Many, Many Mapes

Mapes an ideologue, says former co worker Dan Rather's producer, Mary Mapes, set up Memo gate because she was ideologically driven, says a former Mapes co worker. John Carlson, a former commentator at KIRO-TV in Seattle says:

Mapes was "quite liberal" and disliked the current President Bush's father.

"She definitely was someone who was motivated by what she cared about and definitely went into journalism ," Carlson said. "She's not the sort of person who went into journalism to report the news and offer an array of commentary."

Carlson spoke with Mapes about the National Guard story a week ago, and said that he believes she "put so much time into it that she wanted something to come of it."

"This was a woman with a good reputation," he said. "The mistakes she made were so obvious. This was a story that was rushed because they clearly believed it was true. They wanted it to be true."

One wonders how it is Mapes could be considered a "good journalist." Unless journalists have thrown out the idea the journalists should try to be "objective." Oh! Wait! They have... I know it because the model of "objective journalism" is considered to be an outdated laughingstock by every journalist I have ever met, and every Media Professor I ever had derided it. So, we the public, ought to know about the changes in the trade, eh? I mean acting as a hack for one political party under the guise of objectivity might be considered unethical by some. If you ran a big donkey under the CBS logo, at least that might be honest. But no. You can trust journalists -even though there are some good ones still out there- about as much as a used car salesman. Ethics? Honesty? Objectivity? How Passe. Journalism today is about "making a difference." In plain language this means foisting your politics on everyone, while lying about doing it: ie. cherry picking stories, using dubious sources, all the while claiming that it is nothing more than "honest reporting." There is probably nothing special about Mapes other than that she got caught. This ought to remind us to treat journalists like the British do, as ink stained wretches who thrive on scandal and titillation, not news. The root cause of this problem, I believe, is that for most of the intellectual class, politics has replaced religion. They see everything - EVERYTHING - through the lens of left and right and are almost incapable of knowing that they are doing it. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make a difference, but journalism is not the career for it. Be a teacher or get involved with a charity or a church. If you must be a typographic ideologue, find work with a political party. Or just be up front about your bias.