Ace of Spades HQ

« An Unidentified Female Producer for Dan Rather: "Who's to Say that Palestinian Terror-Bombings Are Wrong?" | Main | Haiku Contest Winners »

September 26, 2004

Hugh Hewitt on the Times' Puffing for Paleoliberals

Instapundit didn't seem especially bothered by the NYT article on blogging, notable only for its failure to actually interview any bloggers making genuine news:

I think it's a pretty good article. Some people are unhappy that it focuses on the lefty bloggers, but that was the intent of the piece from the get-go, and it's been underway for a while -- I had a long conversation with the reporter a few weeks back -- and it's not as if folks like me and Andrew Sullivan and Mickey Kaus haven't had our time in the media spotlight.

With all due respect, Mr. Instapundit, you and the increasingly left-wing Andrew Sullivan may have in fact had your time in the media spotlight, but the bloggers who were most important in breaking this story haven't yet. Yes, the PowerLine guys have been on Fox and CNN, but that's because they deserved to be.

They, along with LGF and Bill from INDC (he who now just interviews subjects at will!) also deserved to be in a NYT article on blogging. They weren't, and they were omitted quite intentionally.

Furthermore, this sentence:

Some people are unhappy that it focuses on the lefty bloggers, but that was the intent of the piece from the get-go

... is simply a non-sequitor. Yes, of course the NYT set out to only interview lefty bloggers. And that is a defense against the charge of political bias how, exactly? Once again, the NYT is determined to promote leftist causes and leftist voices while ignoring their opponents; I don't see how the fact that this was their "intent from the get-go" is some sort of mitigation.

And we know that the NYT decided that maybe it ought to interview Charles Johnson with all this Rathergate craziness going on. They did interview him; they then not only failed to quote him, but to even mention the man's existence.

But Hugh Hewitt sums it up best:

This piece is what the lawyers call "an admission against interest" combined with an undeniable expression of liberal bias in MSM. The admission is that the blogosphere matters a lot. The expression of bias is the incredible series of whopping omissions in the coverage. This is MSM's attempt --and there will be many more-- to "credential" some of their favorites in the blogosphere, thus elevating them and hopefully their readership. How can you be surprised that the way left Times profiles way left bloggers for their way left audience to hopefully bookmark and consult as a sort of internet annex to the still dominant New York Times?
It is a vast cry for help, a plea for reinforcements. The bloggers are inside the citadel, so call in the allied bloggers.

As I wrote yesterday, this is just more Maginot Line thinking by MSM, and more of the same can be expected. The MSM is acting in response to the challenge to its authority as the Vatican did to Luther, first with indifference, then with threats, and eventually with attempted suppression and finally with capitulation and internal reform. The attempt at suppression will come in legal forms, with lawsuits about fair use and threats of business libel, but all for naught. The bleeding isn't just at CBS, and the wounded are angry.

The Times' motivation is transparent. With right-leaning bloggers suddenly getting getting all the attention, and deservedly so, given that they'd broken a major story, the Times has decided to give the left-wingers a little undeserved exposure of their own, to try leveling the playing field a bit.

Fair enough.

Does anyone imagine that if left-wing bloggers had broken a major story and were thus getting all the attention from the rest of the liberal legacy media that the New York Times would have tried for a bit of fairness and given prominent exposure to right wing bloggers?

Anyone?

Anyone at all?

posted by Ace at 07:49 PM

Comments

I was a little confused about Reynolds' response too.

By the by, do instalanches even put a dent in your traffic anymore?

Posted by: Elric on September 26, 2004 07:59 PM

The article would have been fine if it had explicitly admitted that this was a look at lefty bloggers. A newspaper can be biased and honest at the same time.

The Times is dishonest and biased.

Posted by: Mark on September 26, 2004 08:38 PM

Elric,

It depends. An Instapundit link can be worth five or ten thousand hits. Today's link didn't really give me very many hits at all; maybe 500-1000.

A link just saying that someone on the right is "unhappy" apparently doesn't attract a lot of clicks.

Posted by: ace on September 26, 2004 08:42 PM

Glenn Reynolds has gone on record recently that he is trying to calm things down when people are angry - that's why he referred to Kerry's grotesque destructive performance re Allawi as 'ill-conceived'. Of course by the next day, after Joe Lockhart's follow-up troll attack he was describing it as 'unacceptable' and 'appalling'.

