Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Ebert on Murdoch and The Guardian

Roger Ebert pays some debts to Murdoch. Debts of vengeance that is.

Murdoch has made many enemies. He was particularly good at making enemies of intelligent and wise people who buy electrons by the gigabyte. Now they will speak.

Ebert also gives due honor to the Guardian, which must be clearing shelf space for its Pulitzer prize.

For my part, I'm adding the Guardian feed to Google Reader. I had it a while ago, but it seemed too leftie even for me. Clearly, I was wrong.

I'm back now.

2 comments:

  1. Do you truly think that the Guardian is "extremist"? I think that it is rather tame compared to a right-leaning organ like the Wall Street Journal. Perhaps one clear difference between the Guardian and the Journal is that (based on my perhaps limited experience) many media outlets, whether here in Canada or in the US, rarely if ever interview a Guardian journalist or quote one of their stories. Meanwhile, Journal writers appear regularly on venues like CNBC. Earlier this week a Journal writer appeared on the Colbert Report (if I remember correctly).

    My overall points are twofold:
    (i) I believe that ideological differences between media outlets often lies more in the op-ed pages and the level of messianic zeal shown by the editors. It seems the Guardian wants to educate while at the same time often being a little "tongue-in-cheek' (ironic). Conversely, it seems to me that the Journal sees itself as the capitalist Pravda.
    (ii) the market dominance and/or the ability to network enjoyed by a media outlet allows an amplification of its power. Therefore; the Journal is far more powerful than the Guardian. Can you even name 20 people you know in your daily life who read the Guardian?

    Chris Pepin
    Regina, SK, Canada

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  2. I think most would agree the Guardian is to the left of the NYT (many things are) but also to the left of Krugman and Delong. So a bit leftie for me.

    I wouldn't ever call them extremist though.

    The WSJ on the other hand is cracked. It used to have a raving loon editorial and oped page, then Murdoch bought it and the rest of the paper went down the tubes.

    It's not merely extreme, it's insane.

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