One of the online news sources I read on a daily basis is The Raw Story. I find they often have little known yet interesting stories that sometimes get lost in the MSM shuffle.However, lately I've been noticing a trend toward more tabloid-style reporting and less in-depth political analysis.
Today I was extremely dismayed to find they ran a story on the uproar over the Danish cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad portrayed with a bomb on his head, and they reproduced the cartoon on their front page. The image above is a screen cap of their front page with the offensive image blurred out.
I understand and agree completely that they have the right to do so, and it would be extremely disingenuous of me to deny that to them. BUT, along with the right to free speech there should well be a certain amount of personal responsibility.
I wonder if the Raw Story editors even realize that there ARE Muslims out there who live peaceful lives and want absolutely nothing to do with terrorism. Yet they publish this extremely hurtful and disrespectful image. Is it because they think it's OK to bash a religion that some adherents use for violent political purposes?
All this does is breed resentment and hatred. It makes peaceful Muslims feel more estranged from Ameri-European culture, and may push some unstable yet moderate people over the edge to extremism.
I can understand Matt Drudge posting something like that; he seems to thrive on Islamo-bashing, and it plays well to his demographic. But to see The Raw Story slide down to that level is truly disappointing.
I guess it's true what they say - shit flows downhill.
4 comments:
Bob, I’ve noticed this as well. There are all these liberal news sites which were born to counter the MSM’s incestuous relationship with the republican profiteering, swift boating war machine. However, as you’ve said, over time they have lost their moral compass and have become tabloid.
I don’t have anything against tabloids. I visit them for light humor and fashion etc…. What burns me is, when some of our liberal news sites made the switch to tabloid, they forgot to inform their devoted liberal news seeking followers. So, we wake up one morn and find… you know… crap. And it’s a painful process for me because I had become attached to certain sites. At first I thought maybe I had changed. But then I realized it was much bigger then that. Not unlike that weird force that swept me, a military veteran, to become an active participant in Ned Lamont’s run against the warmongering draft dodger Joe LIEberman.
I’m still searching for objective news sources and I’m no fool when it comes to news. I appreciate the views of the far right and the far left. What’s fucked up is that some omit and alter data presentations and argue that it’s to be expected because… “hey we’re liberal left and have openly declared this fact.” But in journalism that’s the same as a lie. You can be far right and or far left and honest without compromising your journalist values.
Hell, in truth, when you find yourself altering data to support your view that is unethical, and my advice to you would be to revisit your hypothesis.
Now, FAUX News (like tabloid) doesn’t surprise us because we know where they’re coming from and have no other expectations. We have come full circle here and we have to sort through and decide again ~ what is liberal left crap and what is news.
Funny you should write about this. I have purposely and purposefully made an attempt to lampoon the Clinton campaign tactics (shhh! don't tell anyone... but I have been known to snark) with posts that, while based on facts, are equally as tabloidish, gossipy and repulsive as what I believe the Clinton surrogates have been doing to Obama.
I know that you frequent some of the "pro-Obama" Blogs (FDL, for one. MLN would likely qualify), but have you visited some of the "pro-Clinton" Blogs lately? On Many of them the attacks are getting ridiculous and vicious, making the sites nearly intolerable to the poor ol' readin' eyes. Meanwhile, MOST of the Obama Bloggers have kept a reasonable tone and line of attack.
I was a little surprised concerning your piece on unity at MLN the other day. Not because of the idea itself, but because I really believe that most of the wrong in this fight has been coming from one side. And it has only gotten worse as they have made their ill-advised last stand at the dreaded kitchen sink.
PS: The reason I make this comment here and not at your MLN post is because I did not want to fan the flames as you were trying to pull the kindling out of the fire pit there. There was enough flaming on this at dKos... Still is, I guess?
PPS: I should also mention that it hardly looks like I am the only one that has taken that road judging by the huge upsurge in hard hitting anti-Clinton posts nearly everywhere over the last week or so.
CM1, thanks for your comments.
I agree the anti-"other guy" rhetoric has gotten waaay out of hand in recent weeks. I'm willing to believe that both sides share some responsibility for this occurring. Maybe the Clinton supporters are being more "partisan", and maybe they aren't.
I don't really give a shit about who's to blame. What I DO care about is that we survive this and move on dot org (heh heh). We can't let this tear the party apart.
It's a little like fighting with a sibling. You still want to win the argument, but you don't want to destroy them in the process. There are lines and boundaries that must NEVER be crossed, or there's no going back. That doesn't mean that one or the other might not get a bloody nose in the process, but it DOES mean that there's a point when they need to tone it back and focus.
Just like a sibling argument, we're not always in total agreement, but we know we have to stick together in the end because nobody else is going to do it for us.
And I'm starting to get the feeling that this will in fact be over well before the convention. The MSM is starting to put subtle pressure on Hillary to face facts and think about stepping aside. After a few more primaries this will probably be over.
Especially if Obama can get his shit together and pull close to 50% in PA. That would definitely seal it for Clinton, IMO.
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