“Feed Me,” cried the plant, er, press

I missed this the other day but seeing it now, I had to share it with you – Michael Geer writing in The American Thinker.

By the mid 1980s I was fairly sure that the news was canned, delivered by press release to city desks, managing editors and producers. I labeled this pervasive technique News By Press Release. I proved my thesis one afternoon by popping into PR Newswire’s downtown Denver office. I slid four hundred words across the counter along with a one hundred dollar bill. No editing, no fact checking, no backgrounding, no multiple sourcing…No one asked if what was on that one page release was factual, let alone true. Apparently they didn’t even care if it was libelous. I paid in cash and they fed my words into the maw of the news machine.

Vice President Dick Cheney’s unfortunate hunting accident has a silver lining for those who can see it. The resulting media embarrassment proved that the US Media in all it’s power and reach has become so moribund, so lazy, so lacking in essential vigor that they forgot to disguise their actual anger. Their braying complaint? That the White House waited 24 hours before telling them about an accident.

Think about that for a moment. What this implies.

They clearly and irrevocably made it clear that they expect to be fed. Cannot operate unless the story is given to them. That they no longer know how to feed themselves, or probably even know what that means. They have descended to a level of absurd sucklings utterly dependent upon Others. A caricature of themselves that is damning, that they cannot do their job unless first some other party gives them the story.

What this indicates to me is latte, croissants, a bored indifference waiting for the phone to ring, the fax machine to spit out pages, or an email to pop up on screen. They have, as a class, waxed fat off the leak, grown to the size of 900 pound men who cannot get up off of their sofa, stuffing themselves on faux stories delivered by press officers who do the work reporters are supposed to do. The media itself is barely more than a revolving door for public relations agencies and image experts, where everyone is a journalist and no one is a reporter.

Yeah, you know you want to read the whole thing. You’ll like.

Speaking of “feeding” Mark in Mexico has a very sly response to this story:

Capitol Hill Blue blows the lid off the Cheney shooting coverup. Investigative reporter and Capitol Hill Blue founder and publisher Doug Thompson puts his reputation on the line as he quotes a plethora of impeccable sources. Those sources all confirm that the vice president was “clearly inebriated” when he shot his life-long friend in the face at point blank range with a Holland & Holland 4 gauge Nitro Express. The named sources that Mr. Thompson quotes are identified as:

* “Secret Service agents”
* “Agents”
* “the report”
* “those who have talked with the agents”
* “others present at the outing”
* “a number of administration officials”
* “others”
* “one White House aide”
* “One agent at the scene”
* “another”
* “A memo reportedly written”

Read it all. And make sure you check out Mark’s links to this journalistic wonder’s other great pieces. I liked Traitorous bitches and bastards, myself.