Rather than filming Breitbart as he hits the media I thought it would be cooler to watch the media as he did.
Archive for the ‘media’ Category
There is lot more to journalism than smiling in front of a camera
Posted: September 12, 2010 by datechguy in internet/free speech, media, personal, special eventsTags: blogcon, blogs, honorable, kerry picket, media, MSM, reporting
A few months ago I was driving home with the wife and son when I noticed a TV camera crew across the street from the Hospital.
My wife saw the look in my eye and insisted that I head home (we were less than 10 min away) I did that, grabbed my camera and a pad and ran off to see what was going on.
There had been an accident earlier in the day where a teen had hit a young kid, who was hospitalized. There was going to be a live shot so the young lady and her crew was setup in the parking lot across the street to shoot the segments for her report and some teases:
There was an awful lot of waiting around and trying to tweak presentations. It’s wasn’t a pleasant spot to be, the lights attracted the bugs but the shots needed to be made.
I talked to the crew guys, the discused going around in the truck, having to drop things on a moment’s notice to get a story and how on occasion it was awkward because once in a while you had to stick your nose in during a bad time for people.
The bottom line is these folks have more on their plate than you may be aware of.
I thought of this today when Kerry Picket of the Washington Times came by, she had come in to visit with us BLOGCON bloggers and hang out a bit. It was past midnight and most of us were relaxing.
I first met Kerry during the Brown campaign, Stacy had introduced us at the North End Brown/Guilliani event in the north end and Stacy Ran into her again at the Bill Clinton event and filed her stories on the subject from my dining room table and we of course saw each other at the victory party.
Kerry has a lot more street sense than I do having been many places and seen many things. As I’ve been grabbing everyone in sight I asked her if she would care to do one of my two minute (patient pending interviews).
It wasn’t so odd that she asked if I could catch her in the morning. I had asked several other people here for interviews and we did them at a more convenient time. No big deal, but the way that she did it struck me.
You never saw a person so regretful, she explained had been working hard, and was a bit run down and felt she wasn’t at her best, physically or mentally but she also said that she understood that she asks other people this very question every day and felt guilty for putting me off.
It was an incredible display of class and respect. I’ve asked local MSM people if they would do a short interview and was rewarded by the curt refusal, but only one other time had a reporter (one from Fox 25) decline with regret as he was running to file.
If you have read Kerry’s work or heard on Captain Ed’s show or seen her on Red Eye you know the high quality of her work, however I’m pleased that I can acquaint you dear readers of the high quality of her character.
The Pajamas Media Panel
Posted: September 12, 2010 by datechguy in blogs, media, special eventsTags: bill whittle, blogcon, blogs, have fedora will travel, pajamas media, pjtv, scott ott, scrappleface, stephen green, vodka pundit
Fidel Castro and Pappy McDaniel
Posted: September 7, 2010 by datechguy in media, opinion/newsTags: Ahmadinejad, antisemitism, books, cuba, elections, evil, fidel castro, history, iran, jeffrey goldberg, lyndon johnson, texas, the atlantic
In 1941 Governor Lee “Pappy” McDaniel ran in a special election for an open Senate seat created by the death of Senator John Sheppard (an interesting fact is that a son of Sam Houston the 1st president of Texas born in 1793 was appointed as a “placeholder” senator during the time between the death and the election). His primary opponent was Lyndon Johnson then a congressman from the 10th district. The two primary candidates fought it out and both were involved in some underhanded tactics however at the end of the day it looked like Johnson had the game won until (According to Robert Caro in his book The Years of Lyndon Johnson the Path to Power) O’Daniel’s enemies contrived to steal the election FOR him to get him out of the governors office.
It turned out that Pappy although corrupt had one “virtue” and that was dislike for alcohol. Convinced it was the devil’s brew he was prepared to keep “dry” zones around military bases and his foes in the liquor industry wanted him out.
I thought of Pappy O’Daniel when I read this surprising quote from Jeffrey Goldberg’s interview with Fidel Castro:
Over the course of this first, five-hour discussion, Castro repeatedly returned to his excoriation of anti-Semitism. He criticized Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust and explained why the Iranian government would better serve the cause of peace by acknowledging the “unique” history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence.
It was quite a shock to hear one of the monsters of the 20th century excoriating a modern monster for antisemitism and going on about the long history of Jewish suffering, that’s when I remembered Pappy.
Pappy was an opponent of the dangers of drinking, but it didn’t make him any less a corrupt pol.
Castro if this interview is to be believed believes that antisemitism is a centuries long disgrace and that Israel has a right to exist, that doesn’t make him any less of a murderous thug. I’m not going to fall for his pap any more that the Babliu blog guys will.
As the Doctor once told Margaret the Slitheen it doesn’t matter, you can oppress millions because every now and again you can speak up against an injustice that has nothing to do with you.
memeorandum thread here
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