Dave Weigel reports that Tucker Carlson, speaking at CPAC, suggested conservative media outlets focus on you know, reporting. Carlson got a face-full of boos and catcalls because he cited the New York Times as an example of an ideological news outlet the right could emulate, as in by mixing ideology and reporting.
Carlson finished his speech (”thank you for indulging me”) and the day was gaveled to a close. The image on the giant screens in the Omni Shoreham's ballroom changed to an ad for PajamasTV, which promised “analysis” of the news-just the thing that Carlson had criticized. In a parody of Apple's “I'm a Mac, I'm a PC” ads, a staid-looking man in a suit played “mainstream media” to a hip young man's “PajamasTV.”
“It's my job to tell you the facts,” said Mainstream Media.
“Yeah, like Dan Rather got it right about President Bush’s service record,” said PajamasTV.
Zing! Meanwhile, what's PajamasTV up to now? Showing that staid PC media how to really just report the facts, right? Well, Chris Good writes that isn't exactly what's happening:
Following up on the idea of Tea Parties protesting the administration's mortgage refinancing plan, Pajamas Media has started running online ads (spotted on conservative blog Hot Air today), simultaneously encouraging readers to organize their own tea parties and promoting Pajamas Media's coverage of them. "The Pajamas TV team including Michelle Malkin, Glenn Reynolds, and Joe Wurzelbacher (aka Joe the Plumber) - are mobilized to help cover this new and evolving revolution," Pajamas' online promotion page reads.
Keep in mind, this isn't some Tea Party group advertising on Pajamas Media, this is Pajamas Media pushing their readers to form Tea Parties so they can cover them. Naturally, the PJ bloggers like Malkin and Reynolds have been "covering" the "Tea Party" movement while helping organize it at the same time.
So the New York Times is unethical and biased, but Pajamas Media creating their own news to forward an ideological agenda? That's real integrity.
-- A. Serwer
