HarperLee

This thread is about how a dimwit named Mayhill Fowler posed as an Obama supporter to get into the SF strategy meeting and tape his remarks.

I am sick and tired of Eman hijacking every thread here.

HarperLee

Just posted, Huffington Post's rambling defense of Mayhill Fowler:

Jay Rosen: The Uncharted: From Off The Bus to Meet the Press - Off The Bus on The Huffington Post

guest1234567

Hi Harp,

Is there anything really wrong with this though?

I mean with all the bashing of the MSM, it has become common place to think of bloggers as the Alternative to the MSM, and some are practically considered journalists in their own right. The courts themselves seem confused as to whether bloggers get the same rights to protect their sources.

Isn't it expected that a journalist would pursue a story that they were working on? Then why hold this blogger to a different standard?

Unfortunately, Obama phrased something that he shouldn't have. As has Hillary. It seems to me that the biggest issue is that supporters on both sides are always asking for a pass for some reason like, "He/She's tired." These are the same people who will point to every stupid thing Bush said because he can't speak English, but now they want to say their side can't be criticized.

ibex

You are not alone in your frustration. Check out itsmee's "Hillary Clinton, Duck Hunter Extraordinaire" thread.

HarperLee

I saw the instructions on how to commit suicide. If we could combine that with voting him off the island (in a weighted barrel, into the ocean...)

HarperLee

I see your point, but Mayhill Fowler is not a blogger. She has been paid by HuffPo for months to be a "citizen journalist" (their term, not mine). Many of us at HuffPo were outraged at a snarky OffTheBus piece she wrote about Obama last Monday or Tuesday.
It is quite possible that Fowler was posing as an Obama supporter (something she certainly did not pretend to be at OffTheBus) to get into a private strategy meeting.

She has no credentials of any kind. She has apparently never worked outside the home and has spent her time working on family genealogies. HuffPo just wiped about 5 Comments that had been
posted in response to Jay Rosen's defense of Fowler.

ibex

In all seriousness, E Tard is living proof that the idea of forced commitment for the insane needs to be revisited. If he's not a candidate for a straight jacket, I don't know who is.

HarperLee

We probably have Ronald Reagan to thank for the fact that he
is not institutionalized -- but I always remember the 6FU where
Billy had computer access in the psychiatric hospital.

guest1234567

I'm new to her but in the link you gave us to OffTheBus says she is an Obama supporter, and the OTB guy goes on to say she is an Obama supporter but still recognizes when he does something silly.

This speaks to me in volumes. I personally do not consider bloggers to be journalists. I feel that journalists should have credentials, possibly even certification so that they are allowed to keep their sources secret. I know a lot of people disagree with me on that, for the same reasons I started our conversation in the first place.

If HuffPo is wiping out comments, they lose credibility as any type of media, alternative or even remotely respected.

HarperLee

Apparently HuffPo is having editorial meetings about this. The Comments are back up, including two of mine.

Mayhill Fowler was never in any way an Obama supporter. That is what I cannot figure out.

New link to Jay Rosen HuffPo defense with Comments, which may disappear:

Jay Rosen: The Uncharted: From Off The Bus to Meet the Press - Off The Bus on The Huffington Post

The first Comment (not mine) said, "This is the end
of citizen journalists."