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Colbert Annoys Press Corps . . . Again
Let's face it: Some in the Washington press corps still resent Stephen Colbert because he so brilliantly lampooned them to their faces at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner over their coziness with the Bush White House.
Yesterday, some elite journalists couldn't contain their anger after Colbert testified before Congress on behalf of immigrant farm workers -- mostly in character (with some funny and not-so-funny jokes) and partly in total seriousness: "I like talking about people who don't have any power and it seems like some of the least powerful people in the United States are the migrant workers who come and do our work and don't have any rights as a result . And yet we still invite them to come here, and at the same time ask them to leave."
Thanks to Colbert, a hearing on migrant workers that would have been ignored by mainstream journalists was jam-packed with mainstream journalists.
But hosting "Hardball" last night, NBC's Chuck Todd was beside himself: "A lot of us frankly are offended." He suggested Congress members should have walked out of the hearing room as Colbert testified.
Ironically, Todd made the Colbert appearance his top story.
And that's a good thing -- because the plight of migrant farm workers is otherwise ignored on "Hardball." I did a quick NEXIS search for variations of "immigrant farm workers" or "migrant farm labor" and found about three mentions in the last decade.
On last night's ABC World News Tonight, correspondent
Jonathan Karl did a piece on Colbert on Capitol Hill; Karl rushed up to Colbert,
gotcha-style, as soon as he finished testifying and asked if he was "worried
about trivializing such a serious issue."
If it's such a "serious issue," why has ABC World News offered such spotty coverage? It's been almost a year since Brian Ross's strong piece on child labor. According to NEXIS, there was a solid report a year before that on farm workers in the heat wave. I found a passing reference in 2009 to an astronaut being the son of migrant farm workers, and a 2008 story on a man's journey "from an illegal migrant farm worker to world-class brain surgeon."
If that's how ABC World News covers "serious issues" of human rights, it's Jonathan Karl who needs to answer about "trivialization."
Not Stephen Colbert.
62 Comments so far
Show AllOlberman had a funny bit showing some Fox news host chick who was totally flabbergasted by Colbert's Congressional appearance. And I seriously doubt I will ever again see such a stunningly truthful and hilarious assault on journalism and politicians as when Colbert hosted the Correspondents Dinner; a true classic.
Stephen Colbert is certainly to be commended for shining a light upon the plight of immigrant farm workers in this country, a topic which, as the article notes, has been far too ignored by the major media in this country. Given Colbert's laudable stance, one now wonders if Colbert will next focus his attention upon the suffering of the Palestinian people who, also, have been largely ignored by the majority of journalists in this country as they seem to have become sycophants of the state of Israel. Perhaps in the future Jeff Cohen will say that while ABC News may have looked the other way while atrocities were committed against the Palestinians Stephen Colbert did not.
if you look into the guests and topics colbert has had in his show, colbert does a lot more for justice for the palestinians than any other shows including jon stewarts' daily show.
i hope colbert tackles the issue head-on one of these days, just like he did with migrant farm workers issues.
I'd like to see him bring Helen Thomas as a guest on his show.
maybe satire and irony are all the fire
power we have left to fight the empire.
sadly the empire isn't sage
they still think orwell's message
applied to the other guys.
a lotta logs in a lotta eyes
As usual Jeff Cohen, who did so much to get FAIR, (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) started along with so much later to counter the bias of the mainstream US media has done an outstanding job with this article-- keep up the good work Jeff, and I say that as someone who has long ago back FAIR and personally met Jeff Cohen.
AD
It is no surprise why the Washington D.C. press corps (which is even more reactionary than sports reporters), a coddled and corrupt bunch with sanctimonious overtones of self-importance, were totally pissed off by Stephen Colbert. Like any good satirist, he spoke truth to power in a way they could not poo-poo. Like the Emperor who wears no clothes, Colbert threatens their 'viability' every time his act plays in their playpen. By holding up a satiric mirror to Washington D.C., he gave the capitol press corps & the general public a look at an uncomfortable image that they would rather not be publicized.
I'm not a big follower of Colbert, for no particular reason, but I agree with your comments. The Colberts, Helen Thomases, and Phil Donahues make the rest M$M feel queasy as notables are not following the "suggested script". It is easier for all of M$M to not do their job when everyone in the media is not doing their job. Good article by Cohen.
I'm not a follower of Colbert, Maddow or those other "liberal" talking heads simply because I refuse to pay $60/month to a cable company for commercial, advertiser-supported TV programming (CNN, MSNBC, etc.) that should be broadcast for free. With digital TV, the VHF band alone can carry more than a hundred channels.
