This snippet of a story popped up in a mild way on several different news sites and feeds, including that of the Great Grey Whore, the New York Times, which I presume was anguished over the prospect of a member of the reporting fraternity, one Sophie Alexander of Sky News, being driven out of a popular Miami restaurant where Trump had stopped by, presumably to spend a few minutes with supportive fans. The reporter/producer apparently carried on the tradition of shouting rude questions at political figures they don’t like on occasions that are not press conferences and formal interviews, in the usually vain hope of getting some kind or answer, and if not, noting snottily that ‘So-and-so declined to reply.’ Ms. Alexander was heckled, verbally abused, and all but physically thrown out of the restaurant by Trump fans. Frankly, the only likely surprise about this matter is that Ms. Alexander appears to be indignant and a bit surprised at her treatment.
When I searched for links on this particular story, a whole raft of other incidents came up, going back some years but most of them in the last half-decade – of various news reporters and TV personalities increasingly being heckled, harassed and personally insulted by members of the public in various public places. And no, I can’t really say I’m surprised at all, regarding this particular occurrence, or all the others. I’m pretty certain that most media people do exist in a kind of protective bubble, isolated by the peculiar demands of their jobs. Do many of them even associate regularly with someone who works at a physical job for a living, has dirt under their fingernails, drives a pickup truck, swings a hammer, a wrench or a shovel, lives and works in flyover country? Such media luminaries might have to talk briefly with such, as part of their work requirements – but increasingly I have the feeling that such interchanges are brief. Only one national print reporter that I can think of appears to have any real feeling, or knowledge, of ordinary lives – Salena Zito, who accurately predicted the successful election of Donald Trump.
Too many of the rest are the inheritors of privilege, educated at expensive universities, baldly contemptuous of everyone outside their sphere and too lazy to even try to break out of it. To me, the epitome of that kind of media personality is Anderson Cooper, the first to scornfully refer to Tea Partiers as ‘tea-baggers’ – this on national television. Practically every other national outlet, print and broadcast alike followed that lead in sneering … and the scorn and disdain has only gotten more intense since then. The overwhelming majority of national news and entertainment media despise ordinary, conservative-leaning Americans. They used to hide it better, though, even before the national media became the American equivalent of Pravda, the public relations arm of the Democrat Party, the attentive stenographers of the ruling class.
Normally polite and courteous citizens can only be pushed so far, before returning insult for insult. The recent exchange in the Miami restaurant with Sophie Alexander indicates that ordinary Americans have begun despising the media nobility right back, and just as passionately.
Discuss as you wish.
Sarge, the only thing that is sure is that it will get worse. Our “Second Estate”* does hate us, does consider us detestable, and believes that we need subjugation. The “Fourth Estate”* [continuing to use the French Model] is cheerleading for such measures of subjugation.
We can see what is coming at us [and no, I have my doubts about it being real 2024 “elections”] and it is not good. Yesterday, former President Trump gave a speech at Bedminster, New Jersey after leaving Florida. PBS [which despite denials is in fact largely government funded, along with funding by rich Leftists] decided that they had to interrupt and insert “context” repeatedly throughout the speech and close with a reminder that Trump’s words could incite violence. CNN and MSNBC, both Leftist propaganda organs, declined to cover it claiming that Trump’s speech was “too dangerous” and “untrue” to cover.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/06/pbs-adds-context-to-trump-bedminster-speech-while-cnn-msnbc-declare-it-too-dangerous-untrue-to-cover/
I think that there is unpleasantness in our future.
*For those who are not familiar with French Revolutionary History, even under the kings they had a kinda-sorta legislature of three Houses, the Estates General. There was the First Estate, or Catholic Church. There was a Second Estate, the nobility and certain few rich and powerful. And there was a Third Estate for everybody else but functionally for rich merchants. The delegates were selected and not elected. The bulk of the country had no real representation.
