Yesterday's blog report ended with a dismissive note about the infinite and infinitely tedious world of talk radio. Yet, like moths drawn to the fatal flame, we find ourselves turning that way again as ABC's Terry Moran joined conservative talk show host and blogger Hugh Hewitt to discuss the heated exchange between White House press secretary Scott McClellan and the White House press corps over McClellan's attempt to play editor of Newsweek.
One sound bite from the interview seems to be attracting most of the bloggers' commentary. Hewitt asked Moran about the apparent division between the media and the military. This is what Moran had to say:
It comes from, I think, a huge gulf of misunderstanding, for which I lay plenty of blame on the media itself. There is, Hugh, I agree with you, a deep anti-military bias in the media. One that begins from the premise that the military must be lying, and that American projection of power around the world must be wrong. I think that that is a hangover from Vietnam, and I think it's very dangerous. That's different from the media doing its job of challenging the exercise of power without fear or favor.
SoCalPundit is shocked by Moran's admission that there is "a deep anti-military bias in the media." CJR Daily is equally shocked (well, not really) by SoCalPundit's seemingly nonsensical analysis: "This is big news. Earlier this same day Moran was coming at McClellan like the president made a decree to Newsweek that details what that magazine should or should not print. This is big news (although I have not fully decided how) that Moran went from jumping on McClellan to admitting the MSM has blame in all this." So here's SoCalPundit's apparent logic: Since Moran says the media is mistrustful of the military, surely, then, Moran must not believe what he just said (that McClellan crossed the line in suggesting what Newsweek should publish).
Huh?
Next up, some informed commentary from Pixy Misa who claims to have "never heard of" the previously unobscure Moran. Pixy's thought: "Maybe it's just me, but I somehow thought that the media's job was accurate reporting?" The whole thing reminds Pixy of an enquiry in London that led a senior BBC figure to make the "statement that the BBC's primary function was to oppose the government of the day." "Excuse me," writes Pixy, deciding to inject an American sensibility into an ancient but ongoing British debate, "but there is an actual, elected opposition to do that. Your job is to present the facts. If you don't like that, you should have gone into real estate rather than journalism."
Hmm. Interesting idea, that. The hillsides of England crawling with ex-reporters trying to sell moors and heaths to villagers and Arab speculators? Hey, might work -- and, after all, the money's better.
SB of the Rockefeller Center Ranters pegs Moran's comments to a discussion about bias and military history. As a history major at Rutgers, SB writes, "besides the left-wing bias my professors (with one possible exception) ranged from radicals to liberal democrat, there was also a topical bias -- very little interest in military history." Thus, "the total disinterest in military history, battlefield tactics and strategy is a major factor in the poor way that the current war has been covered. There is simply an insufficient vocabulary possessed by those who cover the war. Everything is shoehorned into a stereotyped view of Vietnam. ... To some extent, Terry Moran, ABC News' White House correspondent, admits this in his interview with Hugh Hewitt."
SB then tips his hat to Moran: "Serious kudos to Moran for his accessibility and his frankness in discussing these matters with a right-wing talk show host, albeit a generally thoughtful one."
Finally, here's a blogger -- Longstreet -- who thinks the whole Newsweek debacle is ushering in a time when the Morans of this world will need to go to the radio to speak their minds. Why? Longstreet explains, "Fast approaching is a time when the Congress of the United States will place restraints on the press ... to one degree or another ... with the support of the American electorate. Remember, the First Amendment was not part of the original Constitution. Do not think it is permanent!"
Longstreet is upset that "My own regional newspaper publishes, in the 'A' section of the paper, every day, a rolling body count of the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq."
How very arch -- a newspaper that dares print information? Longstreet, send along that paper's name and we'll track the louts down to their lair.
