Helen Thomas vacated her front row seat in the White Press (under ignominious circumstances, unfortunately), and now it's up for grabs. The White House Correspondence Association is going to decide whether to give it to NPR, Bloomberg, or, appallingly, Fox News. Sign the petition. Slap down the right-wing propaganda organ and insist that a legitimate news organization like NPR get the seat.
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Help NPR beat FOX News
Category: Media
Posted on: July 29, 2010 6:00 PM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: Brownian, Most Vicious & Petty of Pharyngulites
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July 29, 2010 6:09 PM
Why would Fox News even want a seat? It's not like they don't make shit up to begin with (or edit stuff to fit their bias.)
Posted by: kc5tty
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July 29, 2010 6:25 PM
Put O'Reilly in the front row and let the Secret Service 'service' him when he blows up.
OR
Put Glenn Beck up there to cry and act loony.
OR
...... heck with it. If Faux Knews gets a seat at all they wouldn't know what to do with real news.
I carry earplugs with me now and if I have to sit in a waiting room (Army offices with TV's are always on Faux) put them in. Sometimes people ask if the TV is too loud and I say "Any volume on that channel is too loud".
steve
.... only liking CNN a little better .....
Posted by: Lynna, OM
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July 29, 2010 6:37 PM
Petition signed. Thanks for bringing this one to our attention, PZ.
Posted by: llewelly
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July 29, 2010 6:38 PM
... and give it to center-right news.Posted by: John Frum
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July 29, 2010 6:42 PM
Does it really make a difference where people sit? Seems a bit childish really. Can't they just open the door and let people file in and sit down?
Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/xaStVywarZ6R9nrlSjv4D8_6GGA0PWmf#765c4
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July 29, 2010 6:50 PM
My father-in-law says that NPR is too liberal for him. Seriously. I'll sign. Thanks, PZ, for the heads up.
Squigit
Posted by: Acronym Jim
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July 29, 2010 6:51 PM
What? McClatchy isn't in the running? If Flocks News gets a seat, can we ask for a fair balancing out by providing one to Wikileaks?
Posted by: nonsensemachine
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July 29, 2010 6:57 PM
They'll give it to Fox News. The White House is afraid of them. They're still recovering from the last kerfuffle with them and won't risk another Fox blitz against them.
Posted by: Japanther
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July 29, 2010 7:01 PM
There is a space for sending the WHCA an additional personal message.
I wrote this:
If FOXNEWS complains that NPR is biased left, isn't that implicitly saying (admitting) they are biased right? They still refuse to admit it, astonishingly.
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip
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July 29, 2010 7:02 PM
Hmm, shouldn't America's Finest News Source get it?
Posted by: Margaret
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July 29, 2010 7:09 PM
PZ, I think you need a "House" there.
Posted by: Japanther
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July 29, 2010 7:11 PM
@Margaret
PZ, I think you need a "House" there.
Somehow I think you are both right.
Posted by: McCthulhu is taking ∞ to eat all the pi
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July 29, 2010 7:14 PM
FAUX ne...They're not news so I won't bother saying it, are a punchline to every other worthy journalism agency in the country. To have them in the front row of anything but a Buck Owens concert is ludicrous.
Posted by: Stardrake
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July 29, 2010 7:18 PM
Signed, sealed, delivered.
Posted by: Cath the Canberra Cook
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July 29, 2010 7:20 PM
I put in my address as the Australian embassy in Washington DC :)
Posted by: Acronym Jim
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July 29, 2010 7:39 PM
McCthulu, Hee Haw aside, why do you hate Buck Owens?
Posted by: Scorpy1
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July 29, 2010 7:40 PM
I dunno.
The Washington Post seems like the better alternative.
They're currently in the second row along with Fox News.
Posted by: phantomreader42
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July 29, 2010 7:56 PM
I specifically noted in my comment that supermarket tabloids have more credibility than Fox News.
Posted by: Acronym Jim
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July 29, 2010 8:00 PM
If the White (House) Press corps really wanted to give a big F you to the administration, they'd give the seat to Jeff Gannon and his Tal
conmnews agency.Posted by: Peter H
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July 29, 2010 8:31 PM
"Does it really make a difference where people sit?"
I suspect there's a seating diagram at the podium so the fool of the moment can seem astute when calling each questioner by name correctly without having being encumbered by the thought process.
Posted by: elronxenu
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July 29, 2010 8:33 PM
Echoing #5, preferential reserved seating is clearly bullshit. Assign them a random seat per day or per event and be done with the whole front-row notion.
Posted by: YetAnotherAtheist
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July 29, 2010 8:43 PM
I never understood why people say that CNN is only "a little better" than Fox News. Sorry, but that's way too close of a comparison. There are no liberal media outlets that can even come CLOSE to being within the realm of comparison with Fox News. CNN is leaps and bounds better than Fox News.