They could only meet when summoned by the king [every couple of centuries it worked out], and it was usually because the king needed money, so they raised taxes on the peasants. Helping us with our own Revolution left them in deep kimchee financially. So the Estates General was summoned. The Third Estate was not nearly as subservient as in the past, and things got argumentative. The Third Estate stalked off to the Royal Tennis Court, and what became Republican France started with a document [I swear to Ahura Mazda, called “the Oath of the Tennis Court”] where the Third Estate declared that they were going to ensure that they controlled things through a National Assembly.
A couple of years later, Louis got shortened. So where did the “Fourth Estate” come from? The French Press immodestly claimed that by spreading the news of the mayhem in Paris and Versailles, that they were as important as one of the Estates and gave themselves the nickname. Which egotistic reporters gladly glommed on to worldwide.
In any case, expect more state censorship through the media.
Subotai Bahadur
I think that it comes as a horrible surprise to the National Establishment Media that red-state/conservative/rural Americans despise them, for their bigotry, mendacity and towering ignorance. I suspect that the day is coming, if it isn’t already here, that the big names in the lying media won’t dare go out without armed bodyguards to do a standup in a public place. They probably already need them in urban hellholes like NY, LA, San Fran – because of the urban criminal element – but they’ll need them soon everywhere.
I don’t recall Goebbels being mobbed. Something has changed.
Judging from subscriber/viewer numbers, the lame stream media’s impending crisis is going to be bouncing pay checks.
@subotai
You coined the term TWANLOC.
@SGT Mom
They are already using armed guards. One of them assassinated a member of Patriot Prayer in Denver. No prosecution by the leftist DA.
This century’s marvels of technology, a continuation evolution of the techs from the ass end of the previous century, has increased the capability of humans to communicate exponentially.
Therein lies the proof of the old adage, ‘familiarity breeds contempt’, so well known to be true by those who pay attention.
The expectation of courtesy is foolish, the demand of respect from others is folly, and the anticipation of rudeness is prudent.
Respect, as is true for Trust, must be earned.
Courtesy, as is true for Love, can only be given, by each individual to the other.
And a gift can only be offered without implied obligation, or expectation, of being accepted, let alone appreciated.
The Serenity Prayer comes to mind.
We leading the Tea Parties made a mistake: We tried to be polite.
Look where that got America.
I see no peaceful path, and weep for what my grandchildren will suffer.
Ultimately, it’s because they’re Progressives. This means they insulate inside their churches and monasteries (some of the greatest Progressive cathedrals are media organizations). It also means – because Progressives worship Reason – they are arrogant and believe they’re inherently smarter and better than the unbelievers. (Yes, it’s hard to believe they worship Reason, given some of their insane ideas, but they do. That’s why it’s not science to them, it’s SCIENCE!.)
Ranten N. Raven
June 16, 2023 at 9:20 am
We leading the Tea Parties made a mistake: We tried to be polite.
Yep. We should have gone full “tea party” and started dumping stuff in harbors. We should have tarred and feathered a few folks, too.
And, of course, even being polite we still got called racists and bigots and fascists.
Perhaps I missed Sophie Alexander’s expression of indignation at Sarah Huckabee Sanders being hounded out of a NoVa restaurant. Can someone supply a link?
Something has changed.
I agree. I’ve been predicting some sort of civil war and writing about it here for long enough to remind myself of the stock market adage about early being wrong.
But even if the market can stay irrational longer than any particular investor remains solvent, eventually fundamentals matter.
Fundamentally, the left hates America, American culture, and Americans of all races.
Having interacted with these folks online for many years, going back to the days of AOL, nothing they’ve done or said lately seems new or surprising to me.
What does surprise me, lately, are such events as the Bud Light sales collapse and the Target boycott.
So now we see some English fop getting yelled at while she was being nasty to someone in a country not her own.
“I did not shout ‘Trump for prison’. I asked: ‘President Trump are you ready for jail?’, a perfectly legitimate question.”
I presume this was a reference to Trump and or Trump supporters saying “Hillary for prison” years ago. I will note that Hillary was not in fact sent to prison nor did the Trump administration indict her on even one federal charge, let alone 37. That’s an important difference, I think- but I digress.
Anyway, a few Trump supporters objected to her typical nastiness, and got into her face about it. She fled. Shrug.
