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And the media corporations themselves are a part of the "business" world.

As opposed to being owned by the state, I imagine. No pressure there, no siree.

Boy, is she going to be in for a rude awakening.

There was just another study done on which way the media leans, I think from UCLA - haven't these people ever heard of google or research?

Oh, wait................

If only the NYT would stifle where national security is concerned......

Fascism is always descending on America but seems to land in Europe.............

Pamula, the real joke is that in Germany, about 30% of the press is owned by the Socialsts..er.. the SPD. How's that for guaranteeing objectivity?

Thousands of Americans died freeing western Europe from Hitler, Austria's native son, so Austria has no moral authority, as far as this American is concerned.

Does Ms. C-K provide one example of intimidation?

Yes, some reporters have lost their jobs, like Dan Rather, but that had a lot more to do with bad ratings than bad journalism.

And, of course, Judith Miller. But, she was sacked by the NYT, not by the Bush administration.

Niko,

You forgot to mention in your summary that all the world's great 'ism's have come from the heart of EUSSR too.

Well, I have to concede that this isn't exactly untrue; the media is under increased pressure from "the right". "The right" had 30 or so years of being marginalized, mischaracterized, and malrepresented by the MSM, and it's over. The liberal media can't so successfully present the right's position as being whatever will make the left's look best now, because the right can present its own case to the larger public. They now have to at least throw a token nod at the possibility that there's a valid alternative point of view to their own, that they may mot be the ultimate arbiters of truth. They now know that they can't relegate hordes of click guerillas and pajamhadin to non-existance by pretending that it's so, and the liberal establishment hates this like Gollum hates Bilbo. So yes, they're absolutely under pressure, and I say "more, and faster please."

And because of the President and his scheming corporate pals, American media have come under unparalleled "pressure" to censor themselves, refrain from criticizing the government, ignore topics involving the rest of the world and avoid domestic "social" issues such as single, homeless, oppressed, depressed, drug-addicted mothers.

You need to translate that out of medienese to truly understand the complaint:
Unparalleled pressure = audience demand
Censor themselves = don't speak irresponsibly
Refrain from criticism = make supportable allegations
Ignore the rest of the world = spend column space to defend what didn't need defending when we ruled unchallenged
Avoid "social issues" = avert risk of having the Marxist framework underlying "social issues" stories exposed to debate

Top it off with the fear that this could "infect" Europe - NOW it's much easier to understand, yes? She laments that her charade may have just about run its course.

Scout,
>>about 30% of the press is owned by the Socialsts

Yeah, I know. About a year or so ago, Medienkritik posters gave me a thorough education on why Rupert Murdoch could not get a media outlet started in Germany.

I would like to ask a question of those living in Germany - or Austria, wherever. Do people in those countries really have no access to U.S. media? Would some of her assertions not be hooted down simply by virtue of Europeans' experience with U.S. media?

I got such a kick out of this.......

>>"Experience teaches us that what happens today in the USA will happen tomorrow in Europe."

Yeah. Like someday your audience will fact-check your ass.

But not to worry. The soft totalitarianism of the EU will protect you.

There's a skirmish going on between the WaPo and blogger Bill Roggio who was profiled - or a better term "hit piece" in the WaPo and they got a few things wrong and refuse to correct:

Via Instapundit:

UPDATE: Some related thoughts from Frank Wilson:

I have myself heard in the newsroom comments about blogs that actually did sound, in Michelle Malkin’s phrase, “thoroughly unhinged.”

But it really isn’t blogging in general that bothers the MSM. It’s only the political blogs. The MSM doesn’t care about lit blogs or cooking blogs or knitting blogs — or even tech blogs or science blogs (except to the extent they might be useful in advancing some editorial viewpoint).

Blogs have challenged the MSM’s self-designated right to shape political debate by choosing what to cover and how to cover it. The MSM claims it has resources not available to bloggers — and it does. So how explain the disparity between what was reported in the papers and on TV during Hurricane Katrina and what we have since determined was actually the case? This was, after all, the demonstration case for the superiority of the MSM.


NR link:

http://nationalreview.com/comment/roggio200601031233.asp

---

Barbara hears the footsteps.

