The Death of Journalism
The following was written by Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate. Gov. Huckabee also recited this on his weekly Fox News Channel show Huckabee.
I'm sad to report today a death of a good friend to all of us…..Journalism, the once esteemed fourth estate of our nation and the protector of our freedoms and a watchdog of our rights has passed away after a long struggle with a crippling and debilitating disease of acute dishonesty aggravated by advanced laziness and the loss of brain function.
Journalism once proudly patrolled our society and sought to tell us the stories that informed and sometimes inspired us. They also presented the news that would irritate us—and the irritation was not over the delivery, but the content as corruption and misdeeds were revealed.
In recent years, journalism had grown increasingly dependent on spin-doctor spoonfeeding and the circular and insular quoting of other journalists instead of attempting to locate and quote actual first person sources. I told you a couple of weeks ago about how the NY Times, Newsweek, Time, and other media outlets took words I said on my radio commentary and instead of quoting them, summarized them and then distributed them. Bloggers and other supposedly professional journalists then took those already distorted interpretations, treated them as sources, and added their own spices. Newsweek even had the audacity to use quote marks around a statement never even uttered as if it were my actual words.
When Van Jones, one of over 30 unelected czars was caught making outrageous statements about Republicans, police officers, and it being discovered of his belonging to numerous radical groups, the media was incapable of so much as a notice of his record and only mentioned him at the time of his resignation.
While providing cover for President Obama and many of his contradictory statements, several practicing journalists broke their arms patting themselves on the back and broke their legs tripping over their own words. The fall brought about serious head injuries rendering the profession with only a minimal brain function. Despite heroic efforts at the White House to show tender and thoughtful love to friendly reporters, journalism has slipped from the news pages of major papers.
Survivors include the American people, who long ago stopped buying the ink-stained drivel that smeared the pages of paper and the people who attempted to read it. No memorial is planned as the practitioners of propaganda seem to be unaware that they have passed away and continue to publish anyway.
Gov. Mike Huckabee is booked for speaking events exclusively by Premiere Speakers. For information on how to bring him to your next event, visit www.premierespeakers.com/mike_huckabee.