Matt Taibbi has been writing good stuff at Rolling Stone for a long time now. He's leaving, to start a new venture. You can read all about that here.
What I cherish in this interview with Taibbi is his description of what reporters are supposed to be:
Taibbi’s father is the Emmy Award–winning NBC reporter Mike Taibbi—and along with Gogol and Tolstoy, he also idolized the “middle-class, working-class people” who then populated newsrooms. “They relished their role as jerks who wouldn’t let anything slide. And I was attracted to that,” he says. “I mean, journalists should be dark, funny, mean people. It’s appropriate for their antagonistic, adversarial role.”
I'm not a technically a reporter - but this is certainly my job description.
3 comments:
I don't think this description exactly fits you. From my angle, you seek out, ask questions and report to We The People. Paying care and attention to facts, detail and asking probing questions that are pertinent and very important to our political realm. Thank you for this. What bothers me about antagonistic journalists are those individuals who really belittle those they interview for the sake of pure sensationalism. Cheesy shows such as Dateline, sometimes even 60 Minutes and many others have I feel ventured from the true scope of journalism and reporting by seeking mere entertainment at the expense of possibly innocent parties. We witness this all the time on TV. Shame on them. It's one thing attempting to antagonize Bernie Madoff or his cohorts on Wall Street (and DC), but quite another to interrogate publicly someone who has been involved in a misdemeanor or crime of some sort but has yet to be found guilty in a court of law.
You are a reporter. Anyone that engages in the public arena and attempts to influence the content or the direction becomes a reporter.
And you're a biased one sided reporter at that, Joe Kenney has repeatedly stated that this election "isn't about ideology."
And guess what Susan The Bruce reported.
There is also a fine line between being a reporter and propagandist. Susan The Bruce has most definitely crossed this line.
From our friends at Merriam Webster:
(1) : a person employed by a newspaper, magazine, or television company to gather and report news (2) : a person who broadcasts news
I'm not a reporter. I'm employed by a newspaper to write an opinion column. It is hilarious to be called biased by a white supremacist clown who writes for NH Insider - not exactly a site lacking in far right ideology.
Good point though - if Joe Kenney said it wasn't about ideology, that must be true. Because surely no right wingnut politician would ever LIE, right?
By the way Steven J. Connolly - you spelled Zeliff's name wrong in your pouty story at the septic site you inhabit.
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