Matthew Felling Talks About Talking Head Accountability: '(I)f somebody gets it wrong, they are grounded'
By John Amato Sunday Aug 03, 2008 6:00pmReliable Sources asked a question about the talking heads on TV that have been chattering about the VP picks.
Matthew T. Felling, makes a great point about holding them accountable for a change and that's something I've talked about also:
Felling: I wish that we would see some accountability, where if somebody gets it right, you know, they get a little bit more airtime in the fall, but if somebody gets it wrong, they are grounded.
Pundits taking a little responsibility for their opinions for a change. Wow, what a concept. I'd love to keep a score card on all of them and see how their opinions come out. Would Bill Kristol have racked up so many demerits for his views by now that he'd be kicked off TV already? Fat chance.
I wrote this post with Michael Hanlon in mind: C&L’s Accountability for the Punditocracy Proposal
Here’s a few things the networks can do to clean up their act.
1) Set up an Ombudsman with a staff for each network that isn’t an employee of their corporation and have a weekly segment devoted to policing the media. They will also be available to take complaints reported by individual citizens and investigate them thoroughly.
2) Replay clips of each pundit when they’ve been proven wrong and let them explain their positions and why they thought they were right and ask them how they will correct their mistakes in the future.
3) Keep track of their infractions and set up a benchmark, like a 3 strikes your out rule for pundits. When they hit the benchmark, suspend them for a period of time so they can reflect on their mistakes.
4) When they return to work, ask them why they should be believed in the future.
5) It would be nice if they stopped using pundits that we know have been wrong over and over again.
(transcript below the fold)
FELLING: Oh yes. I was waiting for Governor Palin from Alaska, because she is the dark horse on Fox News Channel.
KURTZ: Isn't this almost on a level of self-indulgent entertainment?
FELLING: Oh, it is everything that is great about cable news in terms of strong opinion and forceful TV. And everything that's horrible about cable news: complete cluelessness, complete conjecture, and no accountability.
I mean, when you watch these things, it's great -- it's a great barroom argument where it's like -- it sounds like March Madness. It sounds like, you know, well Baylor's got a strong front court, and I think that Duke could get -- everybody has their pet theories, and everybody has a pet theory for, well, Biden has the foreign relations experience, and this guy has -- Indiana -- Evan Bayh has Indiana in his pocket and we might need that.
It's perfect filler time for the cable networks to move on. I wish that we would see some accountability, where if somebody gets it right, you know, they get a little bit more airtime in the fall, but if somebody gets it wrong, they are grounded.
KURTZ: Yes, dream on. And it's not just cable, but cable is the prime offender.
FELLING: Yes.
KURTZ: But network news does it and newspapers certainly do it.
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Quite possibly the best post I have read on C&L.
[Deleted. You don't have to keep the sentiment to yourself, but please don't post it here. Site Monitor]
And how can we keep the networks themselves accountable? How about this:
1) Stop watching all this dreck until the MSM dries up and blows away.
that's an awesome idea!
in dreamland.
Surging Blue Lensman @ 3:
been doing that for 6 years now. no tv, no beer, no pro sports, no movies (unless pirated from the internet), no fast food, american made clothing (yes you can find it if you try hard enough), no walmart, target, kmart or sears.
Americans are addicted to Television-Video. Thats most of the problem right there. People waste half their lives in this day and age staring at a tube. The rest working, eating and sleeping.
Leadership @ 5:
I'm with you, but . . no beer? Not even local organic brews??
Keep the media accountable? Since the invention of mass media, mass media is for mass media, not any particular nation's interest.
Fox would have to have a couple of dozen obudsmen just to handle the daytime BS! I don't know if any group of obudsmen could keep up with the night-time BS!
Surging Blue Lensman @ 7:
Beer is the worst. It turns even the most sophisticated and polished person into a loud mouthed undisciplined moron after to many. It's the Bitches Brew.
Just turn you freaking TV's off. You don't need it to think.
John, I had no idea you had such a talent for science fiction!
All wannabe journalists (talking heads) should be held accountable for their opinions not being backed by facts. FOX News and conservative talk radio are both notorious for using blatant lies as talking points. The sad reality is that most listeners are either too trusting or too lazy to research the integrity of these said facts. How about a three strikes and your out law for these drooling drama queens?
