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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Soros and #OWS

Soros and #OWS

by John Cole|  October 13, 20117:55 pm| 30 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Our Failed Media Experiment

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This Felix Salmon piece where he takes Reuters to task for their bullshit story attempting to claim that Soros is somehow funding #OWS is a must read.

What has done more damage to our public discourse? The “gotcha” mentality of the press, always looking for a scandal when there isn’t one, the “horse-race” style coverage of elections, crowding out issues in favor of superficial analysis, or the “both sides do it” crap we get spoon-fed every day? Honorable mention must surely go to “Cavuto Mark” journalism, as well.

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30Comments

  1. 1.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    October 13, 2011 at 7:57 pm

    What has done more damage to our public discourse? The “gotcha” mentality of the press, always looking for a scandal when there isn’t one, the “horse-race” style coverage of elections, crowding out issues in favor of superficial analysis, or the “both sides do it” crap we get spoon-fed every day? Honorable mention must surely go to “Cavuto Mark” journalism, as well.

    Yes.

    (In other words, why choose between them, when they all converge into a perfect storm of bullshit?)

  2. 2.

    Halteclere

    October 13, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    I saw that same Reuters piece and thought “WTF?”. The best they could come up with is that Soros givesmoney to one of many organizations, one of which then gave money that ended up helping the OWS.

  3. 3.

    Unabogie

    October 13, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    Who could forget this?

    http://mediamatters.org/research/200602240003

    A segment about escalating sectarian violence in Iraq on the February 23 edition of Fox News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto featured onscreen captions that read: ” ‘Upside’ To Civil War?” and “All-Out Civil War in Iraq: Could It Be a Good Thing?”

  4. 4.

    General Stuck

    October 13, 2011 at 8:02 pm

    What has done more damage to our public discourse? The “gotcha” mentality of the press, always looking for a scandal when there isn’t one, the “horse-race” style coverage of elections, crowding out issues in favor of superficial analysis, or the “both sides do it” crap we get spoon-fed every day?

    All of these things have become part of The current Canon of Unethics for the press. But I think a lot of the bullshit is simply because there is way more professional competition with way more info venues than there used to be. And all of them trying to get ahead with the next prescient scoop. It doesn’t help that the MSM in total, has long since quit the gentleman;s agreement with the government to not let profiteering adversely effect news gathering from the fax, just he fax, ma’m.

  5. 5.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 13, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    Anyone remember a totally bogus story called “Whitewater” followed by another totally bogus story called “Wenn Ho Lee-gate”?

    Both perpetrated by fraudster Jeff Gerth, who was awarded Pulitzer Prizes for these two non-scandals, and the NYT has yet to apologize for the perpetration of this fraudent shit.

    Gerth’s head should be on a pike somewhere, preferably in front of the NYT building so it can serve as warning to others.

    Particularly that utter asshat “Punch”.

  6. 6.

    Chris

    October 13, 2011 at 8:07 pm

    Conservative critics contend the movement is a Trojan horse for a secret Soros agenda.

    “White men! White women! The Jew is using Occupy Wall Street as muscle against you! Look here, it’s all in this book!“

  7. 7.

    singfoom

    October 13, 2011 at 8:08 pm

    http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/told-to-leave-protesters-talk-pre-emptive-strategy/

    NYC is using “a sanitation issue” as a reason to kick the protesters out of the park, tomorrow morning at 6AM. The protesters are actively cleaning the area to try and obviate the cleaning.

    I really hope there is no violence tomorrow, but it seems inevitable….

  8. 8.

    JPL

    October 13, 2011 at 8:08 pm

    Shorter John post…………..we are so fucked……………..

    also, to..if that herm ad isn’t removed, I am putting up ad block.

  9. 9.

    Roger Moore

    October 13, 2011 at 8:08 pm

    What has done more damage to our public discourse? The “gotcha” mentality of the press, always looking for a scandal when there isn’t one, the “horse-race” style coverage of elections, crowding out issues in favor of superficial analysis, or the “both sides do it” crap we get spoon-fed every day?

    I’m going to vote for the insistence on “civility”. Being a liar or hatemonger is just fine, so long as you manage to do it with a veneer of politeness, but pointing out that somebody else is lying or spreading hate is a terrible crime against civility. The media as stenographers rather than independent fact finders is also atrocious.

  10. 10.

    Jenny

    October 13, 2011 at 8:09 pm

    What has done more damage to our public discourse?

    Doing posts on Sully.

  11. 11.

    4tehlulz

    October 13, 2011 at 8:10 pm

    OWS was organized in the Jewish cemetery of Prague.

  12. 12.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    October 13, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    @singfoom: 7am.

  13. 13.

    Turgidson

    October 13, 2011 at 8:16 pm

    always looking for a scandal when there isn’t one

    You forgot to mention that this rule only applies to Democrats, and to a far far lesser extent sexually-deviant Republicans.

    The media needs to be dragged kicking and screaming to coverage of a Republican/conservative scandal. See: Downing Street Memo, Plame outing et. al.

  14. 14.

    Chyron HR

    October 13, 2011 at 8:16 pm

    Who’s behind the Wall Street protests? Clearly it must be a nefarious Jew who’s trying to undermine the Homeland.

    (P.S. Liberals are the REAL anti-Semites.)

  15. 15.

    Urza

    October 13, 2011 at 8:18 pm

    If I knew we had billionaire funding when I went to an organization meeting for Occupy Harrisburg we totally wouldn’t have been wondering where to get the tables and tarps for it.