Those who visit here - especially Europeans who might want to visit the American blogosphere for the free flow of info which the MSM is deathly afraid of -- might also want to visit Pajamas Media - more footsteps.

And I have no doubt coming to Europe, hopefully in time to give you more lively, thought-provoking conversations.

After all, News is a conversation - Jeff Jarvis - buzzmachine.

Maybe we should all chip in and treat her to a subscription to The Nation. It would make her feel so much better. I heard Katrina vanden Heuvel, the publisher of that magazine, speaking on the radio. It sounded like she was reading bumper stickers in Cambridge, Massachusetts. To Ms. Coudenhove-Kalergi, this drivel would sound fresh, original, and profound. Hearing your own opinions presented to you as wisdom is like smelling your own farts – no matter how offensive, it is never as bad as smelling (or hearing) anyone else's.

I'll differ slightly with Ray's claim that US major daily newspapers and network news are losing share because of their bias. They're both facing extinction due to obsolescence. I'm not at all convinced that bias is hastening is hastening their demise. It may be that the increasingly shrill bias is helping them to retain their remaining readers/viewers until they pass away. I've not seen any data either way on this point, but when you have a dying product, maximizing current customer retention becomes the most important objective.

That's why I find Fr. Coudenhove-Kalergi's profundity about what happens in the US happening in Europe to be an interesting statement. I'm curious as to how far down the road to extinction newspapers and network news are in Europe. My impression is that that the same trend is occurring, although it's not as far along in Europe. Of course, European network news organizations can undoubtedly count on decades of coerced support from European taxpayers. But as an example, I do recall one of the Berlin dailies, I believe Der Tagesspiegel, a few years ago begging for someone, anyone to buy them and keep them afloat. So I do agree with Fr. Coudenhove-Kalergi's observation, although I doubt she would be pleased to know that.

That article from "Der Standard" is simply pathetic but so par for the course.

This quote caught my interest, "The New York Times has 60 reporters for the "business" section...."

Last time I checked, the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange are located in NY....

On, the Great Defender of the House of Habsburg has spoken.

Go and look into the face of aristocratic rule. :-)

>>"On, the Great Defender of the House of Habsburg has spoken."

Nice pickup, FranzisM. By the way, just out of idle curiosity, what's the penalty for lese-majeste in Austria these days?

EU = Holy Roman Empire redux? Everything is much clearer now.

For over a century, American journalism was and is the unattained model for all European media people...

I think the European msm has done a damned good job of becoming what the American msm has been for a couple of decades...and it has little to do with journalism.

EU = Holy Roman Empire = Heiliges Römisches Reich?

NOO!!!

EU = SCHEINHeiliges Römisches Reich

-- I heard Katrina vanden Heuvel,--

A little explanation -

Limousine liberal trustafarian.

Lots of money, little contact w/the little people, heapload of white guilt, but not enough to give away most of her money.

Ever notice that????

Ambrose, I don't watch the big free 3 or CNN, too biased, why throw things at the TV?

Pam, just to expand on Niko's comments, Fox News can be received on sat (I believe from a British provider---I think you'll be able to buy ice cream in hell before Fox News is available in a German cable package). IMO CNN Europe is even further left than CNN in America.

As far as printed media goes, you get NYT, USA Today, Wallstreet Journal, and maybe a few others. But, when it comes to political books, don't expect to find anything on the bookshelves that portrays the Bush administration in a positive light...I've been searching for a couple of years now (thank god for the internet and Amazon). It's as if the people who select the books to be sold here used a "liberal best seller list" as their reference.

Pamela,

One of the points of interest here is the CNN tour.

During the tour, you come upon a section about Ted. You can watch all the channels he started except CNN (I). When asked about this you should see the CNN PR people tap dance.

In addition to not being able to see it during the tour, there is no source for it in the US. It is not licensed to any cable or satellite carrier. It truly is a non-US only channel.

There is a very good reason for this. It is a bit to the left of the BBC on coverage of the US. In fact, some of the more interesting anodal evidence of this is when you are able to catch the same CNN story in an airport outside the US and then pick up coverage again when you land. It truly is amazing in how it is presented.