Hell, The Weather Channel is 100X better than Fox News. I'm not talking the recent Weather Channel with actual shows and movies... I mean the 1990s Weather Channel with 24/7 weather broadcasts.
Posted by: Japanther
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July 29, 2010 8:58 PM
FOXNEWS being non-partisan, for once.
or copy and paste
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-july-28-2010/moment-of-zen---gretchen-carlson-jumps-rope
Posted by: Mouth Breather
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July 29, 2010 9:07 PM
Sorry, can't support this one. Not only does it not make a bit of difference where anyone sits, but NPR, Fox News and all the rest FAIL in their role of independently providing the masses with the information they need to place meaningful checks on the ruling elite. The seat should probably go to Wikileaks.
Posted by: YetAnotherAtheist
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July 29, 2010 9:13 PM
You need to watch Cenk Uygur's daily rant on Dylan Ratigan's show. Cenk's probably the only guy I trust with any kind of political information.
Posted by: Stardrake
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July 29, 2010 10:42 PM
There's a big problem with giving the seat to Wikileaks. Whoever showed up would likely be arrested before they could sit down.
Wikileaks being not over-popular with the government at the moment...)
Posted by: Rutee, Shrieking Harpy of Dooooom
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July 29, 2010 10:55 PM
I'd forgotten, post 9-11, we're guilty til assumed innocent.
That isn't to say you're wrong, but if we're going to begin arresting random organization members because someone in the organization done fucked up, can we start arresting the heads of multinational corporations?
Posted by: Mattir-ritated
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July 29, 2010 11:03 PM
I've started complaining to medical practices and other supposedly public, neutral places that have Fox News on the waiting room TV. Feels great to explain to the office manager that if the medical practice feels like expressing its political views to patients waiting for procedures, I can just find another medical practice.
PZ is definitely making me more of a bitch. It's most excellent.
Posted by: notatheory
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July 29, 2010 11:10 PM
I think the seat should go tone of Jon Stewart's co-horts at The Daly
Posted by: Algernon, elle sans chapeau
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July 29, 2010 11:12 PM
Oooh I love that Mattir. I often ask to have the channel changed to something non-political. Just because I hate politics and don't need more stress when I'm (obviously) already ill!
I don't consider it bitchy at all though. I'd honestly rather watch the latest Pixar movie in the waiting room than hear anyone's political rants!
Posted by: McCthulhu is taking ∞ to eat all the pi
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July 29, 2010 11:40 PM
@16: I figured if I referenced Flatt and Scruggs it would just cause mass confusion.
Posted by: derelicthat
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July 29, 2010 11:52 PM
I'll get a lot of respect back for Obama's administration if he gives it to the Daily Show and mandates that Lewis Black shows up for it.
Posted by: Jadehawk, cascadeuse féministe
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July 30, 2010 1:20 AM
that would be so fucking awesome, I'd pay to see it :-pPosted by: Tom
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July 30, 2010 3:02 AM
How is the 'news' in the US these days?
Many moons ago (before 9/11) I was on business in Turkey and a plane had crashed in Queens NY.
A merkin go into the lift an turned to his compatriot and said 'Have you heard the News' to which the reply was 'No. I've been watching CNN'
I do hope its a bit better now.
Posted by: jafafahots
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July 30, 2010 3:36 AM
Tom, it is not a bit better. It's not ever worse, now.
Shortly after your business trip, journalism took a turn for the worse, died, and was buried in a secret location in an unmarked grave.
All references to it were scrubbed from the "media," it was airbrushed out of old photos, and now few people even remember it once existed.
Posted by: jafafahots
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July 30, 2010 3:39 AM
er... not "even" worse.
fricken non-editable comments. sheesh. I demand a spell and grammar checker in Firefox smarter than I am!
Posted by: Q.E.D
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July 30, 2010 5:27 AM
GAAAAAK! How did Americans get so goddamned ignorant? Oh. right.
they got their news from Faux news which actively makes viewers more ignorant
Posted by: Wanderfound
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July 30, 2010 7:33 AM
From an outsiders point of view, NPR is the only part of the USAdian media that appears even remotely sane.
Posted by: Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort
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July 30, 2010 7:42 AM
Thank the FSM that my colleagues have shut off Fox News - now it's MSNBC all the time.
Posted by: Q.E.D
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July 30, 2010 7:53 AM
John Frum @ 5I lived in DC during University, it is difficult to fathom how much the political class and their entourage deeply love their privileges.
We're talking about a town where university age interns on the Hill wear their Hill badges late into the night in bars to signify their importance.
In DC, political staus is everything
Posted by: The Otter God
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July 30, 2010 9:15 AM
I hardly listen to NPR anymore; I think that they're so afraid of being labeled liberal, they've given up all pretense of being actual journalists. The "interviews" are painful; interviewees are allowed to spew whatever lies they prefer, with only token opposition and no hard pressing rebuttals.
