Category Archives: Journalism

Go Alweady, Bawbawa Walters!

Celebrity, Intellectualism, Journalism, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Media

Barbara Walters has promised to retire. But then so did that lip-licking lizard, Larry King. You can’t take them at their word.

In my journalism-school days one looked up to the brilliant and brave late Oriana Fallaci. Now, it’s mediocrities like colorectal crusader Katie Couric and Barbara Walters who’re considered cutting-edge clever. And they’ve sired a new crop of cretins. Can you believe that talking coifs such as Brook Baldwin and Erin Burnett of CNN are regularly asked to address university graduates? There is NOTHING these people can say that can edify or enlighten. Nothing. They are walking cliches. The same goes for the Fox News crop, with some exceptions (Gerri Willis, Elizabeth MacDonald, Melissa Francis).

As the author of America’s “Most Fascinating People List,” Barbara Walters had redefined the concept of “fascinating.” The detritus of humanity paraded by the reality TV racket is where the boorish broadcaster turned for “fascinating” figures. She was thus an integral cog in a coarsening culture. Some of her past picks for the List included Paris Hilton, Victoria and David Beckham, Kim Kardashian and Justin Timberlake.

All Walters’ interviews make the flesh crawl. Paris Hilton’s porn debut, in which the woman made narcissistic love to the camera, (i.e. herself) was transformed by Walters’ syrupy “journalism” into a PG-rated tale of innocence betrayed.

And the Walters empathic posturing concealed a good deal of cattiness, even cruelty. Her idea of getting to the guts of a story: Bringing a supremely vulnerable celebrity to tears. The wicked Walters once prefaced an interview with singer Celine Dion by pronouncing, “You are not beautiful.” She then watched gleefully as tears welled in Dion’s beautiful eyes.

The only person to rival such bitchiness is sly Katie Couric. She once interviewed Hillary Clinton while drunk with love for Obama. Couric’s below-the-belt barbs and blithe probes about Obama—but not the issues—made Hillary appear elevated by comparison. Clinton was courteous where Katie was cruel. “Someone told me your nickname in school was Miss Frigidaire. Is that true?” Couric asked. “Only with some boys,” Clinton said, laughing. The answer was quick and classy.

Good newsmen are a dying breed. Good newswomen are mostly dead already. By the time she died, Oriana Fallaci had long since been buried professionally by mediocrities like Barbara Walters. For her contempt of Islam, Fallaci was forced to flee her native Italy. She came to America, where, needless to say, she did not make it onto Barbara’s List or as a “CNN Heroes” nominee.

UPDATE II: Sycophant’s Supper 2014 (Guffaws and Genuflection)

Barack Obama, Celebrity, Critique, Ethics, Government, Journalism, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Politics

The Hollywood Reporter tells of why there will be fewer wealthy, worthless people at one of the most sickening specters of the year: The annual White House Sycophants’ Dinner, where the most pretentious people in the country—in politics, journalism and entertainment—convene to revel in their ability to petition and curry favor with one another, usually to the detriment of the rest of us in Rome’s provinces.

The pretty people don’t want to be “pawed” by the politicians. That’s the official line. The real reason: this trashy Idiocracy is losing interest:

… one Hollywood insider, who asked not to be identified, tells The Hollywood Reporter that the lack of swoon-worthy A-list movie stars shows that the lure of the event has faded dramatically.

Those gathered at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner are not the country’s natural aristocracy, but it’s authentic Idiocracy—a group of people who make their living pretending to be something they are not. Poseurs and parasites all.

Granted, actors do not coerce the citizenry to patronize their (mostly) lousy flicks. However, when they use their celebrity to push unconstitutional, naturally unlawful policies—then they are acting as enemies of the people.

Mostly, I find Hollywood disgusting. Every time I turn around a “celebrity” is preaching and propagandizing for the leftist cause du jour. Some of these tarts and tards were using their tushes and other assets to tell their betters (YOU) to be good and do your “duty” to support this or the other of their pet policies.

Like nothing else, the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner is a mark of a corrupt politics. The un-watchful dogs of the media have no business frolicking with the president and his minions. This is co-optation. And when did the phonies of Hollywood become a fixture in this event?

The toxic “tradition” began in 1920, and, as far as I know, is sponsored by THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ ASSOCIATION. The “White House Correspondents’ Association was formed in 1914 as a liaison between the press and the president.”

The event and the invited tell a great deal about the Association, its ethics and code of conduct.

That aside, I happen to think Obama can be a very funny guy, but his political exploits have marred his ability to make thinking people laugh at any of his jokes, no matter how self-deprecating.

UPDATE I (5/4): On CNN, the SS (Sycophant’s Supper) turned into another excuse for a no-news, day-Long occasion to guffaw and genuflect to CNN “reporters” and to the Gilded Ones. In its broadcast of the SS 2104, CNN proved that it deserved to be the butt of jokes from the president and comedic host Joel McHale.

Speaking of whom, Obama’s writers were clearly better than McHale. The president’s routine was funnier. Bar a few good lines, I didn’t find McHale especially witty.

* I did like the McHale gibe at George Clooney: “Every year, the White House doctor checks the president’s colon for polyps and George Clooney’s head.”

* On Obama in a “Paul Ryan” sort of way: “yet another inner-city minority relying on the federal government to feed and house your family.”

* And every joke at CNN’s expense was grrreat. (The fixed, sour look on Wolf Blitzer’s face was worth it.) “On CNN’s Malaysia 370 coverage: 100 years ago, CNN was only searching for the Wright Brothers plane…CNN is desperately searching for something that’s been missing for months: their dignity.”

* CNN has been “desperately searching for something they’ve been missing for months: their dignity.” (It was at this moment the C-SPAN camera chose to focus in on a noticeably emotionless Wolf Blitzer.)

