say that the Internets have created another. We are the fifth estate; people who don't take what the corporate hack pack says just because it's uttered from their vaunted and well paid podium. Call it push back or talking back, the blogosphere is here to stay and is ticking people off.

The corporate hack pack, whose very word used to be golden, has started to weigh in and they agree. But because they've lost the high perch on which they have pontificated without challenge for years, they're becoming slightly unhinged over their loss of status. The real issue being declining circulation of both newspapers and magazines that threatens their very existence and their paychecks. The Press has become nervous about their very livelihood. Considering how horribly they've served the public over the last seven years I'd say their concern is justified. Lashing out doesn't help their credibility either, but it's what the powerful do when they're challenged by the people.

She flat out nails it. And it's very important to note that everyone can and should stay involved and on top of the whole idea of Net Neutrality, which the giant media conglomerates so desperately want to do away with. We cannot let that happen, ever, under any circumstances.

Read more on Net Neutrality, and what you can do to maintain it, Here.

Another important movement gaining momentum is the increasing calls to support bloggers' rights. Eff.org is a great organization to join, and a great Website to visit often to get updates on this important issue.

Taylor Marsh has more.

Wondering why network news is irrelevant?

NBC News Anchor Brian Williams would be a good place to start.

As reported by The Atlantic, here's a gem by Williams:

"You're going to be up against people who have an opinion, a modem, and a bathrobe. All of my life, developing credentials to cover my field of work, and now I'm up against a guy named Vinny in an efficiency apartment in the Bronx who hasn't left the efficiency apartment in two years."

Get over yourself, Brian.

The so-called Blogosphere does have its drawbacks, but the last time I checked, network news doesn't always get the story right, either. Like CBS' relying on false documents when reporting on Bush's National Guard duty in September 2004. Or like when all three networks went to sleep in the run-up to the War in Iraq.

When the "Big Three" of network news get all of the stories right, then maybe you'll have room to be this big of a pompous ass. Since that day will never come, you may want to get out your monogrammed handkerchief and wipe away those tears. Your multi-million dollar salary will help you get over it, pretty boy.

Huffington & Ham discuss blog hate speech

I've got so much to try to get to tonight, but I had to quickly share this piece of footage. I love Arianna Huffington, and I even liked her when she was a conservative. Her sketches with Al Franken on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect during the 1996 election were very funny and cool.

Her Website, The Huffington Post, (or HuffPo, as I refer to it) is a click I make every day when catching up on the latest political news.

Huffington recently appeared on Howard Kutz's CNN show Reliable Sources to talk about free speech and hate speech in the blogosphere, and conservative Mary Katherine Ham was also on the show.

It's amazing to me how Ham tries to politicize hate speech on blogs. Her Ham-handed attempt to paint Huffington with the well-worn brush from the conservative arsenal - being a purveyor of hate speech against this administration - falls flat. I guess when it comes to hate speech, familiarity breeds contempt, especially considering Ham's history with Michelle Malkin. Anyone doubting Malkin's intolerance credentials, click Here.

Ham tried to call out Arianna for some comments that were left on her site following Vice President Cheney's close call over in Afghanistan, when the front gate of a Marine compound he was staying at was attacked by a suicide bomber. A few morons on Huffington's site posted some ridiculous comments, expressing regret that Cheney was unharmed in the incident.

Of course, right-wingers went nuts, claiming that Huffington waited too long to take the comments down, etc. In the video above, Ham tries to make hay of it again.

Arianna was right to come right back over the top of Ham, who insinuates here that Huffington supported such speech, or the idea behind it. Lots of morons leave absurd messages on both sides of the political spectrum - no ideology or political viewpoint is exempt. Ham's whining about Malkin is also a kick - maybe if Malkin weren't so insanely intolerant, she wouldn't be such a lightning rod for nasty comments. I'm not defending people who call her the "C-word," but she brings a lot of detractors on herself. If you don't believe me, cruise on over to her Website and see for yourself. I think Malkin and Ann Coulter were separated at birth.

Where Huffington really makes sense here is when she refers to Websites' content; it IS absurd for people like Ham to try and paint liberals or people who read liberal blogs as "monkeys hanging from the rafters" when she's in the corner of the likes of Malkin and Coulter.

If you go by content, people like Malkin and Coulter lead the way in hate speech. When Huffington mentions this, Ham predictably swallows her tongue.