Besides, the alternative media is inherently anti-establishment so it’s not a stretch that they were the first ones to call bullshit on the whole thing.

The problem with the establishment media is the fact that it’s the establishment media, if that makes any sense.

Let’s face it, corporate media and news organizations have been slowly sinking into the mire for over 20 years now. The firing of Dan Rather, the slow decline of nightly news, the decline of 60 Minutes, the rise of punditry, and the empowerment of politically-biased cable news shows that network TV is no place to get hard-hitting journalism or fair and balanced reporting.

I praise his efforts though. Russert was trying.

As for journalism post-9/11, I don’t buy or accept your argument, Craig. There was the mainstream media, which laid down on the job, and there was alternative media that saw the problems coming early on and did their damnedest to point them out. Most Americans weren’t listening. The fact that the rest of the world quickly saw through the tapestry of lies the Bush administration was weaving points out how pathetic the news media in the country has been in the last 6 years.

Particularly moving were his conversations about the book he wrote for his dad. He seemed a genuinely decent, honest and dedicated fellow in an industry of phonies.

Could he have been a tougher interviewer? Yes, but whoever they replace him with on MTP is sure to be a step down.

In retrospect, 9/11 hit the members of the media in the same way it hit most Americans. We were all mixed with feelings of patriotism and rage. In the months and even years afterward, giving the administration the benefit of a doubt seemed the right thing to do to a lot of people. It turns out this may be the critical error of my lifetime. Though it’s easy now to be pissed off that the media didn’t do better, and yes they most certainly should have, it’s almost hard for me to lay blame.

Going forward is another story…

Wow, Peter Bradshaw has a sense of humor! Funny, Sam, thanks for sharing.

I’ve been watching MTP for most of my life, but never got that Russert was standing one with giants. I just never saw that. He was certainly smarter and calmer than most of the blabberheads on today. But putting him with Faulkner and Kennedy seems hypberbolic. Of course, I lost all respect for our MSM press between 2000-2003 when I saw they were willing to get tough and real with everybody but to those they should have been. I’m sure Russert was beloved, but meanwhile Iowa is underwater and we have a criminal administration still in unchecked power. I think all these hours of air-time to Russert would have made him uncomfortable.

First paragraph:

“Hulk. Smash!” Yes. Hulk. Smash. Yes. Smash. Big Hulk smash. Smaash cars. Buildings. Army tanks. Hulk not smash. Hulk also go rarrr! Then smash again. Smash important, obviously. Smash Hulk’s USP. What Hulk smash most? Hulk smash all hope of interesting time in cinema. Hulk take all effort of cinema, effort getting babysitter, effort finding parking, and Hulk put green fist right through it. Hulk crush all hopes of entertainment. Hulk in boring film. Film co-written by star. Edward Norton. Norton in it! Norton write it. Norton not need gamma-radiation poisoning to get big head. Thing is: Hulk head weirdly small. Compared with rest of big green body.

and the last paragraph:

“Critic remember Ang Lee version. Ang Lee version slagged off. Yet rubbish new Hulk film make that look like Citizen Kane. Critic exit cinema miffed. Film take away two hours of critic’s life. Critic not get time back. Ever. Rarrrrr.”

Bravo, Peter Bradshaw!

As Marc Anthony intones at the funeral of Julius Caesar: “Now here was a Caesar. When comes another.” (paraphrased)

Anyway, a very light weekend for movies for me. Going back to Thursday, I saw Kung Fu Panda, which unlike Joel and like many others I thoroughly enjoyed, even if I don’t think it’s the greatest animated thing since Fantasia. Hoffman’s the unsung hero; Jack Black’s just fine. I agree with Joel to an extent that the message was kind of muddled–use food to train the big fat dummy in the ways of kung fu!–but I think it’s fair to say this was a fairly huge step “up” for DreamWorks animation.

Friday night I saw Shyamalan’s worst movie, and the worst film I’ve seen all year, including Rambo and Funny Games version 2.0, The Happening. As I said before, at least Lady in the Water had an endearing performance by Paul Giamatti. Every performance in Shyamalan’s newest is horrible. I’m no Shyamalan-hater–I think, to varying degrees, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs are all successes on their own terms and The Village has some sense of what is and there are definitely signs that it could have been something of a terrific movie (some pieces were there)–okay, I’ll stop doing, aha…

The acting in Clone Wars looks less wooden than the prequels, Craig, so there’s that.

Sunday, I saw an A’s-Giants game with my dad and started to get a sunburn… Finished that sunburn off with a truly wicked sunburn today playing tennis for a few hours. A feather touching me would hurt like hell right now.

True. The journalists who do ask the questions, who are willing to grill the people that need it and do follow up aren’t in the mainstream corporate media. They’re on the Internet and publishing independently, and their sites get hacked all the time by the powers-that-be attempting to put a stop to them.

Finally, how do current or former Star Wars fans feel about the trailer for Clone Wars they keep playing? The kid in me is enthused, but the adult who makes the purchasing decisions has been burned once too often.

As for Mr. Russert, as a representative of the corporate media, he deserves his share of the blame, though I would argue he was among the better of a weak bunch. In his position he had the opportunity to do far more, but he could’ve been worse…like Stephanopoulis.

I never saw Russert as anything other than a respected Washington MSM insider and all that implies. He never grilled Cheney or the admin on the Iraq War, always failed to follow-up. His “gotcha” style would have been better served with Cheney, not asking Kucinich a UFO question in a clear attempt to torpedo his campaign.

The HOURS spent over-eulogizing Russert reveals the incestuous relationship the media has with itself. Imagine if those hours had been used on stories about the rush to war or the Pentagon admitting it used places like MTP to pimp war lies.

I’m not dancing on Russert’s grave, but this is a time for contemplation of how our democracy has been ill-used by corporate news deciders.

As for SKIDOOsh, well…come on.