I suspect a lot of folks of her ilk mistake normal politeness as deference and it’s one reason they’ve come to regard themselves as some sort of nobility. Essentially, they expect to be able to be nasty to everyone else while being treated well in return.
And they usually are. I think it’s really hard for normal people to get up and yell at someone in a restaurant no matter how rude, because most people aren’t there to argue. Nor do most people choose what beer to drink based upon political considerations.
Before you get to civil war people learn to dislike each other. The left has been busily teaching normal people to dislike them, to put it mildly, for a good long time. It seems a lot of people have had enough, and have stopped buying beer identified with a leftist cause- and a few are even angry enough to yell at some idiot foreigner in a restaurant.
Interesting times…
Thoughts? It’s way past due, that’s my thought.
We watch a lot of old movies, a habit I piked up from my Mom. And by “old” here, I mean black & white. One thing is clear: reporters as shouty jerks is nothing new. Go viddy Front Page or His Girl Friday or Ace In The Hole. So people have been putting up with their rude behavior for a long time., And shouldn’t.
DSmith2
June 16, 2023 at 12:24 pm
So people have been putting up with their rude behavior for a long time.
Heh. Watched an old Charlie Chan movie the other day. The reporter entered his house through the window through which the murdered person was shot. And all the policeman did was complain about how she needed to just let him do his job. NOT arrest her for breaking and entering. Oh, and she was just going to use Chan’s phone to make the call to her editor. So, not only rude but criminal behavior. (Admittedly, she WAS going out with said policeman, so that corruption has existed for a long time, too.)
Jess
Perhaps I missed Sophie Alexander’s expression of indignation at Sarah Huckabee Sanders being hounded out of a NoVa restaurant. Can someone supply a link?
Good point. DuckDuckGo:Sarah Huckabee Sanders hounded out of Virginia restaurant
From the Time magazine link:
Perhaps the limey journalist’s reply- not all that different from an American journalist- would be that journalists are a protected class.
I also find it ironic that a furriner gets all bent out of shape about getting a negative reaction when she sticks her nose into domestic affairs. When I worked overseas, I was very careful about expressing any opinions about local politics. In general, I did not volunteer any opinions, and if asked my opinion, I made sure to phrase it in a neutral tone.
Hilarious HuffPo piece on the story.
Outrage that asking such a provocative question would get the response it did.
you should what my paisans said to jorge ramos, of univision it was a stronger rebuke, lets say,
yeah i detest them more. they are traitors who have collaborated with the globalists to usurp our; and our children’s; and our children’s children’s inheritance. they deserve the fate of all traitors.
“We watch a lot of old movies, a habit I piked up from my Mom. And by “old” here, I mean black & white.”
Any recommendations? Check out the Harlow bath scene in “Red Dust,” the conversation between the two kids on the roof in “The Champ,” and the fight scene between Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery in “Min and Bill.” The latter is one of my all-time favorite movies. I think Dressler won the first ever Best Actress Oscar for her performance. Her exchange with Harlow at the end of “Dinner at Eight” is also classic.
As for our current “reporters,” they’re really nothing but regime propagandists, paid to peddle whatever the narrative du jour happens to be. I do sympathize with them in a way. It must be terribly boring and painful to rattle on about such “big news” as the Trump indictment day after day, for hours on end, when the essential facts can be explained in about 5 minutes. They also have to gush about all the heroics of the LGBT activists for gay pride month, keep a straight face as they discuss the ramifications of all the latest UFO sightings, and wring their hands over the connection between the latest mild thunderstorm in Kansas and catastrophic climate change. It must be pure torture for anyone who isn’t brain dead.
Imagine how conflicted everyone at CNN must be. Four more years of Biden would be a corporate death sentence, the only chance they have is if Trump wins and they go back to the audience numbers they had between 2016-2020. Fox may have already committed seppuku by jettisoning Carlson. Without the ritual Trump floggings to juice their ratings, they can’t compete with a middle of the pack YouTube channel.
