{"id":248,"date":"2007-02-06T11:38:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-06T17:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/?p=248"},"modified":"2007-02-06T11:38:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-06T17:38:00","slug":"info-pimps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/2007\/02\/info-pimps\/","title":{"rendered":"Info-pimps"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>s the great new term from Chicago Tribune<\/i> writer Charles Madigan<\/b>. You can read his full column here,<\/a> but here’s how he explains his newly minted expression: <\/p>\n

I am angry at the sneering use of the phrase “mainstream media,” by bloggers. I am also upset by the obvious decline in standards that would allow a ridiculous slander about Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to become news for a little while until reality intervened…<\/p>\n

People who pick up questionable things and present them as real are info-pimps.<\/p>\n

I just invented that word. I like the sound of it.<\/p>\n

It conjures images of parasites, laptops in place, typing up a storm and then putting it out on the street, where the gullible, thinking it’s the real deal, just gobble it up.<\/p>\n

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth with their sneaky attack on Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in the last presidential contest were info-pimps.<\/p>\n

It would have been a lot easier if they had just said, “We hate his guts because he was anti-war and let his comrades down,” and let it go. Betrayal is really bad enough. You don’t have to pretend there is “news” involved.<\/p>\n

Fox News and the Washington Times’ Insight Magazine online edition are my two great candidates for info-pimp status in the wake of the Obama story.<\/p>\n

Do you live in a hut without electric, or what?<\/p>\n

I’m not going to tell you because I don’t care to repeat such a ridiculous slander. Put it this way, if Islamic radicals visit your nightmares, take over the White House and make us abandon our Judeo-Christian values, that’s the fear it played on.<\/p>\n

It was really stupid, and the fact that Insight attributed the whole thing to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s research people didn’t justify anything. That was just the beard.<\/p>\n

Then the Fox News people picked it up and spread it around.<\/p>\n

That makes Rupert Murdoch seem like the king of the info-pimps…<\/p>\n

We don’t just sit here in this fabulous tower making stuff up.<\/p>\n

If a reporter goes to Iraq and sends back a report, it’s news and it’s right and I know that because I know all of the people who touch it before you read it. We have a good foreign desk, completely professional, dedicated and, above all, ethical.<\/p>\n

In fact, we have that kind of skill all over the place in layers. They are great colleagues and very serious about journalism. I would never disable their telephones.<\/p>\n

The Tribune is an info-pimp free zone, from its snappy bloggers to boring old me.<\/p>\n

So, you best believe it’s mainstream media and thank your lucky stars that it’s here because without it, you can’t imagine the kinds of folks you would be hanging out with.<\/p>\n

Info-pimps trade in whatever they hear.<\/p>\n

You want a life full of unfulfilling information? Go that way.<\/p>\n

It’s better to hang with people who at least have a passion about checking things out.<\/p>\n

You just feel better in the morning.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nice piece…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is the great new term from Chicago Tribune writer Charles Madigan. You can read his full column here, but here’s how he explains his newly minted expression: I am angry at the sneering use of the phrase “mainstream media,” by bloggers. I am also upset by the obvious decline in standards that would allow a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[120],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journalism","tag-us-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}