Posted by: max on September 26, 2004 08:54 PM

Hey, Hugh Hewitt mentioned Luther in his column several days after I mentioned Luther here in your comments. I'll bet that fellow UM Law School graduate didn't even give me a friggin' hat tip. Son. Of. A. B*****.

Posted by: Birkel on September 26, 2004 09:28 PM

RE: The Charles Johnson interview: Don't worry, I'm sure they'll save the quotes (to be chopped up and yoinked out of context) for an "expose" on the owner of "the most prominent hate site on the web" somewhere down the road when they get REALLY mad.

I also thought the Insta post was interesting because he linked to Kos' whining, which was hysterical, basically boiling down to:

1. NYT article (accurately) portrays him and his commenters as the hate-filled fringe.

2. NYT article (accurately, I presume) paints a less-than-appetizing portrait of his achievements in the arenas of fashion and (implied) hygeine.

3. NYT reporter openly flirts with Wonkette in the piece, and draws unfavorable comparison with other bloggers. Lesson: Pretty and stupid beats fugly, dorky and spittle-flecked, no matter how long (and/or how SINCERELY) you've been waiting in the Bush-hating pumpkin patch. A real, Corey Haim as Lucas moment for Kos.

Just as an aside: In the mid-90s I was involved in a music scene that experienced a massive upgrade in its percieved coolness in a brief span of time, engendering Lucas-y feelings on the part of many dorks who didn't understand that even if the cool people start liking the same bands as the dorks, they don't start liking the dorks themselves. I imagine the ascendence of the blogosphere will be accompanied by similar expressions of whiny bitterness on both sides.

But it's easier for me to see (and to laugh at) when it happens on the other side.

Posted by: DTLV on September 26, 2004 09:49 PM

Apropos of nothing, but Ace, this one's for you.

Posted by: blaster on September 26, 2004 09:56 PM

If it had been a flattering portrayal of any of the bloggers depicted, I'd agree that it'd be something to complain about. I do not.

Posted by: Jim Treacher on September 26, 2004 10:44 PM

Jim T is right. Besides, I can't imagine you wanting to belong to a club that would have you as a member....

The blogosphere shouldn't want to be assimilated into the LLM. What would be the point? You don't need any creds from them, and to be noticed by them might be nice, but would ultimately diminish the impact.

Extra bonus point: When more and more blogs begin to turn off their comments section, you'll know the assimilation/isolation has begun. Open comments are the lifeblood of the blogs, and the last avenue for unfiltered information.

But it is Powerline, FR, LGF, Allah, this blog, and many others that kept the story alive by way of the comments section. The CBS story wouldn't have gotten much traction without interaction.

Personally, I have little attraction to blogs that don't allow comments, although I am an infrequent commenter. Comments keep the honest members of the blogoshpere healthy...it takes a mighty big pair to trot ideas out for everyone to see and attack...something the LLM has isolated itself from.

Hats off and much gratitude to every blogger with the guts to do this important work. When I can, I will definitely be making my info dollars go to bloggers.

Posted by: Joan of Argghh! on September 27, 2004 11:33 AM

He liked the article because Reynolds likes Wonkette for some reason. He's a major reason she picked up the traffic she did.

Why? Two options.

1. He likes to show he is politically broad-minded and he does this by linking to leftists even if they are rather silly and worthless. See the case of one Oliver Willis.

2. He likes big jugs. Again, see the case of Oliver Willis.

Posted by: Jer on September 27, 2004 02:36 PM

poker me up

Posted by: poker me up on December 30, 2004 04:24 PM

Amazon.com Widgets

Now Available!
The Deplorable Gourmet
A Horde-sourced Cookbook
[All profits go to charity]

Top Headlines

Some Invisible Man costumes (which I hope aren't just AI):
An invisible man with a missing body (I assume the real person is *behind* the costume;
A kid in the same kind of costume, put together by his mom;
another invisible man;
and another great Invisible Man costume, my favorite.

Email confirmed as once used by the Muskily Heterosexual James Talarico found in leak of emails of Fling.com sex dating site:

An email address that James Talarico's attorneys confirmed belonged to and was at one time used by the Texas Democratic U.S. Senate candidate appears in a database search result associated with the adult dating website Fling.com's 2011 data breach. A Fling.com account was created with Talarico's email address just before Talarico began teaching sixth graders.