Surging Blue Lensman @ 7:
it's a health thing too. oh i miss the guinness bad!
I'm sick of pundits telling Americans their own brand of Bullshit. Matthews and all the other pundits are made up of the same old gene pool. A bunch of rich blowhards who have no idea what life is like for the average American, Matthews really lost me when Bush did his famous 'Mission Accomplished' moment. He was drooling like a school girl telling the audience how mucho Bush looked. Gross!
Aww no need to hit beer below the belt! lol
5) It would be nice if they stopped using pundits that we know have been wrong over and over again.
_________________
It would be nice if they stopped using pundits altogether and just reported the news. Wouldn't that be crazy? The news? You know, like reporting facts and connecting dots, even when it's embarrassing and/or damaging to one party or the other, instead of simply inviting known partisan propagandists on to argue with each other and make it seem there's two equal sides to EVERY story? What a concept!
Remember the good old days before the 24/7 news cycles? Life was less complicated, politicans less shrill, and I used to have faith in mankind.
"Keep the media accountable? Since the invention of mass media, mass media is for mass media, not any particular nation’s interest"
How right you are!! Why does ANYONE believe the media will suddenly see the light and begin to police themselves!?!?!?!? Are we really that stupid??? Good Christ, we have a seven-and-a-half-year-old criminal administration, and we voted for a Dem congress in '06, but WHAT HAS CHANGED?!?!? Why do people continue to believe that somehow, someone who can actually make a difference will "see the light", and suddenly the world will be a more ethical place? IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!! We gave it all away, and we can't take it back, and those we gave it to are not going to give it back.
Jeon Ji-Yung @ 12:
Too funny....I do love Sci-fi!
J.C. @ 17:
What a concept indeed. Too bad it's never been done.
John Amato @ 20:
John,
I have been hard o you in the past for your promotion of mainstream media like Buffy and The Closer and you affection for pro sports. I am sorry, this post more than makes up for the Buffy quotes!!! Truly a killer post!!
L.A. Confidential Says:
Just turn you freaking TV’s off. You don’t need it to think.
______________________
We're not the problem or we wouldn't be here at C&L. The problem is that the rest of America will still be watching and having their brains washed by that dreck. If I turn my TV off it will have no effect on what other people see, hear, and think. Nobody has anything good to say about TV news, yet they're stone deaf to it. And they have no intention of policing themselves and calling each other out on anything. Witness the news blackout of anything that's embarrassing to ANY of the news media, like the Pentagon propaganda scandal, or the politically-motivated Donahue sh*tcanning, or their complicity in the Iraq debacle, or any number of other scandalous goings-on. They're all on the corporate wagon and addicted to tabloid fodder and you can't help people who don't want to help themselves.
I got rid of my tv, and rely on C&L for the clips. but i also think it's important to pass on real news, that you get from blogs, to friends and family. esp. good quiet debunking stories. we have to each do something, and one thing it to keep getting good blogs more legitimate. it's working, kos is on msm a lot. several others.
and watch your election returns online with the Young Turks, much more intelligent, entertaining and they get all the big names just like the networks.
Oh please, that pundit accountability thing is preposterous.
I mean, really, it's not like they are regular people with jobs that produce things or service customers.
Accountability? Integrity?
These are Republicans you are talking about. Things like integrity, accountability, upholding the law and the Constitution are anathema to all Republicans.
Fair -- strike one!
Balanced -- strike two!
No-Spin -- yeeeerrrrr OUT!
Comrade Rutherford @ 26:
Are anathema to all US politicians, you mean. Name one time in history that the Constitution was faithfully upheld. I challenge you to do it.
And remember...the adoption of the Constitution we currently have was against the precedents laid by the previous Constitution, the Articles of Confederation.
They sold us one war, and now they are selling us another one, and we will all lap it up like sugared milk. The media is not accountable, because we are not accountable.
Actually someone did once keep score...
http://faculty.oxy.edu/jquinn/math105/society/brill.html
I prefer to stay in and try wishing the whole lot
right into the ol' cornfield.
cancer is too good for 'em.
Jamie @ 29:
What do you mean by "WE?" Do you have a turd in your pocket? I'm not lapping it up and I'll bet most of us here aren't.
Political reporting is like the NFL today show.
You can be wrong every time you are on TV and still work the next week.