CNN(I) would make Aljazeera proud. This is why at the end of the day CNN made the decision to toss Eason Jordan over the side for his comments at Davos. CNN could not stand the spotlight of the American people focusing on them and by extension Time Warner.

The bottom line is yes much of the world gets CNN(I) but it is not anymore of a reflection of reality than what the BBC and Algazeera fill the air with. This is part of the reason so many things seem to surprise non-Americans about America and Americans.

Joe, my cable provider does give us CNN Europe. What a hoot! I don't watch it too often - horse races in Romania or something don't hold my interest much. We also get MHZ & BBC and every evening around 7 pm I watch the French newscast Le Journal on MHZ. I expect them all to announce the imminent impeachment of Bush any day now.

Interesting perspective on the Eason Jordon flap. So close upon the heels of Dan rather & Jason Blair, I just figured CNN didn't want to play in that sandbox.

Some of us here have begun to notice problems with Border's bookstores. Conservative titles can't be found or if they can, they're on the floor in boxes, etc. I had a problem at Barnes & Noble also. The clerk told me the title I was looking for 'Eurabia' wasn't in the database. I couldn't see the monitor. I hung around, found another clerk. The book was in the database, listed first, actually, since it is the most recently published by the author. The first clerk just didn't want me to have it. She wasn't a happy camper when I hauled her in front of the manager - who happened to be the 2nd clerk.

In fact, some of the more interesting anodal evidence of this is when you are able to catch the same CNN story in an airport outside the US and then pick up coverage again when you land. It truly is amazing in how it is presented.

Exactly joe! I've had a very similar experience when I visited my family in Colorado last September. I caught some coverage of CNN (US) for the first time in years at the airport. I had to look twice, to make sure I wasn't watching Fox News (of course, relative to CNNI).

Hi -

As an American married to an Austrian, who spends several weeks a year in Austria, who models the supply side (160 industrial sectors) of the Austrian economy, and who subscribed to the Standard for almost 6 years, I think I can provide *some* insight into what is going on here.

First of all, the Standard is indeed the highest quality newspaper in Austria. There are others with higher circulation, but they all share party affiliations that severely color even their basic reporting: they are nothing better than party rags, and fairly bad ones at that. You can discount most Austrian newspapers as being on par with the smaller regional newspapers in the US, at best. At very best.

That said, the Standard has gone through significant changes over time. When I first started forecasting Austria, it had just started up and provided a refreshing change from the other papers, since there wasn't a political agenda being pushed. What editorializing there was was directed largely at domestic concerns, and they were generally receptive to at least report objectively on US affairs, largely in a typically Austrian sort of bemused perplexity about how strange the Americans could be.

Subtly, over the last four years, things have changed. What started the change?

Of course, Sep. 11th.

The journalists working for the Standard did an adequate job covering the Austrian reaction to 9/11, but had a fatal expectation: they expected the US to roll over and behave like Europeans. There is at least one editor there - Eric Frey - who is, bluntly, a man who has built his career on being Anti-American. He has published a "Black Book" on the purported crimes of the US. He was born in 1963 in Vienna, has an MA in International Affairs from Princeton and is the head of Der Standard and the Austrian correspondent for the Financial Times and the Economist.

But no less than Jeff Gedmin has described him as "Michael Moore with footnotes": he's the Austrian version of Noam Chomsky without the linguistics, equally unable to think for himself, but instead relying on dogma and sheer chutzpah to argue sophistically that white is black and black is white.

I remember how Frey started at Der Standard: someone who spent many years in the US, even taught at the University of New Orleans, yet all he knew were the standardized cliches that we all know so well. There were too many editorials with too much shaving of the truth: he almost got it right, but usually missed the point, and has been not only intellectually dishonest, but has also gotten the facts simply wrong too many times to deserve his reputation as "Amerika-Kenner" that he enjoys in Austria.