I’ve started listening to Tucker Carlson once he went to Twitter. And it is funny, because while he was at Fox I never listened to him. I have never had “cable” TV but most of the Fox broadcasts are later available on YouTube hours later (if in abbreviated form).
And his firing really got me curious. Why would Fox fire someone who rescued them from the vacuum left by Bill O’Reilly and brought in millions of viewers, even many from the left side? They are still suffering from a mass exodus of viewers.
To me, it was almost as if NBC had decided to fire Johnny Carson, with no explanation to his legions of fans.
Anyway what he has said about the national news media hasn’t really opened my eyes (we all know how slanted and biased they are) but Carlson explained it clearly and succinctly.
He said that the American people are one of the least informed people in the world (may be a slight exaggeration, as we at least have alternate avenues should we choose).
But you realize that most of these media outlets, including Fox News, simply filter the news the way the corporation wants it, and that is why podcasting is exploding in popularity.
It’s Carlson’s belief that the American people are near the boiling point of tolerating the status que, and they are sick of the way these companies are delivering news. I think he is right.
I am not surprised that Sophie was surprised, as they live in a bubble. Someone suggested years ago that the best thing these news outlets could do is move their headquarters out of Manhattan or Atlanta to places like Omaha.
Heck, for that matter Sidney, NE where I stopped at a diner last November and got an earful from the diners on what they thought of the current state of affairs.
One thing is clear: reporters as shouty jerks is nothing new.
True enough. But I don’t care that this woman is a reporter, I take her as a typical run-of-the-mill leftist. These folks believe their opinions entitle them to be nasty to anyone they choose, shout down anyone they disagree with, and of course run people like Sarah Huckabee Sanders out of restaurants.
But now that you mention it, the old shouty jerk reporters as seen in black-and-white movies were part of yet another revered American institution that- paraphrasing David Burge- the left has killed, gutted, and is now wearing its carcass as a skinsuit, demanding respect.
That is, the institution of the free press. I’m not putting ye olde tyme media on a pedestal- I’m pretty sure there was plenty of bovine excrement put into print. But there was also real differences of opinion allowed, if only because no one had the power stop it.
Not so much today, alas.
she works for skynews which is murdoch’s european arm, he was chastened by the whole wiretap brouhaha, and was not pro brexit even though many of his commentators were,
did he buy the Cambridge Analytica, fooferaw, an adjunct of the Russian hoax over here,
One character in a story by H Beam Piper said that bad manners drive out good manners. The Left has been indulging in bad manners for decades now, and appear to think they have a monopoly on it.
I’m not getting all misty eyed at the passing of the “Free Press”. It never really existed. Back, far before the internet, something caused me to have a revelation that as far as what “news” I saw was concerned, it all came down to four people. The three that decided what would be on each of the networks and whoever decided what would be on the front page of the New York Times. That was for national and international news. Local news was a little different for those places that still had competitive news papers and later, competing TV news in the brief period between when local TV news consisted of reciting the front page of the local newspaper and competing by having the most helicopters and the fanciest weather radar.
This reality generally existed from before Hearst manipulated us into the Spanish American War until 1998. That was when Drudge, RIP, let everyone in on the existence of a certain stained dress; much to the distress of the trusted doyens of the MSM that had decided that this was far too private to publicize. Where H. L. Mencken had made a distinction between those who buy ink by the barrel and the rest of us, ink was now essentially just another cost burden for the MSM. And burden you better believe it is. CBS has just announced that they are in the process of selling their broadcast center in Manhattan to transfer to digs more congruent with their status in a declining industry.
The difference is that where the number of people that could bury a story so deep that even they would forget about it could be counted on the fingers of one hand before the internet, now, that control is beyond any imaginable authority. That doesn’t keep would be dictators from dreaming, one especially, who may be capable of doing nothing beyond dreaming the day away.