Just ask Dan Marino
I know it might be difficult, but accountability might require that we simply do not vote for anyone who has 'incumbant' after their name on the ballot. In my case that would be Fienstien (easy) and Boxer (that will be hard). Marshal McCluhan appropriately said that 'the medium is the message'. Change the medium.
i like the 3 strikes and you're out
letting them back is another thing altogether,
if you do let them back, if they error/lie again
then that's it. no air time ever again.
why continue to allow a deceiver access to
a public forum that holds so much power.
Surging Blue Lensman @ 3:
that is not a solution. being active works. sitting on
a couch and watching reality tv just allows the problem
to continue. why don't you take an active roll in making
the change you want instead of putting your head in the
sand. taking an active roll will require some effort
on your part. i hope you decide to help yourself.
moniker @ 27:
Fair -- strike one!
Balanced -- strike two!
No-Spin -- yeeeerrrrr OUT!
Great stuff ,
Have not watched tv or sports ( miss the boxing ) in 10 + yrs , just think how quiet it would be , do we get a time out box were the Pun-zits are gagged ? .
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public"-- Mencken said that 8.9 decades ago, and it's worse than ever before.
Accountability from our media? Chumps like Tom "Suck. On. This" Friedman or "Bobo" Brooks being held accountable for 90% wrong punditry? Won't happen in our lifetimes. As soon as they've created one bloody mess they'll just distract us with a new shiny object. We were told by ABC that the anthrax attacks originated in Iraq w/ Saddam. 5 years later the govt's story is that it was a homegrown mad scientist from our own military-industrial complex, but ABC buries their original "reporting" (based on Cheney Disinformation) & figures no one will know. They can bury interest w/ the Olympics nest week . . .
(& for those of you stating my 90% wrong for the malefactors above is too low, I concede the point)
Bush + McCain + Freedom Watch - the keys to another hacked election. Go to www.therealfreedomwatch.com to find out who the big money players in this disgusting scheme happen to be. Naturally, Bush and McBush are in the gang of thugs. Knowledge IS power and we will not permit these criminal thugs to run our country. Exposing every one of them will bring them down.
Check out www.therealfreedomwatch.com to see for yourself.
www.therealfreedomwatch.com
And if your hair hasn't sufficiently been raised from every hair follicle of your body when you discover the "real" truth, treat yourself to a stroll through www.bradblog.com as well as www.blackboxvoting.org to see how they hacked the machines in 04. They're going to do it again, of this we can be certain. On the "Real Freedom Watch" website, the key criminals are all there in living color and they have vowed to stop at nothing to take control of the White House in November.
Forewarned is forearmed, folks. Knowledge IS power.
sorry....in my haste I got the link wrong. It's www.therealfreedomswatch.com and it's also listed on the sidebar of Crooks and Liars. It's an awesome site. Everyone needs to check it out and become informed about the Faux Freedom's Watch Group. Remember - everything spun by Bush and his cadre of liars in the GOP is the opposite of what it says......war is peace, up is down, criminal is legal, etc. Ergo, the moniker of "freedom's watch" fits the same liar's code of conduct. It purports to be something altruistic and wholesome when, in fact, it's corrupt, necrotic, and evil. So like everything Bush and his cohorts do.
often they get it wrong because they're riding the limbaugh and sons talk radio bandwagon for lazy talking heads and would rather repeat the GOP talking points and one liners, or 'conventional wisdom', than think or do research. in the black and white republican world they also know if you're not on the bandwagon you're agin it and that means if you're a big name limbaugh and hannity might mention it and get your bosses bombarded by dittoheads.
with a daily searchable talk radio transcript database it would be apparent how absurd irrational talking points can be magnified in just one or two days of national prechewing on the talk radio monopoly, then becoming established fact and more digestible to the mainstream.
Thanks, C& L, for providing info on this valuable website! The Real Freedom's Watch will enlighten and educate. Knowledge is power and the nemesis of the corrupt GOP is that people will become educated and learn the truth.
Truth always prevails and, in time, these frauds and criminals will be brought to justice they so deserve. Either that or their human conscience will eat them from the inside out.
Fortunately, there already is a model for rewarding people for being good at what they do. It's called gambling.
Let pundits place bets on their predictions. The bigger your chip stack, the more airtime you get.