You need to understand the insularity of Vienna within Austria to understand what is going on there. Austria is a small country - 8 mn and declining - and over 1 mn live in Vienna, which is the only big city in the whole country. Anyone who wants to become anyone in Austria must spend time in Vienna, and the whole country is very conscious of social standing, one of the negative inheritances of the Austro-Hungarian empire (the Austrians are real freaks when it comes to titles...). Here's a guy who does what no proper Austrian does: he spends time overseas. No proper Austrian does this, since it means that there is something more important than the petty squabbling that passes for intellectual life in Austria. In order to re-enter this, he's gotta have some bonafides, and being Mr. Anti-America is perhaps the best ticket he can punch in order to get back into the good side of Austrian intellectual life after having been away for so long.

And the other Austrians, those who actually want to do something with their lives outside of this parochial world, leave and rarely come back (exception: Frank Stronach, the man behind Magna, who is one of the world's largest automotive parts makers, who came back to Austria in triumph to almost single-handedly build the Austrian automobile industry), and almost always never, ever regret getting the hell out of Dodge (there's a reason why the best hotels on this planet are almost invariably run by Austrians).

So Eric moves up on the publishing world, gets his books published and has his party friends to cover his back. He ends up, by pandering to that base anti-Americanism that makes him so popular, moving up from mere reporter to running the paper. And there are other changes: Gudrun Harrer comes along, who has a degree in Islam studies from the Uni Wien and loves to go on about how fascinating Iran is and what a terrible idea the Iraq war was, and who personifies for me the dangers of losing objectivity and loving the idea of multi-culti whilst ignoring the problems (she actually thinks that Muslims are well integrated into Austrian society: 'nuff said). Only Hans Rauscher actually thinks before putting words down on paper, and he's largely been marginalized.

But more fundamentally what changed were the comments to the articles. I read them regularly on-line, and more often than not you'd think they're translated from Democratic Underground, or Kos. And that has ruined the paper for me: you can't argue with true believers who are completely and totally incapable of doing basic research.

At that point I stopped subscribing. I still read the online version each and evey day, since it has to do with my job, but I stopped paying them money to read their clueless opinions.

And if you take a close look at what C-K is actually saying, you can see the false pride and conceit: she is claiming the mantle of good, critical journalism for people like herself and Frey, who in reality are neither critical nor even very good. Frey, C-K and the others that have been grown like Dutch tomatoes (i.e. artificially) are the future of Austrian journalism: purporting to be the real thing, but without any nutritional value and lacking any substance, let alone taste.

Sorry to have gone on for so long, but it needed to be said...

PS: Hans Rauscher is the one to read when reading Der Standard: he regularly infuriates the on-line community there by pointing out the obvious.

I'm post something about him on my blog this evening... take a look at:

http://21stcenturyschizoidman.blogspot.com

:-)

John

"Some of us here have begun to notice problems with Border's bookstores"

In 2004 Borders Union employees were not only "losing" conservative books, they were also "accidentally" damaging them. And they were boasting of it on their Union website. I think those postings got pulled when their antics were reported on Little Green Footballs and in the Wall Street Journal's "Best of the Web" in September 2004.

No surprise that they're still at it. But as you note, management does not like such behavior and will not be kind to such employees.

@John F. Opie

Thanks for the very interesting comment. Seems like the evolution of Der Standard has mimicked that of many larger publications in Germany. Ideals have nothing to do with that evolution. The editors simply discovered that anti-Americanism sells. The fact that C-K didn't put any original thought into her article is obvious if you read the original article by Massing. On the other hand, her choice of which "study" to parrot shows she is very well aware of her editor's agenda when it comes to America.

@John F. Opie,

Is this one of the newspapers which get a government subsidy?

I know there are many which do.

John Opie
>>Sorry to have gone on for so long, but it needed to be said...

You, Sir, may go on as long as you like. That is fasciniathing stuff. Your blog is bookmarked.

Note to David and Ray: HIre him - or something.

Joe, I can get CNNI on DISH.

I just don't watch it.

If you guys really want to be radical, start listening to US talk radio over the net.

wlsam.com, you can hear Rush from 11-2 CST.

I don't know if 560 (WIND, I think) can broadcast over the net, but Michael Medved has such thought-provoking guests, love his show. Google him and you'll probably be able to link via 1 of the radio stations.

