Michelle Malkin » Who’s afraid of Joe the Journalist?

Who’s afraid of Joe the Journalist?

By Michelle Malkin • January 9, 2009 08:38 AM

My syndicated column today looks at the MSM sneering over Joe Wurzelbacher’s trip to Israel sponsored by PJTV, recounts how The Fraternal Order of the Professional Journalist has squandered its own credibility, and exposes how liberal media elites have attempted to shut out conservatives from membership in the journalism club by redefining their craft based on ideological content.

Soon after I filed the column, yet another example of damaged MSM credibility surfaced in the blogosphere. LGF and Bob Owens broke the story of CNN’s broadcast of suspicious Gaza footage featured two pro-Hamas doctors engaging in medical theater of jihad — by faking a bizarre form of CPR on a Palestinian boy who “died.” CNN, which heaped derision on JTP for taking on the role of reporter, has yanked the video. More on one of the jihadi apologist zealots, Dr. Mads Gilbert, at FNC.

Since the CNN cover-up continues, I’m including the damning video clip here:

I repeat: “Who says conservatives don’t do reporting?”

More details on JTP and PJTV here and here. And Howard Mortman rounds up some MSM reax here.

***
Who’s afraid of Joe the Journalist?
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008

If a community organizer can be president and a Saturday Night Live comedian can be a U.S. senator, why can’t a plumber be a reporter?

Joe Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. Joe The Plumber, is headed to Israel to interview ordinary citizens about life in the crosshairs of jihad. He’ll be filing dispatches for conservative Internet video broadcasting site, PJTV.com (to which I also contribute). Predictably, the very idea of a non-credentialed public figure attempting to “do journalism” has catty elite journalists hacking up hairballs.

CNN television anchor Kyra Phillips sneered (in her most objective and professional manner, of course): “Oh, Lord, Joe The Plumber’s got a new gig. It’s got nothing to do with the pipes, it’s got everything to do with Gaza.” After catching her breath during a commercial break, she embellished her teleprompter lines with ad-libbed contempt (something only seasoned professional journalists have experience doing, you see): “Now Joe The Plumber wants to flush out the truth as a war correspondent. I know, there are just no words.”

Still not done trashing the Toledo, Ohio citizen who had the temerity to question Barack Obama’s redistributionist policies, Phillips piled on with more derisive words: “Hey, Joe, what do you know? No, seriously, what do you know?…[H]e says he hopes to air Israelis’ views on the Gaza offensive. Lord, help us. Just want to remind you that Joe the Plumber has no journalism experience. No war zone experience either. But he thinks he’s, quote, ‘pretty well protected by God.’ So, what’s Joe been smoking, drinking?”

What’s he smoking and drinking? Clearly not the same ideological Kool-Aid and liberal fumes that you and your snob colleagues imbibe and inhale, Ms. Phillips. The CNN anchor has some nerve questioning Joe The Plumber’s journalistic credibility when her own cable news network once hired former NYPD Blue actress with zero journalism experience Andrea Thompson to sit in an anchor chair like the one Ms. Phillips occupies.

As to the media hounds now braying at the idea of hiring celebrities for the sake of publicity, which network was it that hired foul-mouthed entertainer with no anchoring experience Kathy Griffin to co-anchor its New Year’s Eve coverage? Oh, yeah: CNN. Griffin teamed up with CNN star Anderson Cooper, whose resume includes stints as a child model, fill-in host for Live with Regis and Kelly, and reality show, “The Mole.”

Who’s afraid of Joe the Journalist? Unlike Ms. Phillips, I do not begrudge anyone an unconventional path to journalism. On the Internet, conservative bloggers with full-time day jobs have done incredible investigative work without a journalism school credit to their names. (See here.) So have independent war correspondents like Michael Totten (blogger) and Michael Yon (Special Forces veteran).

Groupthink, credential fetishism, and the Sorbonne mentality have turned national newsrooms into stale echo chambers. For all its self-aggrandizing paeans to “diversity,” mainstream American journalism remains one of the most intellectually and ideologically monochrome sectors of the public square.

Territorial liberal journalism gurus have attempted to de-legitimize unorthodox practitioners of their trade by redefining “journalism” based on content. If a conservative writer breaks news harmful to their presidential pick or contrary to their world view, it’s a “hit piece,” not investigative reporting. If a conservative website interviews newsmakers or provides original legislative analysis, it’s “propaganda,” not explanatory or expository journalism. Thus, the myth that conservatives don’t “do journalism” persists. By their definition, we never can.

