Did media cover up Sen. Durbin's confrontation with reporter?

[R.Zaragoza]

Chicago, August 11, 2011 – This week U.S. Senator Dick Durbin held a press conference with members of the mainstream media to talk about the downgrade crisis. But the Senator’s scripted storyline veered off-course when a conservative reporter – me – showed up to ask an embarrassing question. Namely, “Senator, you’ve blamed the tea party…but do you bear any responsibility for this downgrade crisis?”

What, you didn’t hear about this incident in the media? For those of you that need more proof that journalism is dead, read on.

Monday was another beautiful day for a mainstream media cover-up in Chicago. But it would not have been complete without a picnic-basket full of hypocrisy from our very own U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois.

You may remember Dick.

He’s the Senator that hysterically compared the treatment of the Gitmo detainees to Nazis, Soviet gulags, and Pol Pot. While calling for an end to “hateful” rhetoric, he’s the one who wrongfully pointed his crooked finger at the Tea Party Movement and Gov. Sarah Palin, blaming them for the Tucson massacre and the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Recently, he’s the one that, hypocritically, accused the Tea Party Republicans of “political extortion” in the debt ceiling debate.

While the markets were tanking – Durbin took some time out to have a press conference and dish to his friends in the Chicago media about the S&P downgrade of our nation’s sterling credit rating.

Given his history, I expected more of the same accusatory rhetoric about the tea party from Durbin. Since the report of the downgrade hit the newswires last Friday, members of Durbin’s party have been in full anti-tea party spin control.

“The fact of the matter is that this is essentially a tea party downgrade,” said former White House advisor David Axelrod on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Sen. John Kerry must have received the same memo. “This is the tea party downgrade,” said Kerry on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

I went to Durbin’s press conference to set the record straight. My objective: some journalistic balance. Not only did Durbin refuse to answer the question but his cronies in the Chicago media went on the attack.

One of those crony journalists was Jim Anderson, news director for the Illinois Radio Network. You can hear him in the background telling Durbin, “He organizes tea party rallies." In media terms, that’s called being fair and impartial. That’s what a real journalist does.

I stood my ground and asked the question a number of times. “You’re not allowed to ask questions during a press conference,” bleated Anderson. “We are going to have you thrown out by the cops,” he said, running interference for Durbin. In addition to doing news for the Illinois Radio Network, Anderson apparently moonlights as an unpaid member of Dick Durbin’s staff.

A special agent was soon dispatched to have me escorted out of the room, where I, as press, had a right to be. At least, that’s what I read, once upon a time, in the U.S. Constitution.

I am an independent social journalist for the Washington Times Communities and contribute to the American Spectator, and Breitbart.com among others. No other blogger, freelance journalist, or other member of the media was asked to show their credentials at this event. In fact, the event was sponsored by City Club of Chicago and was open to media and the public.

This brings us to the eternal question: Who is media and who is not? Who gets to decide? Sen. Dick Durbin? His friends in the Chicago media? Are public officials accountable to the public? Do we have the right to question authority? Or must we just accept what they bestow upon us? Do we have the right to question the media? Or do we have to let the so-called “real” journalists impose their own idea of news? Of truth?

During my exchange with him, Sen. Durbin told (instructed) the media, “You guys aren’t going to cover this are you?” And the media…didn’t.

Is this collusion between a high-ranking member of the Democrat party and the supposedly unbiased mainstream media? Do I sympathize with the gripes of the Tea Party? Yes and yes.

The media and the Democrats accuse the tea party, conservatives, and Republicans in general of being “uncivil.” They compare us to terrorists “strapped with explosives” because we are trying to change Washington; because we want fairness in the media; because we are trying to put an end to corruption, fraud, and the redistribution of wealth that is considered “routine.” To an inside-the-beltway hack, to oppose the status quo - that must truly be “terrifying.”

Of course, I’ve been accused of being uncivil before. I’ve also been threatened by other journalists before. But this isn’t about civility; it’s about control.

The Democrats and their media cronies want to control the news and information. They want to control the political system and its system of punishments and rewards. This system is fundamentally anti-freedom and they – the powers that be - are “OK” with that.

I was held to a different standard because I write for conservative news outlets and Sen. Durbin didn’t like my question. The mainstream media are merely an adjunct to the Obama campaign and the Democrat National Committee. Not one of them reported this incident.

The economic crisis is not helped by a compliant, subservient media that tampers with news to help their candidates and causes. In the abscessed cavity of newsrooms around Chicago, this exchange and the remarks Sen. Durbin made to the media’s microphones exists. In Chicago, NBC, CBS, ABC, the Chicago Sun-Times, and every other news outlet, have shown their true colors. They weren’t red, white, and blue.

And neither are Durbin’s.

Did media cover up Sen. Durbin's confrontation with reporter? (VIDEO) | Washington Times Communities

[bearstrail]

I really should wake up each morning, hop out of bed and take a moment to reflect on what a great decision it was to get the hell out of Illinois when I did. Durbin is a sterling example of everything I despise about modern liberalism.

[RedLS1GTO]

Originally Posted by bearstrail

Durbin is a sterling example of everything I despise about modern liberalism.

Amen.

[BuckyThreadkiller]

There is a rather enormous gulf between the working press and a blogger.

I'd be surprised if the guy has legit press creds.

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by BuckyThreadkiller

There is a rather enormous gulf between the working press and a blogger.

I'd be surprised if the guy has legit press creds.

WTF makes 'working' press so important?? nothing.....a 'journalism' degree??

just WTF IS a 'journalism degree'???....it sure don't include training in common sense, hell they don't even have to take CS101.....