I’ve never watched Carlson, but I’ve come to that same conclusion – that generally conservatives who have been paying attention over the last fifteen or twenty years have come to hate the national establishment media with the white-hot fury of a thousand burning suns. They went all out for Obama, the Fresh Prince of Chicago, worshipped the unsavory and dislikable Hilary with the devotion of lovers and left off any pretense of impartiality … for me the absolute nadir was first reached when Candy Crowley, that corpulent squealing sow, handed Obama a lifeline in the TV presidential debates. Romney looked like he had been pole-axed – I felt rather sorry for him at that moment. Obviously, he hadn’t expected the bias to be so blatant. Or it might have been when the race hustler Al Sharpton got a cushy ongoing gig in MSNBC, instead of being treated as the loudmouth inciter of race riots that he is. The national media worked their butts off, scaring everyone to death about Covid and quashed any discussion of any possibly effective treatments other than the Holy Vax, lockdowns and masks forever. Dem party operatives hop back and forth between working on a Democrat politician’s staff to a nice sinecure with a media org – and appear to think that we aren’t noticing.
Yeah, if CNN HQ, or the NY Times building burned tonight in a catastrophic fire, I’d shrug, observe that it sucks to be them, and then I wouldn’t think another thing about it.
At this rate, Ms Alexander is lucky that all she got was yelled at and hustled out of the building.
I’m not getting all misty eyed at the passing of the “Free Press”. It never really existed.
I’ll get misty eyed, just a bit, because whatever the flaws of the press in the past it was absolutely freer than the abomination we have now.
When Abraham Lincoln closed a newspaper or two during the Civil War, it was enough of a significant event that I read about it over a hundred years later. Today, when the regime or its minions shut down a popular dissident twitter account or have Youtube delete popular channels for “misinformation,” it’s so common that it generally only attracts much notice if the account is especially popular or manages to evade cancellation somehow. And the regime-inspired censorship is is much broader than that, even attempting to forbid the mention of certain topics entirely.
My take on all this, by the way, is that the regime has no choice. If they allowed free and open reporting on events, along with free and open discussion about said events, not only would the ensuing discourse go poorly for them but many would end up in prison.
YMMV.
The press was ever only “free” if you were the one that owned the press or later, the transmitter. In the past, it was more competitive. When there were seven or more dailies in New York, it was harder to kill a story but it didn’t keep Tammany from running things for a hundred years while stealing everything it could.
Carlson’s last Twitter had 162 million views when I looked at it, when was the last time that many people saw anything besides a Super Bowl on a network? Not that I doubt there are many that would like to silence him and others besides. Rupert Murdoch had the killer instinct of a rabid yellow journalist, his get are far too focused on being invited to the right parties and rubbing elbows with politicians. They were easy to pressure into firing their big earner under the assumption that he would be silenced. What they actually accomplished was to kill Fox.
Remember, when the First Amendment was written, there were no huge media empires. There were also no high-speed printing presses or Linotype machines or wire services, one could start publishing without a big capital investment. The ability to print was pretty broadly available, more like blogs than like big-city newspapers, TV networks, or content-controlling social media platforms.
“Freedom of the press” meant freedom of the *printing* press, it was not intended to establish a special privileged class of journalists.
The press was ever only “free” if you were the one that owned the press or later, the transmitter.
I hope I didn’t leave the impression that I was arguing that there was something like a federal department of the press, which would publish whatever was brought to it, because freedom. There was not, of course. But as David Foster notes, printing up a pamphlet and distributing it to anyone who would read it was a much simpler affair.
When there were seven or more dailies in New York, it was harder to kill a story but it didn’t keep Tammany from running things for a hundred years while stealing everything it could.
My argument here is that the government simply lacked the power to kill a story, period. I note that an editorial cartoonist named Thomas Nast was offered a bribe of $100k to stop attacking a certain Boss Tweed, head of the Tammany establishment controlling NY City and wikipedia says the state legislature as well. He declined the bribe and Tweed went to prison. I suppose Nast could have taken the bribe, but what jumps out at me here is that Tweed couldn’t simply have Nast “cancelled” somehow- fired from his job, “arkancided,” or otherwise shut up. Instead, he offered him an astonishingly large bribe, as if he were Matt Drudge.