The result lists the username "mohawk787" and an account creation timestamp of December 26, 2010, at 20:56:49. The profile's interests field lists "FETISH," "GROUPSEX," "SEXUAL RELATIONS," "ONLINE FLIRTING," and "OTHER."

Townhall shared the information described in this article with the Talarico campaign and requested comment Friday morning, and in response, a mere 35 minutes later, received a four-page, detailed letter from legal counsel for Talarico that addressed some, but not all of the information described in this report.

"Well I can't believe the trans-child-obsessed Confirmed Bachelor James Talarico is into group fetish shit," said noted void phantom Doctor Nullity, The Man Who Never Existed

I'm not the guy who noted this, I saw it on X (Razib Khan maybe), but The Bulwark could be "audience capture". It might have started as the Frum / 90s-Kristol / NRO classic Eisenhower Republicanism. But nobody was reading the Bulwark except leftists.

Tallyrand has a quote on this, "I am their leader so I must follow them".

Same goes for David French, Christianity Today, and the "Anxious Bench" side of Patheos. They may have started out Christian. But it wasn't Christians signing their checks.

Posted by: 88C+u at

Some researchers think the enigmatic and unreadable cipher of the Voynich Manuscript has resisted decipherment because the pages were bound in the wrong order, and putting them in the right order might allow them to finally break the code
But as of now: No Joy
It occurs to me that a key step in breaking the Zodiac 340 cipher was putting the three parts of it in the correct order.

Flashback: "trans man" Lawyer freaks out after a judge denies "his" motion. He's ultimately arrested. "He" makes so much drama he was just recruited to develop a new CW show.
I'm just wondering if this flighty high-calorie pyrsyn is also in the news today for other reasons....
Update: No, it's not. Zee/Zem says they's name is like "Rob Hopkins" or something.
Story here, courtesy of The Blade

Buck Throckmorton on The Continuing Crisis (American Spectator) podcast discusses prediction markets.
[CBD]

Forgotten 80s Mystery Click

[Song title]
Don't breathe down my neck, no
I got no trophies on display
I sign them away
I mean what the heck
All of your promises
Don't fill me with pride no
I just wanna get out on the floor
And do the Cuban slide, slide, slide, slide

From Anonosaurus Wrecks:

@NBCNews

Although Brazil's presidential election took place more than 4,000 miles away, the baseless conspiracy theory that it was stolen raced through the American right-wing media.

Podcast: The Brazil and Israel elections, the evil left, and more!

John Kass retires
He's great. He'll be missed.

Lieutenant Chekov surrenders the helm at age 90

SpaceX launch scheduled for 6:28 Eastern/3:28 Pacific
Via Joyenz

Podcast: Corporate GOP is scum, Paris is burning, Omar is not a political prosecution, elections! and Slotkin says the quiet part out loud!

Supreme Court to hear arguments on 160-year-ban on home distilleries
It's about time they took on an important case! [CBD]

We call on France to exercise restraint when dispersing the freedom fighters on the streets of Paris. These brave warriors for justice must receive immediate humanitarian aid, and their safety must be guaranteed in accordance with international law. Failure to comply will leave us no choice but to bring a case before the ICJ, in close cooperation with that renowned champion of human rights, Afghanistan.

-- Israel War Room
[CBD]

Forgotten 80s Mystery Click: Garrett's Sus iPod Edition
Everybody wants you
Everybody wants your love
I'd just like to make you mine, all mine
Just imagine he's singing that to a dude.
BTW I thought this was a completely different band from Garrett's Sus iPod, the Bay City Rollers.

TJM discusses the history of Hammer Films

Podcast: The Nobel Peace Prize farce, Ilhan Omar in hot water, Talarico's disappearance, Guilfoyle is a crook, Should Nidal's execution be streamed, Bugs Bunny, and more!

Shane Gillis tells a mildly amusing joke; the feminazis and their gay best friends freak out! [CBD]

Our very own "Weasel" has won the Nobel Prize For Physics:

A Rigorous Investigation into the Quasi-Static Equilibration of Shoulder-Fired Ballistic Platforms: Rear-Bag-Mediated Suppression of Angular Perturbations and Its Implications for Sub-MOA Precision.

[CBD]