Baltimore Sun's savvy TV critic David Zurawik zeroes-in on Beltway political class & MSM's tacit agreement on unethical conduct and asks rhetorical question: "Is it wrong for CNN's Paul Begala to ask me to give money to Al Franken?" Yes, let me count the ways...but let's not forget to throw Stephanie Cutter on the fire, too; @davidzurawik

Is it wrong for CNN's Paul Begala to ask me to give money to Al Franken? http://t.co/RDGxAD4JoV
— David Zurawik (@davidzurawik) November 4, 2013

Baltimore Sun
Z on TV blog
Was it wrong for CNN's Paul Begala to ask me to give Al Franken money?
To me, this is how the channel's news identity is demeaned by mixing politics, money and media
By David Zurawik The Baltimore Sun
6:58 a.m. EST, November 4, 2013

Maybe it's just me, but a fundraising letter I received from CNN's Paul Begala last week struck me as emblematic of what's wrong when media are mixed with money and politics -- as they increasingly are these days at cable TV news channels in Washington.

Here's the letter. And you tell me if this is appropriate for someone listed as "commentator" at CNN -- someone who also appears on the channel's website under the heading "Anchors/Reporters" as Begala does

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-cnn-paul-begala-money-fund-raising-20131031,0,6011421.story

As for Stephanie Cutter, well, she merely proves that the sort of unethical behavior we've been force-fed by America's Mainstream Media and been forced to expect from certain Democratic Party & GOP consultants and strategists is not a Male-Only preserve:

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/09/cnn-lowered-its-ethical-standards-make-things-easier-newt-gingrich/69959/

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/09/obama-guys-were-too-afraid-demote-stephanie-cutter/69384/

Fox News Channel
White House getting advice on Syria from former Obama campaign advisers 
By Ed Henry
Published September 03, 2013 FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/03/white-house-getting-advice-on-syria-from-former-obama-campaign-advisers/

Sure, why not get advice from people who don't actually know anything original about the country or speak French and Arabic, and who only know what other people have told them or what they've read.
Just like your neighbor or the person who hands you your coffee at Panera Bread.

My recollections of September are that President Obama's policy on Syria was a disaster from beginning to end and something that everyone, regardless of political ideology, agreed upon on from coast-to-coast.
You remember, the policy that even the Washington Post's Editorial Board strongly criticized and which I mentioned last Tuesday, here:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.be/2013/10/obamas-bad-foreign-policy-from-start.html

The one time in five years that Obama really brought the country together -in opposition to his own policies.

Sure, of course, that result is to be expected when you've got such great consultants and advisors.
Just don't say anything bad about Valerie Jarrett and her lack of knowledge or else...

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/

Spot-on! Michael Kinsley re-thinks his notions of the relationship b/w journalists and sources; LA Times: "Journalism and the art of betrayal"

University of California Television video: Conversations with History: Michael Kinsley

http://youtu.be/Fg-9Oa2FVHA

Saw this fascinating column in the LA Times this afternoon while making my way to their online Entertainment page to look at some film reviews, and knew I had to share it with you all ASAP, since it concerns the thoughts of someone I've long liked and admired even when I disagreed with him on an issue, Michael Kinsley.

Los Angeles Times

Op-Ed

Journalism and the art of betrayal

The explanations newspapers give for why anonymity was granted can be hilarious. But they tend to prove what was famously asserted by New Yorker writer Janet Malcolm: Journalism is about betrayal.

By Michael Kinsley

November 4, 2011, 8:34 a.m.

In 1989, New Yorker writer Janet Malcolm published her famous essay, "The Journalist and the Murderer," with its notoriously overheated opening sentence: "Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-kinsley-column-anonymous-sources-20111104,0,1960132.column

I used to talk to media personality Michael Kinsley fairly frequently back in the days when he was one of the co-hosts for CNN's Crossfire, and he'd be over at the Army-Navy Club office bldg. on Eye Street where the New York Times' DC bureau was located -usually waiting for his close friend, Maureen Dowd, to come down from her office after 5:30 or so.

The Army-Navy Building was a place where I spent LOTS of time the last ten years I was in D.C, as I mentioned here previously back on April 6th, 2011, in a post I titled, Memories of D.C. bureau of N.Y. Times; Cool stuff from NYT Graphics: Key states for Obama in 2012; 2010 Census interactive map

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/memories-of-dc-bureau-of-ny-times-cool.html

People were often split on their opinions about Michael depending upon their politics, ideology or subject, of course, but in my many experiences, I found him to be one of THE friendliest media personalities out of many I ever met or knew in Washington, with a good sense of humor.

On his TV show, given their confrontational format, that humor often came across as sarcastic I suppose, but in person, he was was often amusing and engaging in ways that were truly remarkable.

And he's got that amazing memory for details, so...

Somewhere in storage, up in the D.C. area, I think i still have a few great photos of the two of them posing in front of the bldg. lobby's Christmas tree and decorations, which were always one of the nicest in all of downtown and K Street, the same way that the NY Times' March Madness basketball pool was one of the best and most lucrative to get in on, since you had Times employees not just from the DC bureau participating, but their employees from all over the world (and their spouses) also putting their money where their mouth and brackets (or heart) was.

(To this day, I still find it amusing that so many people who would say so many vituperative or sarcastic things about her at the time at social events I attended in the DC area had no idea how truly sweet and concerned with people's feelings she could be, even when she didn't have to be.
Also, of course, famously, most people who knocked her had no idea how petite Maureen is. 
In a winter parka with a lined hood, walking by in a crowd, she'd look like a kid counting their days until she could leave Junior High.)

I still think it's pretty amazing that in the year 2011, a guy who is as clearly smart and curious as Michael about both people and ideas and trends, and who has his ability to draw people out in interesting ways, doesn't have a national TV show now.

IF I was a media mogul... I'd rectify that.

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Bill Geist interviews Maureen Dowd on CBS News' "Sunday Morning"

http://youtu.be/ldGQ2Qf2Uz4

http://conversations.berkeley.edu/

http://www.youtube.com/user/UCtelevision