Now I suppose there could have swarms of obscure people silenced by Tammany Hall and we only recall Nast because he resisted. Perhaps Nast was the 19th century equivalent of Joe Rogan or Tucker Carlson- but I doubt it. My personal recollection of Nast and the Boss Tweed story predates the present era of political correctness, cancel culture, and “misinformation,” based upon books I read decades ago. The authors were not friendly to Tweed et al. Hence I conclude if there were a swarm of murders associated with that regime they would have been mentioned.
They were easy to pressure into firing their big earner under the assumption that he would be silenced.
The past is a different country, as someone wrote. Another hazy memory churned up by this thread was the 1948 presidential campaign between Harold Stassen and Thomas Dewey. Stassen argued that the communist party should be banned, and Dewey argued the opposite. Stassen lost that debate, ending his presidential aspirations.
Back then, there was an ideological commitment to free speech, held by significant political figures- Dewey was the governor of New York- even for people who were working to overthrow the US government
Today, any casual criticism of the regime’s desired policies can get anyone fired, cancelled or prosecuted, depending of whims of the moment. The earnings potential of the speaker is no where near as important as their commitment to the regime.
Enough rambling for one night.
“Back then, there was an ideological commitment to free speech, held by significant political figures- Dewey was the governor of New York- even for people who were working to overthrow the US government”
True for certain times, less so for others. Wilson didn’t seem to have much attachment to the principle. Nor, for that matter, did Lincoln. Both succumbed to the temptation to have those that disagreed with them jailed. The “free” press went along with covering for Roosevelt, everything from his disability to his mistress. Then there’s Jefferson. Then there’s Kennedy and LBJ. I’m sure the list would be longer if I knew more history.
Nast turned down the bribe but when they finally “got” Tweed, it didn’t change the hold Tammany had on New York politics. Which fact all the Free presses in New York continued to cover up for another 50 years.
…it didn’t change the hold Tammany had on New York politics.
Then you should build yourself a time machine and take it up with the NY electorate of the day.
Which fact all the Free presses in New York continued to cover up for another 50 years.
Since Boss Tweed went to jail, I suspect you are wrong. I’d bet the Free presses of New York covered the story thoroughly and well, from all angles. I further suspect- if your statement is correct- that the NY public was pleased enough with Tammany to keep to keep it in power for those fifty years, despite any corruption. But I don’t care enough to actually check.
Wilson didn’t seem to have much attachment to the principle. Nor, for that matter, did Lincoln. Both succumbed to the temptation to have those that disagreed with them jailed. The “free” press went along with covering for Roosevelt, everything from his disability to his mistress. Then there’s Jefferson. Then there’s Kennedy and LBJ.
This is a grab-bag of names, not an argument. You seem to believe the freedom to criticize the government was always as problematic in the past as it is today, which is nonsense. I’ve already noted that when Lincoln closed newspapers it was notable enough for me to read about more than a century later. And- by the way- Lincoln was fighting a war to keep the United States from disintegrating, which is significant. Also, there was quite a bit of hostility aimed at Lincoln from the Free presses, and Jefferson as well. Wilson was a thug and a disaster- but his successor campaigned on a return to normality and won in a landslide. And LBJ- how many kids did you kill today? Heard of that mantra? I think that made it into the Free presses, since I’ve heard of it.
But I’m not interested in defending what we now know as the mainstream media, even if they allowed criticism of LBJ. The present American regime was founded by FDR, who received nowhere near enough of the criticism he deserved. However, I’d give him credit for using the new medium of radio very well.
If the past was the same as today, the failing government led by Herbert Hoover would have prevented Roosevelt from appearing on radio and arranged for a poll tax to make it too expensive for his supporters to vote, all while using the FBI to shut down pro-Roosevelt newspapers.
That didn’t happen then, obviously. That sort of thing did happen in 2020- and it continues to this day, rather infamously I think.
In any case, the ability of a newspaper, a website, a twitter account, Youtube channel, etc, to criticize the government isn’t a manifestation of the American tradition of a free press, which I mentioned above.
It’s a right written down in the Constitution, as part of the Bill of Rights. The present regime no more respects that right then they respect the rest of that document.