Toothpaste on a Cavity...

Mr. Atos

Although I missed it (having cancelled cable over a year ago) Hugh Hewitt went head to head to head last night on CNN with MSM pundits debating the ongoing negative coverage of the War in Iraq and the GWOT. Appearing on Anderson Cooper's show, Hugh was booked against two journalists from Baghdad, including Time's Michael Ware. His fundamental point was about as blunt and accurate as it gets.

... a large portion of the American public doesn't trust MSM coverage of Iraq because MSM coverage of Iraq almost always punts on context.

I began the segment by reminding the audience of CNN's Eason Jordan'sconfessionof CNN self-censorship on the awful brutality of Saddam's regime --published in the New York Times in April of 2003-- and of MSM predictions of quagmire that began with the dust storm that interrupted the march to Baghdad, and which discounted all three of the elections that led to the current government.

You can't trust a MSM that has been wrong from the start. I pointed out the many new media voices, like Michael Totten, Michael Yon, Laura Ingraham, Bill Roggio,Victor Davis Hanson and Robert Kaplan, have reported from Iraq and mosthave blasted MSM coverage as inadequate.

I concluded by asserting that some of the contempt for American media which is widely felt in the USA is rooted in the belief, widely shared, that MSM is invested in the failure of the Iraq invasion and in the idea that President Bush's policy is a catastrophe. MSM seems to be rooting for Iraq to turn out badly, and this does not sit well with the average American.

Contempt is right! The fact is, a vast percentage of the American people no longer trust MSM coverage on any subject, for the exact same reason. Collectively, they maintain a near malevolent lack of objectivity lending toward catastrophe. Admittedly, there is no abject conspiracy to spin events in a negative fashion. Their's is a common disdain for this Administration specifically and Conservatives in general. Its stench was present from the first day after the 2000 election, and stinks infinitely worse today. And it taints all subsequent coverage of every subject large and small, foreign and domestic.

For those that attempt to deny the profound bias, its worth noting that a liberal's idea of a fair fight, is to gang-bang a political opponent on air, as they tried last night with Hugh, and two days before with Laura Ingraham. Yet judging by the fact that even two Lefty's cannot stand up to one thoughtful Conservative, perhaps they understand the stakes prior to the match, and are merely attempting to level the intellectual odds so as to not be made to look like complete fools.

Nevertheless, foolish is as foolish does. On Monday, Laura appeared on the Today Show with guest co-hosted by David Gregory of White House press corp fame (or infamy as it were), and legendary Democrat operative, James Carvill (HT: Expose the Left). Neglecting for a moment, the aesthetic appeal of Conservatism as represented, versus Liberalism portrayed by spitting visage of James 'Voldemorte' Carvill, Ingraham's arguments, like Hewitt's left both biased pundits simmering in their own hyberbole stews, for all to see:

I think what we’re doing now in Iraq is maybe finally the right thing. The Iraqi military is taking over more of the battle space. If James had spent more time in Iraq and less time talking about how the administration is a disaster on every level he’d have a different view I promise you. James is a smart guy; if he were there he would see it. The Iraqi military is taking over the battle space, the Iraqi military is stepping up, the Iraqi people are starting businesses across the, across the country with all of the threats of reprisals and all of the difficulty. That stands for something. That should be celebrated and that should be covered. The IEDs, yeah, cover it, cover the bombs, cover the difficulty but give a broad picture of what’s happening in that country. It’s a disservice to our troops and it’s a disservice to everything that this country’s about.

Clearly shaken by the flavor of the previous day's exchange, NBC doubled down today, as NewsBusters reports,

On this morning's Today show, a defensive NBC asked whether it is doing a good job reporting on Iraq, and - surprise! - the Peacock Network assured itself and its viewers that indeed it is. If anything, Today told us, the situation in Iraq is even worse than the MSM portray it. You might say NBC's position is that its coverage is not negative enough.

Ingraham's gutsy appearance took on national momentum. Laura discussed it at length during her own syndicated radio show. Rush Limbaugh offered some interesting commentary, and Ingraham made an evening appearance on the O'Reilly Factor. At one point, Ingraham mentioned that it was her viewing yesterday of a report by NBC's Richard Engel, from the proverbial Green Zone balcony, that sparked some of her sentiment.NBC fired back this morning, and featured the very same Engel in doing so.

Hosting the segment was Gregory, sitting in for Matt Lauer. He kicked things off asking "is the U.S. media focusing too much on the negative and ignoring the positive stories in Iraq?" Gregory then threw it to Engel in Baghdad, who began by alleging that there are "a lot of myths and misperceptions about what reporters are doing and are not doing here in Iraq."

The Mainstream media in general attempted to double down as well, launching itself into a full defensive lockdown of its current coverage of the GWOT. Standing firm, and in curious lock step, cable and network News personalities have gathered to the public defense of one another and the nature and flavor of their coverage. Curious, I say, for entities ostensibly in competition with one another. No?! The invitation by CNN to Mr. Hewitt was just another attempt to cover the damage wrecked by Laura. What CNN achieved it would seem, judging by the soundbites, is more direct damage for them to control.

The American public bears witness to the MSM's brand of reporting for the purpose of agitation and their propagation of so called fact. They see the bullying of the Carvill's and Ware's and detest it in nature as well as in practice. They recognize hectoring in the hideous persona of Helen Thomas... hideous for what manner of hatred it purveys. They know absurdity when they hear Chris Matthews. Its all rendered obvious, by actions like these. And yet the Old Busted Media remains wholly subservient as an entity to the dominant and self-sustaining bias that pervades all personal aspects of its public persona. It is a condition that will remain until physically extracted, or biologically spent. For like toothpaste on a festering cavity, no amount of truth applied in the form of the Hewitts or the Ingrahams can be applied to penetrate or repair the rot that spreads to the root.

And America has grown tired of the ache.


UPDATE: 03.24.06:08:29
Welcome Hewitt fans. Enjoy the post. And while we have your attention, have a look around. A couple of new posts of interests include, a quick review of the overwhelming gratitude of Christian Peacemakers upon the rescue of their volunteers in Iraq ( read: Pride and Disgust... ). And of course by now who hasn't heard of Charlie Sheen's odd foray into the fever swamps where What is Being Left is all worm, no dirt ( read: Ishmael Sheen... ).

And finally, there are few key updates to help puncuate the point about the overwhelming bias of the Old Busted Media.

Drudge... ABC News Exec: 'Bush Makes Me Sick'

Editor & Publisher... Another Bad Slip for 'NY Times': Katrina Victim Unmasked (HT: Okie on the Lam)

Powerline... Rumsfeld v. Reporter

Powerline... The Documents that keep on giving. Interesting to note, that our own Oregonian - always eager to print controversy, crap, confusion and chaos, especially regarding Iraq - still has little or no interest in Saddam Hussein's document archive. ... not even interest in the AP's attempt to misrepresent their contents.

Watch for Major Mike's Shotgun Friday week in review, later today.