Newspaper surrenders to humorless nutroots; Editor and Publisher writer gloats
So, not only are we not allowed to make fun of Barack Obama, but it appears that liberals in the media have also made ridiculing the left-wing blogosphere off-limits.
Via Free Republic and Newsbusters comes news that the Austin American Statesman has caved into nutroots pressure to yank a front-page feature poking gentle fun at the Netroots Nation/Kossack blog convention last week. Who led the charge to censor the piece? Editor and Publisher’s Greg Mitchell, who whined about the article in a blog post at the Daily Kos (!) and then gloated about his role in yanking of the “snarky” article in E&P.
Kristinn Taylor at FR writes:
The Austin American-Statesman caved to pressure from the Daily Kos-Netroots Nation and pulled an article from the newspaper’s website that poked fun at the liberal convention being held in Austin last weekend.
The article, entitled Gore’s Surprise Visit Highlights Netroots Conference was published on the front page of Sunday’s paper.
It was written by feature writer, Patrick Beach–meaning the article was not a straight news piece (think Dana Milbank.)
Greg Mitchell, a writer for Editor & Publisher who blogs at the Daily Kos attended the conference as a panel speaker.
He brought attention to the article by posting about it [at] the Daily Kos. Mitchell says that Austin Kossacks claiming to know people at the American-Statesman promised to “work their magic” on the paper.
By Monday the article was pulled from the American-Statesman’s website, with the message: “The page you’ve requested is not available.”
The newspaper’s groveling apologia for daring to mock the un-mock-able is here.
Our front-page story Sunday about the Netroots Nation convention included doses of irony and exaggeration. It made assertions (that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might find herself at home politically in Beijing, for example) and characterizations (”marauding liberals” was one) meant to amuse. For many readers, we failed.
In trying for a humorous take on the Netroots phenomenon without labeling it something other than a straightforward news story, we compromised our standards.
— Fred Zipp, editor
The Forbidden Piece by feature writer Patrick Beach is still cached here. A taste:
There was even one panel Friday featuring Princeton economics professor and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman (wearing, as if to galvanize stereotype, what appeared to be Birkenstocks) that was essentially about how the media weren’t liberal enough.
As they say, only in Austin.
Filmmaker Paul Stekler, who teaches film production and politics at the University of Texas, said:”As you have greater democratization (through the use of technology to distribute one’s message), you also have a greater degree of what’s called confirmation bias. We live in a very different and weird world in terms of dissemination of information right now.”
Indeed, you couldn’t find anybody who disagreed that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were “two ignoramuses,” a label hurled by Parag Mehta, the Democratic National Committee’s director of training.
Big names? Got ‘em. There was Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, founder of the Daily Kos political blog, who hatched the idea a few years ago to get his like-minded pals together and who, in a Friday lunchtime keynote with Harold Ford Jr., chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, seemed amazed at what the notion had unleashed.
“We’re going to keep growing; we’re going to keep pushing for an unapologetic Democratic Party,” Moulitsas said.
Then there was John Dean, the former Nixon White House counsel who has made a second career of railing against what he considers right-wing excesses the way recovering alcoholics preach against strong drink.
“I have deep fear of my former tribe, and what they might do particularly in the law,” Dean said, before going on to refer to former Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani as “Richard Nixon on crystal meth.”
It’s plinking bass in a barrel to paint liberals as overly intellectual types incapable of having fun unless reading Noam Chomsky counts, and it sure does for them. And there were a handful of colorful characters, including some men from Cedar Creek who looked like bikers and represented the Warrior Wolf Society, which they described as “a group of pagan warriors with wolf totem spirit,” and a guy in a Bush mask and clothing with prison stripes.
But for the most part, these were serious-minded people, and decorum prevailed.
When a few people had the temerity to shout at Pelosi and Gore, they got shushed as mercilessly as they would have at a Nanci Griffith concert.
The no fun thing? Maybe it’s because, as Democrats, they’re not used to having it.
Hit the nail on the head. And we can’t have that.
Shusssshhhhhh.
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Well, the title of the paper has one thing correct: it is in Austin. As for American or Statesman, well…
When a paper caves like this, it stops being a “news”paper and becomes an opinion rag or enthusiast’s magazine rather than anything remotely resembling an objective newspaper.
Apologize? I was thinking more of a guilty plea.
If they were actually intellectuals, I wouldn’t have to worry about them. The Chomsky thing is on the mark though.
AH, the Democratic Party. The party of tolerance, diversity and free expression. You may openly mock anyone who is an oppressor of the people. Oops, unless, of course, it’s directed at themselves.
There … fixed it …
So that’s what they are “teaching” in journalism school nowadays.
Explains a lot.
Reader: “That was a great satirical article in the Austin American-Statesman.”
Fred Zipp: “What article in the Statesman?”
Reader: “You know, the one in your paper about the Nutroots convention in Austin.”
Fred Zipp: “You didn’t see any article in the Statesman.”
Reader: “Of course, I did. I read it just the other day.”