Posted by: Pyre Spirit
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July 30, 2010 9:56 AM
I don't believe NPR should get the seat (though Fox definitely should not)...
It's been a while since the NPR was a good source of news; and the rare instances when I will listen to them now just result in me shouting at the radio over the terrible quality of reporting.
It's a sad state of affairs when the highest quality news broadcast in a country is either from joke news shows (Daily Show and the Colbert Report), or from a foreign news service (BBC News' USA division)... But that's where the US news service stands.
American journalists in general simply do not do adequate research or preparation for any interviews, and just accept whatever nonsense the interviewee wants to spout regardless of any supporting, well, anything; without challenging any claims or asking any insightful questions.
Posted by: daemonios
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July 30, 2010 10:39 AM
First post here, though I've visited daily for a few months.
I'm not from or in the US, so I'm not commenting on the White House press seat. But I'd like to say something about Ms. Thomas' resignation. I realize it's grown a bit old now, but today was the first I heard of it.
It's sad for me that she is forced to resign for voicing her opinion regarding Israel. More so because I believe it doesn't mirror her full opinion.
The creation of the State of Israel is a complex one and IMHO full of errors. US President Woodrow Wilson was one of the greatest promoter of peoples' right to self-determination. Yet at a time when most "western" powers were recognizing the independence of their colonies, the UN goes and creates a state out of the blue in the Middle East. Add the invasion of neighbouring territories and Israel now occupies huge areas which were already occupied by Palestinians.
I have no hope of analysing the issue fully here, but in short I believe the creation of Israel was a tremendous mistake, only explainable by the very real problem that existed at the time regarding what to do with the Jews that survived the holocaust. It's done. We have to live with it, as must thousands of Israelis already born there.
I don't think for a minute that the answer would be to dissolve the country, but the history of its creation and expansion should be present in everybody's minds.
For what it's worth, I am not a Muslim. I have German Jewish ancestors who came to Portugal before WWI and was raised as a Roman Catholic. I am not an anti-semite. At most you could say I'm anti-zionist because I think the creation of the Israeli state based on the Jewish religion only added to the already huge problem of robbing Palestine from its right to self-determination.
This is my political view and I hope I don't get flamed for posting it. And for the record, there are many anti-zionist Jews, including in Israel.
Posted by: Murtzuphlus
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July 30, 2010 11:10 AM
daemonios #43
Well, I am a first time poster too, but that may the only thing we have in common.
A lot of states have been created "out of the blue". I would be interested to know what you think is the solution.
Posted by: daemonios
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July 30, 2010 11:30 AM
@Murtzuphlus: I don't pretend to have an answer to that, it's an exceedingly complex issue. But I feel that if Palestinians aren't allowed to have their own political community there is little chance for peace.
Anyway, the substance of my post was more my shock about Helen Thomas' resignation. She is not a Government official, her opinion is not based on racism or religious persecution (at least not on its face), so she shouldn't be punished for voicing it, however unpopular it is.
Posted by: ericamick
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July 30, 2010 11:35 AM
The White House Correspondents' Association is not affiliated with the White House; it's a private organization.
Posted by: The Rambling Scholar
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July 30, 2010 11:51 AM
I'd like to 3rd? 4th? the motion for the Daily Show to get the seat. Or Colbert. NPR would make a perfectly acceptable choice otherwise. Why Fox News is even considered anywhere near a news organization is beyond me.
Posted by: Murtzuphlus
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July 30, 2010 12:09 PM
daemonios #45
Fair enough. I saw Helen Thomas' "performance" and it didn't look very impressive. A good opportunity to retire, I suppose.
Thanks to Cath #15. I used the address for the embassy in DC as well.
Posted by: rironin
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July 30, 2010 1:09 PM
"Complete the following to sign the petition. You'll receive periodic updates on offers and activism opportunities."
Uggghhhhh. Petitions + Spam = No thank you.
Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/O.jullMj0I2VvJaxMMVeNKSfOPf73voLSxJAe9PdlOWwi8Y-#258ec
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July 30, 2010 1:47 PM
I doubt it really makes any real difference who goes to the "press conferences" they are mostly announcements and official spin but if you really wanted some excitement and balance to the overall event I would recommend that a seat be given to a corespondent from "Democracy Now the war a peace report"
http://www.democracynow.org/about
uncle frogy
Posted by: duanerobertson
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July 30, 2010 5:52 PM
"Uggghhhhh. Petitions + Spam = No thank you."
Hear, hear. I get spammed, and in all likelihood the "petition" gets ignored. Sounds like a bad deal.
Posted by: Stardrake
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July 30, 2010 7:50 PM
Rutee @27:
"...but if we're going to begin arresting random organization members because someone in the organization done fucked up, can we start arresting the heads of multinational corporations?"
One can only wish....