In fact what with most colleges run by marxists these daze, I"d say most any underwater basketweaving degree is worse than worthless, they are trained communists.....

which goes to my old statements that ALL college degrees NOT in hard sciences, Math, engineering, econ and business need be eliminated....

quit suffering the fools....

[MrPeabody]

Originally Posted by mrvette

WTF makes 'working' press so important?? nothing.....a 'journalism' degree??

just WTF IS a 'journalism degree'???....it sure don't include training in common sense, hell they don't even have to take CS101.....

In fact what with most colleges run by marxists these daze, I"d say most any underwater basketweaving degree is worse than worthless, they are trained communists.....

which goes to my old statements that ALL college degrees NOT in hard sciences, Math, engineering, econ and business need be eliminated....

quit suffering the fools....

For one thing, it requires training in the proper use of the English language, something I'm sure you wouldn't understand.

[BuckyThreadkiller]

Originally Posted by mrvette

WTF makes 'working' press so important?? nothing.....a 'journalism' degree??

just WTF IS a 'journalism degree'???....it sure don't include training in common sense, hell they don't even have to take CS101.....

In fact what with most colleges run by marxists these daze, I"d say most any underwater basketweaving degree is worse than worthless, they are trained communists.....

which goes to my old statements that ALL college degrees NOT in hard sciences, Math, engineering, econ and business need be eliminated....

quit suffering the fools....

Believe me - its VERY easy to tell from your posts you don't believe that English, Composition, Journalism or Literature should be taught past third grade, much less be given college credit. However, someone needs to be able to communicate ideas in manner that doesn't require readers to be able to decipher gibberish or have ESP.

Speaking for my Dad who has degrees in Journalism and English and worked for decades as a technical writer in the nuclear weapons industry, I can tell you that your view is as wrongheaded as it is shortsighted.

[MattW]

Originally Posted by BuckyThreadkiller

Speaking for my Dad who has degrees in Journalism and English and worked for decades as a technical writer in the nuclear weapons industry, I can tell you that your view is a wrongheaded as it is shortsighted.

Your father (given your own age) must have earned his degrees when Journalism, the profession thereof, was still respected.

Not so today.

I know very few people in this day, who like, respect, and trust journalists. Ask someone at random if they respect and trust "professional" journalists. A lot of them are going to look at you like you're a crazy fool.

I've been trying to discourage a young woman I mentor, from majoring in Journalism per se. I tell her "If you call yourself a journalist, first and foremost, upon introduction to others, you'll IMMEDIATELY have to fight their instant perception you are, must be, a sleazy, untrustworthy liar."

[BuckyThreadkiller]

Originally Posted by Wadoka

Your father (given your own age) must have earned his degrees when Journalism, the profession thereof, was still respected.

Not so today.

I know very few people in this day, who like, respect, and trust journalists. Ask someone at random if they respect and trust "professional" journalists. A lot of them are going to look at you like you're a crazy fool.

I've been trying to discourage a young woman I mentor, from majoring in Journalism per se. I tell her "If you call yourself a journalist, first and foremost, upon introduction to others, you'll IMMEDIATELY have to fight their instant perception you are, must be, a sleazy, untrustworthy liar."

Hell, I make TV commercials, I undertand exactly what she's walking into.

Journalism as a profession was once practiced by professionals, people of honor who truly sought to tell a balanced point of news. the WHo What When Where and how of the facts.

Bloggers have taken that away - to whom are they answerable? There are no editors to qualify their stories, no fact checkers, and no entity to stand behind them.

News organizations have now become an outlet for the variety of political positions they espouse. NSNBC, the Times and the Post on the left, FOx, the Washington Times and Talk Radio on the right. Journalism still lives - but it has been so overshadowed by editorial opinion and positions that the art of a great story or crafting an intelligent lead is now relegated to local news rather than events of national importance.

[jhammons01]

Originally Posted by MrPeabody

For one thing, it requires training in the proper use of the English language, something I'm sure you wouldn't understand.

Originally Posted by BuckyThreadkiller

Believe me - its VERY easy to tell from your posts you don't believe that English, Composition, Journalism or Literature should be taught past third grade, much less be given college credit. However, someone needs to be able to communicate ideas in manner that doesn't require readers to be able to decipher gibberish or have ESP.

Speaking for my Dad who has degrees in Journalism and English and worked for decades as a technical writer in the nuclear weapons industry, I can tell you that your view is as wrongheaded as it is shortsighted.

Did I hear you two correctly?? You chose to become grammar Nazi's rather than address the issue raised???

Just checkin'

back on topic (Grammar is not the topic BTW), if a person writes for "any" publication, than by definition, he then is "The Press"

Now you two may not have heard of the innerweb just yet, but most of the "actual" reporting is now only found via online Blogs......I know....mind boggling isn't it??

[jhammons01]

just as with the 2nd amendment, Freedom of the Press is a right......

Just sayin'

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by TxAg

True. The question being asked here is, what defines "the press".

Ones trained in Journ school who have been carefully groomed to have a PROGRESSIVE/liberal/communist/feel good/hippie type artsy fartsy outlook on things......

It is a very rare individual who survives 4 + years of that brainwashing, and be able to think and ask critical questions.....

[jhammons01]

Did the Constitution describe what defined a member of the press? or what "the press" is?

Or

Are the progressives wanting to control narrative by trying to form some closed society of who is and who isn't "the press"

If I print one Black and White flier from my 7 year old PC and distribute that flier....I am now, by the definition of the Constitution a member of "The Press"

Sorry, you cannot tell me that the definition is anything more than that....

[jhammons01]

Oh, and if you'd like to say that "education" defines "press" then since my High School Journalism class in 1980 was better than almost any college or university in 1776.....then by that definition, I am a journalist.....amongst many other career or professions.....