60 Minutes: In The Tank
We fancy ourselves as media critics from time-to-time, which is why we were curious whether or not our assessment of President Barack Obama’s big Oval Office exclusive with CBS’ 60 Minutes would be shared by the people who actually criticize the press for a living.
First, what was our assessment?
Well, we felt that – like the rest of the MSM – 60 Minutes was completely in the tank for Obama last night. So much so that the President probably should have cut the network a campaign check for an hour of commercial air time.
And it looks like we’re not alone.
David Zurawick, one of America’s preeminent media critics, had this to say in his “Z on TV” column in the Baltimore Sun:
If anybody was wondering why Barack Obama chose 60 Minutes as the one news outlet for an interview on his buy-my-economic-proposals-please TV tour, they got their answer Sunday night: Beyond the 16 million viewers who tune in each week, correspondent Steve Kroft played it safe and soft with the President, much as he had done during the election last year …
… The TV technique that allows Kroft to ask soft questions and still look like he did a tough interview, is a smart one: Kroft almost never smiles – even when the person he is interviewing tries to elicit one with his or her smile. Kroft remained stone-faced during the Obama interview Sunday, and it lent a seriousness of purpose to the conversation …
… Steve Kroft is a fine correspondent, and 60 Minutes is one of the great journalistic institutions of this country. They can both do better than this.
You know, we get a lot of criticism about our brand of reporting.
In fact, there are people who literally stalk this website 24/7 to criticize us.
But we make no bones about where we’re coming from – which is straight up “Unfair. Imbalanced.” On the other hand, 60 Minutes is one of those MSM edifices that likes to hide behind its aura of professionalism and impartiality.
Whatever.
They “professionally” performed journalistic fellatio on the President of the United States last night.
Comments
By Mab on March 23rd, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Just stick with Anti-O news sources. Like El Rushbo.
There is a guy named Mark Steyn filling in today. He is awesome, and has a very-smart-sounding accent.
The few minutes I caught, he was asking WHY ON EARTH a town of 6,000 in South Carolina has to call 1-800-OBAMA to fix some peeling paint and dripping ceilings.
Too Funny!