Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “The Fourth Estate (Kinda)”

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May 23, 2013

The Fourth Estate (Kinda)

Hatched by Korso

Remember Larry Conners, that local reporter in St. Louis who hammered Barack Obama in an interview and then later found himself with all kinds of IRS troubles? Well, it seems that he's been fired by the station where he worked:

KMOV announced Conners' firing with a statement posted about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday on its website.
"We regret to announce that Larry Conners is no longer a KMOV news reporter," president and general manager Mark Pimentel said in the statement.

Ostensibly, Conners was let go for making political statements in a Facebook post that questioned whether his sudden appearance on the IRS radar might have been punishment for treating the president without kid gloves -- understandable, given recent events. But while it is within KMOV management's rights to hire and fire whomever they please, using this as an excuse to slap the bias label on a reporter is a stretch that would make even Reed Richards think twice.

There was a time when a news outlet would stand by its reporters in the face of political pressure. More than that, they would have been proud to do it, and would make damned sure that the rest of the world knew what was going on. KMOV, however -- in true Soviet fashion -- prepared an apology for Conners to read on air and forced him to read it verbatim. Then they canned him anyway. That's what passes for speaking truth to power these days: I fought the lawless, and the lawless won.

If KMOV management doesn't realize how bad this all looks, I'd venture that they sport about the same level of competence Weird Al Yankovic demonstrated in UHF -- with the exception that Al managed to boost ratings. KMOV, on the other hand, has shown itself to be emblematic of what the rest of the MSM have become: craven, sclerotic shells of their former selves, waxing on about the glory days of Watergate but having no stomach to pursue the Big Story now -- at least not when the scandals land at the feet of "their guys" in Washington. There's nothing quite so sad as a gelding who can't realize he's no longer a stallion.

On the bright side, the IRS can console itself with the knowledge that it isn't alone when it comes to corruption. In that, the MSM are coming up fast: two great fakes that fake great together. Should be interesting to watch them throw down.

Hatched by Korso on this day, May 23, 2013, at the time of 7:15 AM

Comments

The following hissed in response by: brotio

KOA radio Denver's Mike Rosen has coined the term "Dominant Liberal Establishment Mass-media" in order to combat the notion that ABC, CBS, NBC, NY Times, et al, are in any way reflective of the mainstream of American political thought. Calling them the "MSM" gives them undue credibility, and marginalizes those of us who disagree with their politics. They do not represent mainstream values. They represent liberalism. From the merely left-of-center of the Washington Post to the Far-Left wackos at MS-NBC, they are all Leftists, and are all agenda-driven.

I expect that after the liberal media gets a good and proper ass-kissing from the Administration, they will resume carrying Obama's water for Him.

The above hissed in response by: brotio at May 23, 2013 10:58 AM