Instead, they are robbing the TV bands for wi-fi internet service - for a fee of course.
Except for its old purpose of getting TV to outlying areas, cable should rightfully be a thing of the past with digital TV. But there is way too much money to be made - that people think cable represents a triumph of "free choice". Kind of like the way the expensive personal car is "free choice" over the seamless, frequent, step-on-step-off public transit syatems the car replaced.
Agree. I won't pay the $60 either for cable for much of the same reasons; however I do have internet access and sometimes see clips of talking heads. Once in a while when I'm on the road and in a hotel and flip through the channels, I realize I am not missing anything.
I sometimes watch Countdown on msnbc.com. I see a link to Maddow but I'm not sure if they have the day's show posted on there. Give it a try.
I have to admit to having cable. I don't watch really watch MSNBC anymore and I don't watch Daily Show or Colbert Report regularly anymore, but I do often watch clips that are pointed out and I watch them online. I have cable because I need high-speed internet for my work and I need a modem for my work. The best way to accomplish this was the three-for-one deal. On the other hand, I greatly appreciate TCM because I simply love our film history, which I feel is in severe degeneration.
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At long last I find a fellow BOYCOTT CABLE mind. There are scads of us, and growing, yet our knowledge needs to meet, and be, the power that we hold.
There's about a hundred million Cable HUTs (Homes-Using-Television), paying Cable Operators fifty bucks a MONTH. And the Cable Ops pay it 'backward' into the paychecks of FUX News and Beck and O'Reilly and Hannity and all the other LIARS; (incl. CNN & MSNBC & the 'network' XYZ's ... and the Comedy Channel and Disney & Discovery & Weather Channel, C-Span, and all the Olde Tyme Movies channels).
It hurts the FUX News LIARS not at all, to turn a deaf ear and blind eye, black that channel and ignore their poison propaganda pumping in the weak-mind mental-case minority -- and THEN SEND your monthly check that PAYS the LIARS MILLION$ for hiding in the Basic Cable Package 'bundle.' They don't care if you turn them off, as long as your check to them is in the mail this month.
I swear it would only take a million of us, (one percent), all in one single month in unison in action: CANCEL your CABLE SUBSCRIPTION. CALL the Cable Operator and say,
"NO MORE PAY from me until FUX News is banished"
... to the upper-tier, pay-per-view, high-channel-number stratosphere, where the only $upport for LIARS is the splinter faction foolish few who like LIARS. They should PAY to LISTEN. Pay EVERYthing, the only ones $upporting LIARS; stop nicking dimes and dollars from ALL subscribers' fees.
The 'good' channels must police themselves. The rotten one in the barrel is ruining all the others, until it gets picked on, plucked out and ostracized.
Put the squeeze on ALL the 'bundle' -- BANKRUPT Cable Operators -- until the FUX News pimple pus gets popped out and removed.
Then the Cable Operators can 'switch us back for FREE.'
I swear just a million of us but 5 million is better and possible can bring the Cable LIARS Propaganda to its end. And that would smash the state.
... now where and how can we spread the word around -- BOYCOTT Cable TV -- and pass it on.
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I've been boycotting cable for many years, hasn't seemed to bother them much. I love a good boycott, though. Then again, I've been boycotting Blockbuster for many years as well. What's this I hear about Blockbuster getting a loan for $24 million? Dag nab it, just when I had renewed hope for the boycott! I've been boycotting McDonald's, Walmart, etc. Whether it works or not, the boycott is still in effect for all lame and bunk companies. And I know I'm not alone. Feel that pinch, wall street! Oh wait, they were feeling the pinch, until Washington bailed them out. Crap.
Johnny J-Rock
Thank you for such a visionary post!
I don't have a cable subscription but I watch the Colbert Report and the Daily Show episodes on their websites.
Ayuh.
Truth always annoys the propagandist.
NateW writes that Colbert exposes those in power by comparing them to the Emperor who wears no clothes. That apt comparison is reminiscent of a book which I have just received in the mail today which critiques Obama from the left and that would be The Empire's New Clothes: Barack Obama in the Real World of Power by Paul Street who writes incisively for Znet. Any book which receives the recommendation of John Pilger:
"Perhaps the only book that tells the truth about the 44th president of the United States."
should always be worth reading.
gnken
Thank you Stephen Colbert!!! A Big Hand for you. When will the Main Stream Media get it and others that it's the Farms, Factories and other business that import the labor and then bash them and tell them to leave. Like HELLO!!! See you in DC on The 30th Stephen
There are 9,000 small family fruit growers, mostly in the Midwest and Northeast, and along the Blue Ridge.
