Newsweek’s ‘periscope’ stuck looking backwards

February 13, 2007

Newsweek publishes a weekly “Conventional Wisdom watch” graphic, with arrows denoting whether major players are going up, down, or sideways. It’s not exactly intended to be real news; the box is more “infotainment.”

That said, it often offers a sense of how major news stories are being perceived. As Greg Sargent noted, this week’s piece was particularly discouraging.

newsweekcw

For those who can’t see the graphic, it shows Pelosi with a down arrow, saying, “Sure Hastert had military jet, but seeking bigger one (to go nonstop) makes her sound like a 757 liberal.”

It’s a classic example of how smears work, and in case it wasn’t obvious before, why they’re launched in the first place. It doesn’t matter what’s true; what matters is what the attack dogs can get the media to believe is true.

As Greg explained, “Memo to Newsweek’s editors: You’ve given the leading Democrat in the House of Representatives a thumbs down for something that she didn’t do. Pelosi didn’t request a bigger plane at all. It never happened, people. The story has been thoroughly discredited. How is it possible that hard-working, well-meaning professionals such as yourselves don’t know this?”

Because, in all likelihood, the hard-working, well-meaning professionals just didn’t care. The “buzz” was that Pelosi was trying to abuse her position to get a bigger plane, and it was that “buzz” that shapes the conventional wisdom.

The “liberal” media strikes again.

Goddamnit, that kind of thing pisses me off so much.

I’m an Obama supporter and just yesterday (maybe you’ve mentioned this already), the AP had a story that stated that Obama was a Muslim when he was a child and attended a Muslim school for 4 years.

Of course, he was never a Muslim, and attended an essentially secular school in Indonesia for only two years.

And just last Friday, Chris Matthews was asking Lynn Sweet and a guy from the Chicago Tribune about the madrassa hoax. And he acted like he wasn’t really sure if it had been debunked or not. I don’t think he was necessarily trying to stir things up. Just completely misinformed.

Oy vey zmir, this is annoying.

  • The military jet story is old news and forgotten. The Periscope is just fluff. Newsweek has to put something in it. It’s the publishing version of TV’s mantra of “No dead air.”

  • It’s a shame these “news” sources can’t be fined for repeating lies after the stories have been discredited. Newsweek can’t be that ignorant which means they are biased which means that because so many readers know the truth on this one they will forever look at anything this Mag prints as needing scrutiny so they hang themselves for assuming the public is stupid. How does it affect you Newsweek…I threw away all copies of your magazine in the Doctor’s office…I see 3 doctors…your magazine won’t.

  • I don’t see this kind of stuff from Newsweek as lies or smears or misinformation. I see it as the plaintive wails of a dying media who long ago lost their integrity, self-respect and pride and are only hanging on by the thinnest of threads. If Newsweek were a horse it would headed for the glue factory.

    One day we’ll look at this time and proclaim it to be the moment when the blogosphere won and the MSM had to be put down like a rabid dog, for it had lied to the public for so long it couldn’t even realize they were lying to themselves by thinking they were credible sources of anything even faintly resembling news or the facts.

  • At least they rightfully snubbed the GOP senate obstructionists in the section just above the Pelosi smear.

  • They can’t even get the airplane type right. The C-40 is a military version of a 737, not a 757. I bet those morons don’t even know that the pointed end goes in front.

  • Funny how these publications have no problem publishing items they very well know are outright lies for Republicans for 3 years (see Libby trial, Plame Leak, Tim Russert) but have a hell of a time publishing truth (Pelosi DID NOT ask for the plane) when it comes to Democrats…..

    yep its a liberal media alright

  • It’s faintly possible that the production cyle outpaced the correction on the Pelosi story

    As noted in the Saergent story this issue of Newsweek was published 4 DAYS AFTER DoD officials came out to support Pelosi’s claim….more than enough time in this day and age to get it right…….

  • I have to agree with petorado (#6)

    It’s the dying gasp of a dying media. I believe that I am better informed than most and it’s been years since I’ve read a news magazine outside of a doctor’s office. I have a subscription to the NY Times but I read it on line six out of seven days. The Internet, if you search around, is a much better source of news and it hasn’t been bought out by very big money interests and staffed with people who think like their owners. “Weekly Media” in today’s market is nothing more than a newsman’s trade paper.

  • America is Democracy. Democracy is Truth. If you can’t tell the truth, then you’re anti-Democracy, and you hate America.

    So Why does the anti-Democracy, “allegedly-journalistic” institution commonly known as Newsweek hate America?

  • It was this kind of bullshit that pissed me off enough to cancel my subscription last year after being a subscriber for 15 years. The only reason I kept it that long was because it was the lesser of 2 evils compared with Time which turned into sycophantic, rabid whoring for the Bushies since 2000. I find Mike Allen to be as disgusting as Rush, Sean, Billo and the rest of their ilk.

  • I read the article a little bit ago and am going to send a letter to show how angry I am that they are engaging in this crap. It seems that the media is calling for an all out attack on Mrs. Speaker for anything they can make up. My subscription is being cancelled now.

    • Comments are closed.