Category: Media Industry Author : Duncan Riley Posted: April 20, 2009
Tags : fail, john kerry, newspapers
Failed 2004 Democrat Presidential Candidate Senator John Kerry will focus hearings of the US Senate Commerce Committee next week on the state of the newspaper industry.
Kerry said in a letter to the Boston Globe, which is under threat of closure by parent The New York Times Company, that:
“America’s newspapers are struggling to survive and while there will be serious consequences in terms of the lives and financial security of the employees involved, including hundreds at the Globe, there will also be serious consequences for our democracy where diversity of opinion and strong debate are paramount…
The emphasis is mine, but it’s the key line: Kerry is seriously suggesting that the death of newspapers threatens diversity of opinion and debate, which in turn is a threat to American democracy.
Someone needs to send Kerry a laptop with a mobile broadband card, because anyone who has ever been on the internet knows that diversity of opinion and strong debate has never been stronger than at any time in human history. The internet is by its nature the great enabler, a medium that has given voice to millions over the restricted voice of an elite media owning few, as was the case only 20 years ago.
There’s a reason he lost in 2004, and another reason he shouldn’t be in charge of anything remotely serious today: he qualifies in the villiage idiot stakes.
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Apr 20, 2009
Matt Drudge didn't break Watergate. The Wash Post did.
Apr 20, 2009
I don't consider the loss of news and commentary and the necessity for differing opinions to be stupid. The last time I checked we lived in a democracy and thrived on current news, opinion and debate.
Seems to me the person who wrote this is an idiot for still living in the past (2004) and actually posting a picture that adds nothing at all to the discussion. I would think a good athelete like the Senator would miss a ball now and again. So what was your point?
Apr 20, 2009
Over 100 years ago, John Kerry said that the death of the horse-drawn carriages that were being replaced by automobiles was the death of transportation!
Kerry hasn't changed.
Apr 21, 2009
hmmm. takes and idiot to know one. What are you talking about, grab one of the many laptops that surround you and read a bit of the content you google. There are no fact checkers, there is no standard for discussion or fact as this posting illustrates. Educate yourself about the rights and standards of free speech and while you are at it- try to run for office, perhaps a local one and then, when you lose ask yourself what it means to fight for something you believe in. In the meantime blog it and don't bother to spell check so we can continue to find you at home in your small, provincial village. i just checked out your blog and that is a perfect! reason why we need newspapers-who wants to read your meaningless banter, stories of your family and attempts to buy a sandwich when people who have the capability to research and report WORLD news should remain employed. Good Luck Sir-hope this brings a paycheck home to you.
Apr 21, 2009
Have you been stealing Hodson's pills again? Instead of making your cock bigger they just turn you into a complete dick.
Apr 21, 2009
Damir, I tried to put lipstick on the pig of Kerry's statement, but the best that I can come up with is the concept (also shared by Alexis Lambert before Alexis veered off into sandwiches) that newspapers provide a professional reporting of news and opinion, and subscribe to a code of ethics. However, in practice there are good and bad journalists, just like there are good and bad bloggers. I'd have to see what else Kerry has said on the topic, but it appears that some grasp the power of web-based two-way communication better than others.
Apr 21, 2009
Bob – Of course, Drudge wasn't reporting at the time, but it's still valid to say that a lot of news is initially reported by the more traditional journalistic organizations. However, Kerry's concern seemed to be with the ability to express differing opinions, and even those that believe that the web is a wasteland are forced to admit that “diversity of opinion and strong debate” are certainly present online.
Apr 21, 2009
Maybe you should stop and think for a moment. When one party has it's own tv network blabbing the script endlessly, and a network of radio talking heads that you can cut and paste together with out missing a word in the screed they spew, what exactly do you suppose will happen when the newspapers are gone? I'd add that most net news articles quote newspaper sources! When they are gone, there will be no one doing the work and we will only be left with the right wing talking points, and the Democrats trying to prove the lies therein.
Face it with 590 stations repeating lies, you can elect George Dubya Bush.
Or, you can paint a decorated war combat veteran into a sissy and a draft dodging cheerleader into a macho hero with no reality basis. Just repeat it enough and those that wish it true will beleive it so.
Remember it was a newspaper that broke the WaterGate story. It is local papers that piece together the pulse of the country in feedback, unlike orchestrated efforts to manipulate news like the “tea parties”. Those people were there to protest losing the election, and to finally notice the damage done during the Bush administration and blame Obama for it.
Let's hope the newspapers survive to help keep us up with some accurate news reports. Faux Nuwz is like watching wrastling on WWE or something. Predictable and rarely accurate, and always with a disdain for the Democrats even if they do exactly the right thing or say the right thing, they'll end it with, “we know he's lying”.
To think we'd get our news from Hannity, or Rush……oh perfect.
Apr 24, 2009
Newspapers have only one opinion while the internet news are very diversified. That's why we don't need them.
John Kerry is not an idiot he is misinformed.