Funny Obama jokes:

* “And I’m feeling sorry — believe it or not — for the Speaker of the House, as well. These days, the House Republicans actually give John Boehner a harder time than they give me, which means orange really is the new black.”

* “Let’s face it Fox, you’ll miss me when I’m gone. It’ll be harder to convince the American people that Hillary was born in Kenya.”

* Obama on CNN’s wall-to-wall coverage of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 – a frequent target of the night’s jokes: He noted that he had just returned from a trip to Malaysia. “The lengths we have to go to to get CNN coverage these days,” Obama said, adding, “I think they’re still searching for their table” at in the Hilton ballroom.

* “MSNBC is here, they’re a little overwhelmed. They’ve never seen an audience this big before.”

Jay Leno’s routine at the SS 2010 was the best, because he’ was way smarter and certainly more politically astute.

UPDATE II: IT WAS BAD.

UPDATED: Histrionic, Idiotic, Disgraceful ‘Discourse’ On Race

Journalism, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Media, Political Correctness, Propaganda, Race, Racism, Sport

What were CNN and MSNBC doing while RT was broadcasting an interview with Ehud Barack about the breakdown of “peace talks” between Israelis and Palestinians; Fox News was covering a breakthrough in DNA research; and BBCNews was devoting a Sunday hour to the life of a young, thoughtful, American military widow?

The conga-line of cretins at these networks, together with their special project, Barack Hussein Obama, were all foaming at the mouth over the racist speech of another man: Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers.

From abroad, the repugnant president refused to rise above the fray and stick to real issues. He failed to utter sobering, uniting words, such as, “In the US, we don’t hound people for the things they say.” Oh, no. Broadcasting from Malaysia (whose majority population was in the habit of regularly launching pogroms on more affluent minorities like the Chinese), BHO demonstrated, instead, the extent to which he follows petty racial politicking in this country, and the extent to which he’ll go to divide. Puled the president:

“When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk. That’s what happened here,” the President said.
Obama also said Sterling’s alleged comments are an example of how “the United States continues to wrestle with the legacy of race and slavery and segregation.”

Meanwhile, a retarded CNN anchor-cum-vigilante (Fredricka Whitfield) solicited expert, legal advice from guests on how to dispossess the thought-crime offender of his property: The NBA Team.

Sterling had bought the team. He clearly values the players as professionals. Actions speak louder and all that stuff.

As I put it in “Into the Cannibal’s Pot” (p. 35): “The establishment media, especially, have made a mockery out of real racial hatred. To listen to them, you’d think that being maligned is more hateful than being maimed or murdered.”

Read “The Cannibal” as an antidote to the contagion of frivolity and idiocy, and for some perspective about what “white hot hatred” really looks like. “For Progressives, ‘Thoughtcrime’ is Worse than Mass Murder,” by William Norman Grigg is a must read too.

UPDATE (4/28): The national hysteria continues and engulfs conservative, who surely should be commenting (but are not) on the entrapment operation conducted by the sanctimonious whore of a mistress with whom this unpleasant man, Donald Sterling, fraternized. Via the LA Times:

A man, rich like a Rockefeller, has a wife of 50 years and a parade of female acquaintances less than half his age. One of the young women, who may have had an ax to grind and a plan in mind, engages Sterling in a conversation that is recorded. The recording somehow gets to TMZ, which breaks the story.
Whether Sterling was taped legally isn’t clear, but in this case score one for the new journalism of getting the story out there first and thinking about it later.

From listening to the non-stop recordings of the Sterling comments about black athletes vis-a-vis his gold-digging mistress—she sounded even more repulsive than he—I heard the fears of a decrepit old man who wanted his manhood spared. More than anything, the octogenarian Sterling seemed threatened by prowess he lacked.

I have to disagree with Robert Wenzel that this woman is “seriously beautiful.” Stiviano is beautiful the way Jenna Jamison is beautiful (not at all).

Obama’s Idea Of Transparency: Sharing YOUR Information

Barack Obama, Journalism, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Media

“How would you grade this administration, compared to others, when it comes to its relationship with the media?” The question was posed to New York Times editor Jill Abramson by Al Jazeera America.

Abramson replied:

Well, I would slightly like to interpret the question as “How secretive is this White House?” which I think is the most important question. I would say it is the most secretive White House that I have ever been involved in covering, and that includes — I spent 22 years of my career in Washington and covered presidents from President Reagan on up through now, and I was Washington bureau chief of the Times during George W. Bush’s first term.

I dealt directly with the Bush White House when they had concerns that stories we were about to run put the national security under threat. But, you know, they were not pursuing criminal leak investigations. The Obama administration has had seven criminal leak investigations. That is more than twice the number of any previous administration in our history. It’s on a scale never seen before. This is the most secretive White House that, at least as a journalist, I have ever dealt with.

And do you think this comes directly from the president?

I would think that it would have to. I don’t know that, but certainly enough attention has been focused on this issue that, if he departed from the policies of his government, I think we’d know that at this point.

Wow. I didn’t realize how much Obama has been frustrating this organ of journalistic statism. The NYT has never let on before. Instead, its reporters have “bravely” hidden that hurt inside together with so many facts they might have shared.

The Obama Administration’s idea of transparency is to share your information with the public. “Information you choose to share with the White House (directly and via third party sites) may be treated as public information,” states its new privacy policy:

A new Obama administration privacy policy released Friday explains how the government will gather the user data of online visitors to WhiteHouse.gov, mobile apps and social media sites, and it clarifies that online comments, whether tirades or tributes, are in the open domain.

Abramson does have a sense of humor: The New York Times is “not liberal in the sense of being doctrinaire or tied to the Democratic Party in any way,” she asserted.

Funny woman.