People of color show up - they are not imported or recruited - looking for work, and show documentation - the only documentation that employers are allowed to ask for. These applicants are hired and paid the same as whites. Most workers crossed the border legally, but then have subsequent difficulty getting their status clarified and often fall into some state of improper documentation, unknown to the employer. Does your employer know of you got a traffic ticket since you were hired? Do you want employers to know that? Should employers turn away brown applicants because thy might be illegal? Either of those two things are themselves illegal for the employer to do.
Over the years, as with the Dust Bowl refugees who once picked fruit, and as with every other ethic group that has immigrated here, immigrants from south of the border are sending their kids to school and are advancing themselves, including becoming the safest growing group of new farm owners. Native born people are no more interested in being farm owners than they are in doing any other sort of farm work.
People say "white people would do that work if it paid better!" Maybe. We all should be paid more for all work, yes. Immigrants have fewer choices because they are most often illiterate. Literacy is a built in advantage that native born people have and take for granted.
In the food system, 90 cents or more of every consumer dollar spent does not go back to the farm. That is not where the profits in food are. If we want to increase wages for farm labor, that would have to change.
Thank you for the different pov, or insight. I hadn't thought of some of the things you mention.
"Like most members of Congress, I have not read the bill"
No wonder Conyers and many others wanted him to leave.
I'm pretty sure he read the bill. Some may say he's a joke, but so is congress..... (ta,ta,... boom).
Is this something Colbert said, or are you referencing the Conyers interview in "Fahrenheit 9/11" in which Conyers more or less casually affirmed that he and his colleagues never actually READ the reprehensible Patriot Act before passing it?
I remember that scene vividly because of Conyers' trademark droll, eye-twinkling demeanor. At the time, although the remark didn't exactly sit well with me, I clung to the absurd belief or hope that Conyers was somehow winking with us, not at us.
I thought it was pretty cool of the guy to let us backstage, and be privy to a cynical insider truth or two. After the 2006 elections the cobwebs finally cleared away once and for all, and I was angry but not shocked when Conyers had Cindy Sheehan and her companions arrested after Sheehan failed to yield to his twinkle-eyed, droll explanation of why impeachment was off the table.
Has his wife gone to jail yet, or is she free while appealing her sentence? I hope they make the most of their conjugal visits.
Colbert did say that, check out the clips on youtube and many other places, it is hilarious!
Conyers wanted Colbert to leave and submit a written testimony instead. Conyers is a smooth operator (like most) and he is on form in his long-winded blah blah of how Colbert should leave.
Here is a link to a bit of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld-yZXOEMFE
Thanks, socialist!
Good video. I ended up transferring to the one from the AP, which was really clear and you could hear everything that was said. I can't believe the amount of ignorant comments at the end of these videos, as in why is Colbert there? It's not that I am impressed that Colbert did this, just grateful that he used his celebrity in such a way. We have a lot of celebrities out there who make a lot of money and so few of them use it in this manner.
What I found incredible - the young people behind him were definitely NOT amused.
All minorities in the shots were laughing as were some of the Old White Guys(who covered their mouths to hide the grins)
Zoe Lofgren did a brave and courageous act to invite him to speak truth to inhumanity and demogoguery(sp?)
This Congress has only disgraced itself further with this display of corrupt integrity.
If any one wants to know whats wrong with our government they only have to watch the farce played out at the expense of the citizens of our country.
Anyone that believes this was worthwhile, anything other than disgraceful behavior or were not ashamed of these Congressmen should think long and hard about who and what they are.
This has nothing to do with Colbert, he was simply their stooge.
"This Congress has only disgraced itself further with this display of corrupt integrity."
An ethical Congressperson, once bought, stays bought.
Trylon
An "etical Congressperson" would never get bought.
Umm... that's the joke.
Joe
I guess Colbert not only annoyed the press corps, but a few people here as well.
Whose stooge do you think Colbert is?
What is "corrupt integrity?"
Is it Lofgren you think was disgraceful, or..?
"corrupt integrity"
how about "peaceful war"?
Chuck Todd, like other corporate fascist kiss-ups are always offended by the truth.
Totally agree with you......he makes me sick. Why is he on MSNBC? Did he sleep with someone or is he someone's son? He sure isn't on there by way of talent or intelligence.....Keith pretty much knocked his outrage into a cocked hat. Todd is an idiot.