Joe The Plumber’s new gig is an affront to the Fraternal Order of The Professional Journalist because it underscores hard truths: An Ivy League journalism degree does not a truth-teller make. International war broadcasting experience does not a truth-seeker make. Look at Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post fabulist Janet Cooke. Or New York Times fiction writer Jayson Blair. Or Boston Globe fabricators Patricia Smith and Mike Barnicle. Or former CBS News Captain Queeg Dan Rather.

Or closer to the action in Gaza, witness the veteran editors of Reuters photographer Adnan Hajj, who succeeded in peddling Photoshopped images of fake smoke billows and flares over Beirut in 2006 before bloggers blew the whistle.

Or consider the Hamas sympathizers at France 2. The international TV network was forced to apologize this week for its false story on Israel’s military operations. Independent French bloggers showed that France 2 used an old 2005 amateur video of Palestinian casualties from an accidental Hamas truck explosion and passed it off as current footage demonstrating the violence in Gaza. France 2 was the same professional media outlet that aired a bogus September 2000 report blaming the Israeli army for the shooting death of a Palestinian boy, Mohammed al-Dura.

Joe The Plumber-Turned-Reporter can’t do anymore to harm journalistic credibility than the “credible journalists” have already done.

Posted in: Joe The Plumber

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#587998

On January 9th, 2009 at 11:04 pm, eaglehaslanded said:

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/daily-show-joe-aka-go-away-plumber-become

LOL.
#588018

On January 9th, 2009 at 11:51 pm, puhiawa said:

So I should believe Andy Sullivan? Yeah. Trig was Gov Palin baby and her staff did not know it?????????? sheeeeesh
the msm are insane
#588024

On January 10th, 2009 at 12:15 am, Socky said:

I think the tell is the way the eagle’s “I spent 20 years in the management of…” comment just drops off. As though in the middle of making stuff up, she suffered brain freeze.

Also odd the way a self-proclaimed socialist management genius can’t post anything more intelligent than links to dumb moonbat websites.
#588025

On January 10th, 2009 at 12:23 am, Salt said:

On January 9th, 2009 at 6:31 pm, lgm said:

TooMuchTime said (#161):

What about Leonardo DiCaprio interviewing Clinton? The didn’t complain about that.

No, cause Leo did, like, dude, a totally awesome interview & stuff.

Kudos. That was funny.
#588029

On January 10th, 2009 at 12:35 am, Ed Mahmoud abu al-Kahoul said:

From the Peoples’ Cube

Q: How many Obama voters does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None. Hoping that it would change is quite enough.

Q: How many autoworkers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: 17 at GM, Ford and Chrysler; 1 at Honda, Hyundai and Toyota.

Q: How many Chicago pols does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: F— you, what am I gettin’ outta this?

Q: How many Democrats does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: It’s burnt out on the Republican side, so we’re not changing it.

Q: How many MSM journalists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: No need, Obama is the Light.

~
Q: How many Congresspersons does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None, but they’ll allocate a few billion to achieve change under the Obama Stimulus Bill.

Q: How many Daily Kos bloggers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: It was Bush’s fault the bulb burned out; it’ll get fixed by itself when he leaves office.

Q: How many Minnesota Canvassing Board members does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Depends. They’ll only change it if it looks like a vote for Coleman.

Q: How many Oprah Winfrey fans does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: The bulb’s not so light these days.

Q: How many Cubans does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: There have been no lightbulbs since the USSR collapsed.

Q: How many North Koreans does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: What’s a lightbulb?

Q: How many Hollywood celebrities does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Six to make movies about evil lightbulb companies, twelve to lecture about the unequal distribution of light on late night talk shows and nine to get caught with drugs hidden in cartons of lightbulbs.

Q: How many Obama appointees does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: His team is currently in the process of finding someone from the Clinton Administration who knows how.

Q: How many Caroline Kennedys does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: She’s never thought about it but now that you mention it, she’d love for someone to change it for her.

Q: How many President Elect Obamas does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: The bulb is a lot more burnt out than we thought. Clearly, the bulb has deteriorated. It might not be changed as quickly as we would like.
#588037

On January 10th, 2009 at 1:20 am, nbarry said:

Leonardo DiCaprio’s interview with President Clinton was successful because that have a few things in common. DiCaprio struck an iceberg; Clinton married an iceberg. DiCaprio is a great actor; as for Clinton, “Ah did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” DiCaprio went down on the Titanic; the Titanic went down on Clinton.
#588045

On January 10th, 2009 at 3:23 am, pgtips said:

Ed Mahmoud, that was brilliant!
#588086

On January 10th, 2009 at 8:24 am, abstractmind said:

On January 9th, 2009 at 6:28 pm, Yashmak said:

I dismissed the idiot because after multiple postings, he wasnt able to come up with anything more than the journalistic integrity of The Daily Show and Jon Stuart. It gets old trying to have a discussion with someone who isnt anymore engaging than watching paint dry.