  16. 16.

    Chris

    October 13, 2011 at 8:20 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    I’m going to vote for the insistence on “civility”. Being a liar or hatemonger is just fine, so long as you manage to do it with a veneer of politeness, but pointing out that somebody else is lying or spreading hate is a terrible crime against civility.

    Sort of a one way street though innit? I mean, do the teabaggers ever get any shit for calling people commies, traitors, terrorist-lovers, “not Real Americans,” parasites, lazy or God knows what else? That’s not even mentioning the uber-racist terminology that comes out whenever Islam’s under discussion (“animals,” “dogs,” and so forth…)

  17. 17.

    Chris

    October 13, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    @Turgidson:

    You forgot to mention that this rule only applies to Democrats, and to a far far lesser extent sexually-deviant Republicans.

    Yeah, I’ve noticed that too – that it’s the only crime the media seems to hold Republicans accountable for. They can start wars or destroying economies because boys will be boys, but soliciting sex in an airport bathroom is going WAY over the line here. I mean, the line has to be drawn SOMEWHERE.

    @Chyron HR:

    Who’s behind the Wall Street protests? Clearly it must be a nefarious Jew who’s trying to undermine the Homeland.

    Yes indeed! Took them a bit of time, they even tried to make the adjustment to Muslims as the evil-semetic-religion, but it’s just not the same. So at long last we come back to The Jewish Conspiracy, the root of all evil since the beginning of time…

  18. 18.

    Dougerhead

    October 13, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    As you probably know, Salmon works for Reuters.

    Let this be a lesson to James Fallows.

  19. 19.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 13, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    @Chyron HR:

    Who’s behind the Wall Street protests? Clearly it must be a nefarious Jew who’s trying to undermine the Homeland.

    You mean that guy Bloomberg?

  20. 20.

    John PM

    October 13, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    I read this non-story this morning. It cited the ever-present source “some” as wondering how OWS was getting money, and then mentioned Soros without any…oh, what’s that word…evidence connecting him to the movement. Of course, even if he were helping to fund OWS, so what? I really think this is a new low in non-opinion “journalism.”

  21. 21.

    bkny

    October 13, 2011 at 8:37 pm

    @singfoom: nyc dept of sanitation refused to provide more garbage cans or haul away trash. it’s going to be interesting to see what happens tomorrow morning .. just as rush hour begins and people are coming into work. the nypd has a high quotient of thugs and as you’ve seen, just itching for an excuse to bust some heads.

  22. 22.

    Chris

    October 13, 2011 at 8:40 pm

    @John PM:

    I read this non-story this morning. It cited the ever-present source “some” as wondering how OWS was getting money, and then mentioned Soros without any…oh, what’s that word…evidence connecting him to the movement. Of course, even if he were helping to fund OWS, so what? I really think this is a new low in non-opinion “journalism.”

    Yeah, and I love how it was slander for us to point out that the Koch family was funding the ever-living shit out of the teabaggers after it had been confirmed that they were, but they get to just pull “George Soros!” out of their ass with impunity.

  23. 23.

    Jenny

    October 13, 2011 at 8:45 pm

    It was only a matter of time before they started blaming the Jooos. I’m actually surprised it took them 25 days.

  24. 24.

    Mnemosyne

    October 13, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    @Chris:

    Yeah, and I love how it was slander for us to point out that the Koch family was funding the ever-living shit out of the teabaggers after it had been confirmed that they were, but they get to just pull “George Soros!” out of their ass with impunity.

    Butbutbut this is proof that Both Sides Do It, so clearly it couldn’t go unreported.

  25. 25.

    Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen

    October 13, 2011 at 8:57 pm

    So fucking what if he’s bankrolling the entire shindig out of petty cash?

    That should set the pack of lazy, useless, timorous lick spittles and lackeys at the big news organs to wanking out another 500 zillion words and video segments on this new reaLAMErican grass-roots totally organic movement sweeping the U.S.

    Oh wait. If a liberal-leaning billionaire is providing the $$ it doesn’t count.

    And those sub-normal back-biters who ought to be ashamed to walk abroad in daylight wonder why their revenue continues to drop.

  26. 26.

    You Don't Say

    October 13, 2011 at 8:57 pm

    Wow. What a shoddy piece of journalism, written by two reporters and approved by an unknown number of editors. Just awful. And for a news organization of Reuters reputation. Very nice post by Felix Salmon, though.

  27. 27.

    Jay C

    October 13, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    I’m going to vote for the insistence on “civility”. Being a liar or hatemonger is just fine, so long as you manage to do it with a veneer of politeness [targeting liberals and/or Democrats], but pointing out that somebody else is [conservatives and/or Republicans] lying or spreading hate is a terrible crime against civility.

    Edited for clarity.

  28. 28.

    piratedan

    October 13, 2011 at 9:20 pm

    damn, where are the OWS buses with the bloody handprints over stacks of cash parked?

  29. 29.

    PeakVT

    October 13, 2011 at 10:03 pm

    That’s a good piece by Salmon. But media outlet after media outlet has succumbed to right wing pressure and/or some kind of class-based bias of the editors, and he is likely to be hoping in vain that Reuters won’t.

  30. 30.

    ornery

    October 14, 2011 at 7:51 am

    The magic secret: the corporate-owned media is bought.

    The BJ mind will soon forget this, however, and go back to clueless whining about ‘gotcha’ journalism or a horse-race mentality or succumbing to right-wing pressure, etc, etc.

    That’s why it’s magic.

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