LOL, being insulted by an outraged Chuck Todd is a compliment; Stephen Colbert should be proud. Did you know the dense Mr. Todd just found out last month that -- gasp! -- Andrew Breitbart isn't a reliable source? It took the Shirley Sherrod fraud to convince this dedicated 'political analyst' that Andy was conning the Big Media, even after the ACORN videos by his employee James O'Keefe turned out to be heavily-edited propaganda worthy of Josef Goebbels, and O'Keefe was arrested for attempting to llegally wiretap Sen. Mary "Oil Money" Landrieu's office. I can pretty much gauge what's good or bad by those reliable MSNBC weathervanes, "Up" Chuck Todd, Luke "Nepotism" Russert and Andrea "Mrs. Greenspan" Mitchell. If they express disdain or distaste for something, you can be sure it was good for the people.
As far as John Conyers, back before the Dems won a House majority in 2006 he kept sending me emails soliciting donations for the Democrats; he said he'd make sure the Bushies were held accountable for their crimes when he became head of the House Judiciary Committee. Four years later and he hasn't indicted one member of the Bush Regime. Glad I didn't send him any money.
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are truly the two best television news programs. Their success lies in dealing (humorously or not) with the gross, revolting absurdity that is the United States.
The Washngton/MS media are part of the same inside-the-beltway crowd as the politicians...and equally inept.
You can shoot the messenger but at least listen to his message.
Hoa binh
Chuck Todd is a world class prick, who would probably betray his best friend for a bigger corporate tit to suck on.
Stephen Colbert has balls the size of coconuts, and I idolize him for it. His devastatingly funny performance at the 2006 Correspondents Dinner was incredible. That sociopathic, empty suited, megalomaniacal war criminal Bush was sitting right next to him! Colbert was right in his face, and yet he was hilarious on top of it. Incredible. Admirable. His parents must have been bursting with pride. I know I was.
Did you notice how much Justice Scalia enjoyed Colbert that night? I found it hard to hate Scalia after that and I think I kind of understand how Justice Ginsburg enjoys his company.
totally agree that "Stephen Colbert has balls the size of coconuts."
it was a truly amazing scene to behold.
It was pleasant to watch the arrogant little Dauphin from Crawford sit there listening to Colbert with a look on his face like he wet himself. Priceless. "Reality has a well-known liberal bias." You know Chuck Todd and the other MSM ring-kissers would never have the guts to say that to King Junior.
Seems like an updated version of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Bravo Colbert!
a great on-point piece, mr. cohen.
colbert is on the short list of my heroes, too.
i also applaud Lofgren, the chairwoman of the committee, and congresswomen chavez and Chu. what a group of inspiring, caring, sincere representatives of the people.
conyer and waters truly disappointed me with their transparent and petty politicking. they know better, and they are smarter than that. they folded like a ugly cheap suit, in the face of truth and justice. i can't even describe how disgraceful they were, characterizing the issue as "the battle between the poor unemployed black poor and the illegal hispanic / latino / mexican workers," instead of focusing on the inhumanity of the migrant farming jobs that epitomize the evil of capitalism.
of course, shills on corporate media payroll couldn't handle it.
Gotta hand it to Stephen Colbert. He really blew their minds out there in Washington. I couldn't believe my eyes and ears when I saw it on the news! It's too bad that most of them, congress critters and media alike, don't even really appreciate the brilliance of what he did.
I think the Colbert Report is better written the John Steward's effort. Steward is relying too much on mugging facial expressions and absurdist satire from his compatriots. Colbert accomplishes much the same with his writing, "who knew that most of the soil in America is at ground level." Of course he is supposed to be the conservative antidote to Steward's Liberalism, but really his defense of Conservative values, delivered in much the same bloviating tone that Fox uses is the real put down. Listen carefully. When he did become serious in his testimony he delivered an equally effective message, "I did it, (testified) because I just felt that someone should speak for these farm workers who have so little real power and who have no one else to speak for them." That's something that media reporters and pundits like Chuck Todd will never do. Joking or straight Colbert has shown up the rest of them for who they truly are.
I applaud Stephen Colbert for his work to help the powerless in America.
As far as the the Press Corps and others like Chuck Todd,Fox News, members of Congress who were outraged or annoyed, I say this, it was not about you! I am sure that Stephen got approval from the migrant workers to do this expose. It was about the migrant workers. It was about the right of powerless people, to be seen as they are and not as they are portrayed by the right wing members of congress and the media. Most of them are hard working, efficient,skilled employees, not lazy people coming to America to go on welfare or have anchor babies.Immigrants are all suspected of being illegal immigrants to be imprisoned if they cannot show their papers.The right wing demonize the migrant workers by lying about taking jobs away from Americans.They accuse them of be-heading people at the border leading into America. The right wing are controlling Americans with FEAR!