And from someone who is self-described as “intelligent” and having robust degrees..and that’s the best he can do against any of us?

Same goes for

On January 9th, 2009 at 5:41 pm, edelweiss said:

The best you can do is “GOPigs” and throw childish insults. I’ve never once seen you even attempt to have discourse with anyone here and present a logical, coherant argument for what you think. You’re of the same group of people who chant “hope and change” and “change we need!”, when you’ve neither stopped to understand what “change” the LightBringer is talking about, nor do you grasp the basic concept of what he’s talking about when he says “we”.

When he says “we”, he’s not talking about you and I, honey.

Pick a single thing he’s proposed that’s going to being “hope” and “change” thats -positive- to people…I bet you anything that you name has a huge drawback to it, most likely that you’re not even aware of at present. And likely, as in eagle’s case, wouldnt care because it’s something a democrat suggested. Not because you believe it to be true and just in that cold, black space you call a heart (while pretending to have fluffy “lets love everyone -except republicans- going on for ya)…you don’t care about helping people, or changing the lot in life those less fortunate have…you’re interested in getting your way, and flipping off anyone else who disagrees without a shred of intellectually honesty or discussion on the matter.

But you stay uninformed, blind to anything other than Kos prints, and keep marching to the tune of the Pied Piper, as he walks you and all of your friends right off a cliff. Have fun with that. I’ll be back here watching while you get screwed.

Do I think this JTP thing is anything more than just publicity…meh. I think its a way to market a product. Take a name that peoplem recognize, and use it to make money. I’m not sure why that’s not clear. But, at the same time, do I think he’s going to be more effective than the clowns at CNN who cant get a real story to save their sorry posteriors? Who knows. But it’s a “wait and see” issue. If he does well, so be it. If he screws up, then so be it. It doesnt take much of an IQ to point a camera and comment on something? I mean, hell…look at MSNBC? Proof in the pudding right there.

I get bored with liberbals…not so much in the fact that pointing out their shortcomings isnt fun…but bored in the fact that so few of them can put up a reasonable and coherant argument (though lgm sometimes surprises me and throws a good one like his comment about leo earlier).

Come back when you can even attempt to stand up to anything said with something better than what’s been presented.
#588097

On January 10th, 2009 at 9:28 am, ajmontana said:

You can train a chimp to sit in an Anchor seat, whats wrong with JTP going over and asking simple questions to common folks? Geeze, Wolfie Blitzburger used to do the pig report until he got stuck on a roof.
#588107

On January 10th, 2009 at 10:18 am, trailortrash said:

cant wait to see what he does while there, the MSM desk sitters are just jealous of his ability to outdo them with out even trying, and without flashy visual effects and teleprompter’s.

i bet he gets actual thoughts from actual people, thats what i like to see.

people are way more open with people that don’t act like they are doing them a favor just breathing, (like the MSM pukes act).

JTP is an American, we can do anything we put our minds to.

for the pissing contest- i got a 351 on my G.E.D
#588195

On January 10th, 2009 at 12:06 pm, Politicalguano said:

Are there any “reporters” at CNN or MSN that aren’t dumb as a rock, complete azzholes? Being forced to listen to CNN or MSN while waiting for my car to be serviced or at the airport is torture. These “journalists” vary between humorous total ignorance and infuriating bigotry. I admit I always enjoy hearing that one of their kind has passed away or been killed, or that another newspaper has gone belly up – reminds me of the sound of a cockroach being crushed under your shoe. WHile this sounds callous, I believe these morons do great harm to our country and our fellow citizens, creating divisions, sowing disharmony and lies, and generally tearing our country apart. It is now “controversial” to display our flag, pray in public, believe in God, not cheat or lie, and endangering the lives of our soldiers is “patriotism.” It is no wonder then, that “journalists” are naturally supportive of democRATS, as these crooked, brutal, racist, bigoted, anti-American, atheists are just like family.
#588259

On January 10th, 2009 at 10:34 pm, JohnFLob said:

The limits of credibility for the MSM is just another manifestation of their BDS.

Any thing that includes a “W” is bad. That is why they avoid the basics of TRUE journalism: Who, What, When, Where, and Why, if possible.