Monday, November 17, 2008

I'd Rather Not

OK, so this is interesting. Read this if you possibly can before class tonight.
And also click through Harry's post to the related 538 posting.
And whoa, Caroline weighs in.
I think Silver's argument that the media have to get even better at slicing through bullshit to the truth is, at least, an interesting argument. (I happened to have watched a chunk of that Atwater thing too and interviewed its producer.)
I kept skating past Ran Rather trial coverage, but the truth is, it's really interesting, especially the degree to which CBS sought to make "the right" a player. It wasn't enough the appease them. This might also tell you -- in reverse image -- what a network like Fox is thinking about the Obama years.



Some of the documents unearthed by his investigation include notes taken at the time by Linda Mason, a vice president of CBS News. According to her notes, one potential panel member, Warren Rudman, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire, was deemed a less-than-ideal candidate over fears by some that he would not “mollify the right.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Thornburgh, who served as attorney general for both Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, was named a panelist by CBS, but only after a CBS lobbyist “did some other testing,” in which she was told, according to Ms. Mason’s notes, “T comes back with high marks from G.O.P.
Another memorandum turned over to Mr. Rather’s lawyers by CBS was a long typed list of conservative commentators apparently receiving some preliminary consideration as panel members, including Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanan. At the bottom of that list, someone had scribbled “Roger Ailes,” the founder of Fox News.

No comments: