And people claim vague intimidation from random emanations and penumbra consisting of the rumor someone might have questioned their patriotism at some point… Intimidation is, apparently, more part and parcel to liberal strategy – official, DNC strategy, not some vague rumor or theory.
http://instapundit.com/archives/016976.php
They Report, We Intimidate
The Boston Democratic convention featured a rich side menu of interesting seminars. One of the most controversial was a workshop for new Democratic campaign press secretaries that sounded like a call to arms in its advice on how to deal with the new media universe.
Lecturers urged press secretaries to confront what one warned was "media that are no longer tilted in your direction." Bullying was openly encouraged. "When it comes to the media," suggested Democratic strategist James Carville, "intimidation works." "Challenge them," added David Brock of Media Matters, a new liberal group set up to criticize conservative media outlets. Democrats used to rail at the likes of Reed Irvine and his conservative group Accuracy in Media, accusing them of nitpicking at media stories and ginning up public complaints against them. No more. It will be interesting to see what, if any, "intimidation" success stories the Democrats will be touting in coming months.
--John Fund
I suspect that if a Republican were reported to have said this, it would be bigger news. Hey, the intimidation must already be working!
But actually, the most revealing bit is the part about media “no longer tilted in your direction.” It’s not media bias that’s bothering these guys. It’s the fear that it may slip away.
UPDATE: Is it already happening? Here’s what the reporter whom Teresa Heinz told to “shove it” reports:
"I hope you burn in hell," read one e-mail. "You're a (expletive) Nazi," went another. "Teresa should have told you to go (expletive) yourself," another friendly e-mailer offered. And these were among the milder communiques; those that included death threats will be forwarded to the senders' respective hometown police departments.
One of my daughters back in Pittsburgh was brought to tears by a caller to our house. The clever woman identified herself as a Washington reporter seeking to interview me but then embarked on a filthy tirade. It seems a member of the Heinz Kerry Civility Enforcement Patrol posted our home address and telephone number on the response part of my convention blog.
So far, it doesn’t seem to be working on this guy: “That said, and as I shove off from Boston, I’m still waiting for the answer to my question of Sunday night last.”
See also this effort by members of Congress to follow with the publicity stunt/ attempt at legal intimidation from Moveon.org – and I do mean legal intimidation. The suit was misuse of process in that it was obviously against current 1st Amendment law, and was not arguing for a good-faith change in that law. This is in the same vein [original post has many embedded links, which can be followed by going to the link below]:
http://www.thatliberalmedia.com/archives/002449.html#002449
PURE CHUTZPAH
“Several members of Congress sent a letter Tuesday to Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, to express their opposition to what they say is the network’s ‘unfair and unbalanced’ bias towards the Republican Party.”
So reports the UPI yesterday.
The group, composed of 38 Democrats and Independents from the U.S. House of Representatives, has requested that Murdoch meet with them to discuss their concerns.
"The responsibility of the media is to report the news in an unbiased, impartial and objective manner," the letter reads.
"It seems clear that Fox News network has a deliberate bias in favor of, and often serves as an extension of, the Republican Party's policies and ideology."
Murdoch owns 100 cable channels, 40 television stations, nine satellite networks, one film studio and 175 newspapers, reaching an estimated 4.7 billion people worldwide.
The letter's co-signers include Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., a member of the House Democratic Leadership, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., ranking member on the Joint Economic Committee.
A spokesman for Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said there were legislative avenues that the group could pursue as a secondary measure but declined to speculate on what those might be. (Emphasis mine.)
“Legislative avenues”?? You mean force Fox to be “fair and balanced” – according to the criteria this group outlines? What a hoot! Where are all the lefty “censorship” screamers on this one? This is true censorship – when the government threatens to muzzle an outlet of expression. But since Fox presents a “threat” to what leftists hold near and dear, well, it must somehow be “dangerous” and hence not subject to free speech protections. Sounds just like an American college campus, now doesn’t it?
The letter cites recent studies by organizations such as Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting and the Program on International Policy Attitudes.
The FAIR report found that Fox's "Special Report with Brit Hume" overwhelmingly favors conservative and Republican guests over liberals or Democrats at a ratio of 5-1.
Great! Now maybe the group will go after NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, the New York Times, WaPo, etc. using studies by the Media Research Center and, dare I say, OTLM! Yeah, right. And maybe Lucifer will wear a parka.
Two-thirds of Fox viewers, for example, wrongly believed that a link between Iraq and al-Qaida had been found, while only 16 percent of PBS/NPR viewers and listeners and 40 percent of print-media readers shared the same misperception.
In addition, 33 percent of Fox viewers believed that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq, in contrast with 11 percent of PBS/NPR viewers and 19 percent of ABC News viewers.
“Wrongly believed”? The 9/11 Commission itself said that al Qaeda and Iraq had links. (“There was no question in our minds that there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda,” said 9/11 Commission Chairman Tom Kean.) Maybe it’s that Fox actually reported on links (and possible links) instead of stating – wrongly, like this article – that there were [definitively] none? And maybe it’s only been on Fox where people saw reports that shells filled with Sarin and mustard gas were found in Iraq? Or shells containing blister agents? Aren’t these weapons of mass destruction? Oh, but even though they of course are, a certain number must be discovered to satisfy the Left.
"The report suggests the one-sided, partisan reporting of Fox News has the effect of improving the president's standing with the American people on the basis of not news, but disinformation," said the legislators' letter to Murdoch.
Both polls are featured in the recent documentary "Outfoxed," also referred to in the letter, which delivers a highly critical analysis of Fox's alleged political bias and agenda-pushing techniques. It has been widely dismissed by Fox News.
The documentary, sponsored by the Center for American Progress, a think tank headed by former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta, and MoveOn.org, an online advocacy group, has sold 100,000 copies since its DVD release two weeks ago.
MoveOn.org? Podesta? Need more be said?
MoveOn.org and AlterNet.org, part of the Independent Media Institute, have both filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission over Fox News' use of the "Fair and Balanced" trademark, which they say is deceptive and misleading.
The complaint by MoveOn.org acknowledges the right of any news channel to present news with a political slant under the First Amendment but charges that the slogan misinforms consumers and does not accurately represent Fox's broadcasts, based on the studies it cites and former Fox employees' testimony.
Gee, isn’t that big of MoveOn.org that they “acknowledge the right of any news channel to present news with a political slant under the First Amendment”? So, when can we expect them to file a complaint about the New York Times’ slogan of “All The News That’s Fit To Print”?
Fox, [Walter Cronkite] says, has completely "eliminated journalism," a sentiment echoed by several media analysts and former Fox employees featured in the documentary ("Outfoxed").
Jon Du Pre, former West Coast news anchor for Fox, says, "They made it perfectly clear what they expected from us.
"We weren't so much ... a newsgathering organization as we were a proponent of a point of view," he says.
Rebuttal: Go out and get Bernard Goldberg’s Bias and Arrogance.