There's also the Hugh Hewitt show, Dennis Prager, and loads of others if you want to be subversive.

Laura Ingles, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, G. Gordon Liddy and Neal Boortz to name a few more. Some of them want you to pay a subscription, some let you listen free but only live when they air, and a few might still loop the show around the clock (several used to, but this seems to be falling out of favor). Check their web sites.

If you guys really want to be radical, start listening to US talk radio over the net.

I've been radical for a few years now. :-)

WABC out of NY has an excellent talk radio line-up starting at 6pm CET...Rush, Sean, Mark Levin, Drudge, Laura Ingraham, and others. You can listen through the entire night if you can't get enough.

850 KOA out of Colorado runs Rush 2 hours later for those who get home from work a little later.

While we are all plugging our favorite talk radio hosts, allow me to plug my favorite little known conservative network.

http://rightalk.com

They offer very in depth original programming on five channels, offer about two dozen shows. There probably is something for everybody there. Shows are also offered as downloadable podcasts. Enjoy!

@Helian - "just out of idle curiosity, what's the penalty for lese-majeste in Austria these days?"

You have to read the effusions of Mrs. Coudenhove-Kalergi...

great stuff john!! isnt that what blogs are all about?!!!

newspapers are now nothing but ads and commies. theyre for old boomers to have a feel for yesterday like rotary phones and black and white tv..

the left is slowly turning into a desert island in the middle of a sea of conservatives. ooooh well!!;)

typical european extortion politics. they leave yo with two choices; live under the boot or kill innocents with collateral damage they can blame on you. all the while feathering their nests with euros.

whores.

we are in the model "a" era of the computer after the model "t" era has passed. they know its over, soon they will all get their "lifetime achievement" awards and be put out in the pasture. as very new innovation from america hits their little orts they will be more mortified and contorted. soo what!!

i'd rather hear what a capitalist from syria india mozambique has to say than any effing eurosnob.

jurassic park was based on a european mountain range right? great job you all. inspiring!!


@Niko: The really sad thing is, apparently the influence of post-modern journalism (or maybe I should call it "post-logic" journalism) is so pervasive that it succeeds in corrupting even people in technical publications who, because of the fields they are connected to, ought to know better. I was a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for over a decade. But I dropped my membership in 1998 in protest over the moonbattization of their flagship magazine, Spectrum. Once upon a time, Spectrum was a great roundup of everthing that was happening in electronics and computers. But right after Clinton won his first term, they changed their tone: they started lecturing their audience about "social responsibilities" and the supposed evil technologies that IEEE members were creating. Then, a few years later, they fell head-over-heels in love with electric cars, and started working up articles attempting to shame every engineer who didn't buy a GM EV1.

And the same sort of thing has happened to Scientific American. Once it was a fine magazine covering current science in a way that was not too academic, but still rigorously fact-based. But the moment Martin Gardner left, the whole thing went to hell. Now the rag is one of the leading global-warming and "suburban sprawl" alarmists. I don't know what it is about recieving a writing assignment for a magazine that turns even good technical people into apologists for Marx, but inevitabily it does.

There are two amazingly positive news items this week.

First, Fox did their anual poll to find out "Who the most admired man in America" was. George Bush is #1. Bill Clinton is #2.

They did a separate poll for "most admired women." The order, 1 through 3, was Hillary Clinton, Operah, and Condi Rice.

The Second great news, (cause for Americans to gloat), the U.S. unemployment rate went down past 5% to 4.9%.

I checked Die Welt, Stern, Spon and Focus for any references to these two great stories. The crickets are chirping!

Hi -

Sorry, got delayed.

I've got a brief comment now up at

http://21stcenturyschizoidman.blogspot.com/2006/01/small-detour-in-austria.html

on Rauscher with a couple of small links.

Thanks everyone for their kind comments to my comment... :-)

Happy belated new Year, everyone!

And no: Der Standard doesn't get a government subsidy, it's one of the very, very few that don't.

And Cousin Dave: I, too, used to be a member of IEEE, but dropped it because my job changed. I didn't like the preaching, though...

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