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Journalists vs. Pundits

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I disagree with about 90% of what Meghan McCain believes in, but in general I think she’s a likable girl. I think part of that is because in the back of my head, I think she’s really a closeted liberal just waiting for the light bulb to go on so she can come out of the conservative closet. Today she’s pretty far off base, though.

Today on the Daily Beast she’s commenting on Keith Olbermann’s temporary suspension from MSNBC for making campaign donations. Her point there is that he shouldn’t have been suspended, because she doesn’t think he’s a journalist.

Olbermann needs to determine if he is a commentator or a journalist. It never really crossed my mind that he was considered a journalist by anyone, just like I never assumed that anyone considers Glenn Beck a journalist. And, for the record, neither does he. Both Beck and Bill O’Reilly (as recently as his appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher) said they fall on the commentary side of the network. This is the state of the media.

I’d like to call bullshit on this one. It is indeed true that Beck and O’Reilly ARE actually “commentators” or rather pundits, and that they are not journalists. Journalists tend to have a much better relationship with the facts than either of these guys. The professional goal for journalists is to uncover the truth – Beck and O’Reilly, on the other hand, are interested in pushing their point of view and have only a vague notion of what the truth might be, because they aren’t really interested in it.

But 90% of the viewing public doesn’t realize that Beck and O’Reilly are pundits rather than journalists. Most of them think that what they see on Fux “News” is actually news, provided to them by actual journalists. They don’t make any sort of distinction between journalists and “commentators.” In fact, that’s exactly what Beck and O’Reilly are counting on – that their “commentary” be mistaken for real, investigated, researched journalism.

So that line of “I never assumed that anyone considers Glenn Beck a journalist” is all kinds of bull. The vast majority of the viewing audience considers that to be so, Meghan, because they don’t know any better. And I’ll bet Beck and O’Reilly aren’t going to be thrilled that you’re musing about those sorts of distinctions publicly.

So Olbermann – journalist or pundit? Journalist, in my view. He sure does have an opinion, but it’s always in service to uncovering the truth. When he’s wrong, he corrects himself. He reports actual, factual news.

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  • Ind. Parents Told Drop Disabled Kids At Shelters : NPR
    Indiana's budget crunch has become so severe that some state workers have suggested leaving severely disabled people at homeless shelters if they can't be cared for at home, parents and advocates said. They said workers at Indiana's Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services have told parents that's one option they have when families can no longer care for children at home and haven't received Medicaid waivers that pay for services that support disabled people living independently.
    (tags: Indiana budget MitchDaniels fiscal irresponsibility)
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My grandfather and I in 1971

Leroy F. Mineart
Dec. 10, 1918 – Oct. 27, 2010

Me playing with my grandpa in January 1971

Me playing with my grandpa in January 1971

Leroy F. Mineart, 91, of Brighton, died at 4:15 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010, at Halcyon House in Washington.

A funeral mass will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Saints Joseph and Cabrini Church in East Pleasant Plain, with the Rev. Charles J. Fladung officiating. Burial will be in St. Joseph Cemetery in East Pleasant Plain.

Open visitation will begin at 4 p.m. Friday at the church, with the family present from 5-8 p.m. and Prayers For A Christian Wake at 7 p.m.

Memorials to St. Joseph Cemetery may be left at the church or may be mailed to the family at 1022 Spruce Ave., Brighton 52540.

Arrangements are in the care of Gould Funeral Home of Brighton.

Mr. Mineart was born Dec. 10, 1918, in Brighton, the son of Henry and Grace Lamansky Mineart. He married Kathryn Wehr July 30, 1941, at St. Joseph Church in East Pleasant Plain.

My grandfather grew up in Brighton, Iowa and was a farmer there his whole life. He also worked at Louden Machinery Company in Fairfield, Iowa, where they manufactured farm equipment.

He was a pretty amazing guy – farmer, welder, woodworker, skilled mechanic – astonishing what he could do with his brain and his hands. He was the father of six children, 22 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. My grandfather and grandmother’s marriage of 69 years is for me the model for “happily ever after.” He was funny, happy, kind, mild-mannered and he radiated goodness. I have been blessed all my life to have him as a role model for how to live life. He brought such abundance into the world.

Me, with a cupboard that my grandpa made for my play kitchen - December 1971

Me, with a cupboard that my grandpa made for my play kitchen – December 1971. I still have this cupboard – it’s in my guest bedroom. Our house is filled with little things he made for me my whole life.

I will miss him so much.

Continue ReadingMy grandfather and I in 1971

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