I got rid of my tv about 10 years ago. I'm 41 now. I really thought it would be hard and I would miss it. Maybe I did at first. Of course I see shows in hotels and at friends when it is something I "have to see". Oddly enough, other people are more distraught about me not having a television than I. Can't even count how many people offered to give me one.
I broke two bones in my leg a month ago and am now parked in front of a tv. Conventional thought was once I started watching again I would be hooked. It was fun for about 3 days and I don't turn it an any more.
I do agree that regulation of these talking heads would be a good thing, offering an alternative to them would be better.
Well we did see some accountability tonight on Countdown. Dana Milbank will no longer be a part of the show because of the crap he started last week with that false Obama quote and his insulting attitude towards readers who called him on his Scheisse.
Some time ago, on my site, I wrote something about these bobbleheads being referred to as pundits, or even referring to themselves as pundits, since 'pundit' implies some political knowledge, which is painfully lacking in many cases.
Someone should set up a cable channel devoted to exposing the lies and misinformation of the American mainstream media. Problem is, I enough people would watch it.
jon @ 46:
Oh Happy Day, there is some light at the end of this dark tunnel!
The short-lived Brill's Content magazine in the late 1990s had a scorebox for pundits that showed most of them batting about 300, which wouldn't be good for their vocational health if it were used to determine who should and should not be given big platform exposure.
So of course Brill's was strongarmed into discontinuing the feature.
Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com
John, you're actually in a position to make a scorecard like this possible.
It could be a wiki-like feature with the input crowd-sourced.
Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com
The only true way to fix the biased media is for non-Republicans to stop watching the networks that are known to be biased and to stop buying newspapers that are known to be biased.
If we had a clear score card showing the bias, besides the sick and sinking feeling I get when seeing or reading the news, then we could simply say "we're not buying it, you just lost 1/2 of your viewers/readers - go tell that to your advertisers." And, we don't watch and don't buy till we see a fair and honest reporting of news. We can talk about how silly the pundits are or how they miss the point till we are blue in the face, but don't expect change. They *know* they are biased, they don't need us to tell them. They are not going to change because you show them how stupid they are or how they have missed the obvious. They *intend* to be biased.
The only way to change this is the money. A report card showing their bias based on true objective sampling by something like mediamatters and factcheck. Then take yourself, your family and friends away from the lying liars - remove 1/2 the nation - *then* we'll see some correction... and hopefully a nation of and by the people.
For that to happen it would require that the media corporations make a committment to doing journalism rather than propaganda. That's not going to happen, becuase the only reason they exist at this point is to manipulate. It is good to remember that these companies are no friends of the American People, and - by their actions, have declared themselves to be implacable enemies of constitutionally established liberal democracy.
This whole design has some horrifying potential unintended consequences. It sounds like "central planning ready to go wrong" so I'm skeptical in a pragmatic sense, but enthusiastically supportive in the ideal sense.
The best way to start is on a voluntary association basis. People sign up to be in the "accountable media group" and subject themselves willingly to this scrutiny.
Establish group credibility over time, making it a financially beneficial move for talking heads to be involved. Then the rest takes care of itself.
Trying to force this on anyone would likely be a complete waste and not accomplish any of the expressed goals.
Sounds like: "No Pundit Left Behind" :)
There should be an independent fact check on EVERY news channel complete with verifiable sources running at the bottom of the screen to confirm or debunk by using links,video,transcript,or any records available.
Any stations not willing to comply lose "News" status and becomes tabloid trash tv.
Keep them honest and transparent about something as important as keeping we the people PROPERLY
informed.
Did anyone notice that Olbermann dumped Dana Millbank last night on Countdown?
Over the weekend we had a discussion about this; about Millbanks phony quote column and "The Whine" in response to our objections.
Last night KO did the right thing and said buh bye and good luck to Dana.
We should let him know we appreciate it don't you think?
Accountability for the media. Hmm. Let's start with resurrecting the Fairness Doctrine, have pundits caught egregiously and continuously wrong ejected, and kick Ted Turner in the nuts for coming up with the idea of 24-hour news.
and what of pundits who advocate a pointless war in Iraq - what should there punishment be?
I think time served in a penal battalion clearing land mines with their in hands in Angola would be a good start...
sadly, this would go for matt yglesias - there must be consequences for stupidity, no?
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