BuzzFlash's Media Putz Of The Week

The folks at BuzzFlash check in today with their Media Putz of the week, "for reporting that is an embarrassment to the profession of journalism, and for being beholden to corporate paymasters rather than the citizens of America."

This week, the award goes to CNN's Candy Crowley for what is one of the big problems affecting the media today: The rejection of any responsibility whatsoever for vetting truth and robotically giving "both sides" of every story -- even if one side is patently absurd or an obvious lie. BuzzFlash specifically refers to a recent broadcast in which Crowley was asked to weigh both sides of the lying accusations cast by both the Obama and McCain campaigns.

"I'm not going to be the one to tell you whether it's equal or not. I honestly think that voters need to be out there," said Crowley which, while true in the most absolute sense, totally abdicated her responsibility as a news reporter to tell what's already been proven.

BuzzFlash goes on to rip Crowley for then distorting the argument against the Obama-Biden campaign by leaning heavily on Obama in an attempt to be "balanced" -- even though most political observers have called the McCain lie-fest against Obama almost entirely one-sided.

Here's BuzzFlash:

Sadly, too many voters get too much information from TV news, especially the cable news outlets. And unlike the regular pundits whose agendas are obvious, average observers of the campaign are more likely to believe someone such as Crowley, who doesn't outwardly have any ax to grind.

But distortions and outright deception is part of why campaigns are closer (i.e., more revenue for cable TV news outlets since more people would tune in if it was close) than they should be.

It's bad enough that a seasoned reporter/analyst can't give legitimate details based on fact. It's worse when that person then turns around and accuses the other side of lies when not one falsehood example is listed.

If a TV weatherperson came on the air and said skies are sunny with no clouds when it was raining, credibility wouldn't last too long. Well, Candy Crowley, we see it's raining McCain lies no matter how sunny you might think it is..

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