Fred Zipp: “You must be mistaken. We would never print a humorous take on the Netroots phenomenon to amuse our readers.”
Reader: “But…”
Fred Zipp: “No. You are mistaken.”
Reader: “But…”
Fred Zipp: “Now, on your way.”
Reader: “Uh,….okay. But,…”
Fred Zipp: “No more “buts”. Now, on your way and say three Hail the Netroots Nation and your transgressions may be forgiven.”
Truth hurts.
Fun is bad for the environment and a chief contributor to global warming.
And may I assume they derive this Authority to Forgive from His Messiahship Obama? As His Messiahship Obama met with Woodrow Wilson and Adali Stevenson atop the mountain of ….
His role is defined. No, not that one; the talking Ass.
WHOA, next thing we know the words fair and balanced will be removed from our dictionaries.
Sounds a lot like pre-World War II stuff to me. hmmmmmmmm Did they burn any books, or just newpapers?
And they call us fascists.
The hypocrite mantra.
The Anti-American Spacebeing was founded as a Democrat Party propaganda piece, and its editorial page and management have long been in the tank for the moonbat Left.
Yah…having a complete stranglehold on every piece of information disseminated was working fine for the MSM. Now- not so much, huh? I hate it when that happens.
Liberal brownshirts.
Ah, but I’m being redundant.
After reading this article, I can’t wait to see lgm’s completely unrelated, totally predictable equivocation response – I’m sure it will be priceless!
Will they put Kos on the cover of the New Yorker?
“liberals as overly intellectual”
Does…not…compute…bzzt…pffft…
Quick – reboot or your system will crash!
They wouldn’t have to do a caricature.
Can’t lawyers do something? Sue everybody?
Never criticize the commissars. NEVER! Your head will end up on a platter. Goes to show you what “progressive” Democrats will do when they take the reigns of power in this country. Democracy is merely a tool to take control of the country. Once they do take control, Chavez consolidation methods will fully entrench them. It’s the same Marxist MO they’ve employed since the ’20s. Real people will really disappear then. An obamanation…..
Just wait, they also want to enforce the “fairness” doctrine.
I am such a prankster. I wrote to Sen. Durbin and told him my opinion of the ‘fairness doctrine’ and that I expect him to be against it also.
Is that a riot or what? ROFLMAO
hmmmmm, now that I think about it, his answer was not as amusing.
BUT BUT the netroots basicaly mock themselves…
The liberal hypocrite mantra, that is.
I think it’s interesting that for years liberals mocked the Moral Majority and related religious right groups as uptight stuffed shirts with no sense of humor and no ability to tolerate anyone poking fun at them.
It seems we now have a major case of pot and kettle …
And they continue to fail to see the irony in their actions – silencing those that disagree with them, the exact opposite of the liberal mantra of having the freedom of speech – because it apparently only applies to liberals. Hello Orwell’s 1984.. we are all equal, but liberals are more equal than others apparently.
The First Amendment only applies if the left agrees with what you say/write.
Data point 5,256,985 proving the adage, “Scratch a liberal, find a fascist.”
err.. Animal Farm, sorry.
I followed some of the Nutroots’ blogs on the Netroots Nation story, and their reports were not all that positive either. Take the left-wing Afrosphere blog, Jack & Jill Politics for one example:
Why Karl Rove Should Go To Jail
This BIG important convention had as one of its topics – “Why Karl Rove Should Go To Jail”!?! Er…OK. Here’s one that reflects another example of what the convention was like:
The Debate That Wasn’t – Smells like Bullshyt. They hate Harold Ford, referring to him as the “Dark Sith”.
LOL I gotta agree with that one.
Don’t poke fun. they want to enforce. Get it!
You can spot the future liberal early in childhood: he or she is the one wailing in the back seat of the car:
“Mommy! He hit me back! Waaaah!!”
Eggshells armed with hammers. Pathetic and disgusting in equal measure.
As a member of the Austin, Texas community, I can say wholeheartedly that I hate the Statesman and that it is nothing but a piece of worthless garbage. I keep my subscription for the comics. If you read it for a couple of weeks straight, a bizarre pattern starts to erupt. They’ll have about four of what I like to think are “Liberal Days” followed by one “Conservative Day” and then repeat. It’s a bit absurd but it is Austin after all.
Who does this remind you of…? Who else tries to censor all ridicule of themselves? Oh, now I remember. It seems the Party of Peace and the Religion of Peace have a lot in common. Liberals even have their own version of Islamic Rage Boy. You can see Liberal Rage Boy here.
UPDATE: the full article is back online, just below Zipp’s apology.
And Mitchell has added to his E&P article an email from Beach’s wife, telling him basically to lighten up.
If I remember correctly M. Greg Mitchell has knotted his knickers before over vicious behavior by the right wing attack squads. It was noted at the time, that the Editor of Editor and Publisher had been acting contrary to the remit of his position. He’s basically acting IAW his previous behavior.
Cheers
JMH