I had a twitter convo with a CNN reporter today

[tishaLA]

It was Jeff Zeleny, who filed this report with CNN this morning: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnn-reporter-hillarys-story-about-signing-up-for-the-marines-seems-so-unusual/

I was particularly taken with this line from his story: “We do not have enough specifics actually to actually know if it’s true or not…”

I wish I knew how to post tweets, but I don't, so I'm going to post the text instead. I've taken my twitter handle off the exchange because..:

@NewDay @jeffzeleny “We do not have enough specifics actually to actually know" is now considered reporting?

Jeff Zeleny ?@jeffzeleny 33m33 minutes ago

@<redacted> And what did I say after that? here's the story if you're interested in reading. http://cnn.it/1WMNzYe

@jeffzeleny You said nothing, really, except to intimate that something was strange about her story. It's the narrative: You can't trust her

@T<redacted> Narratives are easy to fix: Talk about it and explain, rather than refuse to comment about a story that sounds hard to believe.

@jeffzeleny I'll have to screencap that tweet because it encapsulates so much that's wrong with political journalism

Anyhow, I just found the entire thing incredible. He doesn't even pretend to justify the story EXCEPT as a narrative one about that lying, evil Clinton lady. I should say, as I've said elsewhere, that I'm not even a Clinton supporter necessarily; I support beating repubs more than a candidate right now. But the lack of concern about anything other than pushing the "dishonesty" bullshit annoyed the fuck out of me.

That's all. Just wanted to vent.

[Z_California]

1. #RIPJournalism

It's pathetic. I use the above hashtag when scolding "journalists".

[BlueMTexpat]

2. Thanks for trying! :) eom

[msrizzo]

3. I've noticed that a lot of reporters talk back on twitter.

They are awfully touchy and really hate it when informed readers talk back to them.

[Fred Sanders]

4. The God Complex of physicians is nothing compared to that of TV and print reporters and mouthpieces.

[tishaLA]

6. I've had very productive convos with Jake Tapper in the past

and he is very responsive to criticism, but also sometimes defensive. I was frankly surprised to hear back from Mr Zeleney, but when you have little reporting to do other than to pass on innuendo, I guess you have a lot of time on your hands.

[procon]

5. A very long time ago, I worked in print journalism,

we were taught to load up the popular themes of the day. Like if there was a big plane crash, we would write lots of copy about other recent plane crashes for the next several days. Same with every newsworthy event, we directed the news toward covering a specific theme and there was no doubt that news inundation was intended to influence public interest, awareness, and opinions.

I'm not surprised that same practice is still in effect today, and even more insidious because of all the data extraction methodologies available to fine tune what 'news' is being delivered to viewers... and all of it, everything, slanted to reflect the views of whoever owns the media.

[yallerdawg]

7. 1975. The year a recruiter told me yes.

Of course, I'm a male.

I wouldn't even question that story. The draft had ended. The Vietnam war had ended. If you were out looking for a job - considering starting a career or more higher learning - the military was a new option to consider. Why not ask? It was peace time!

I sure don't remember any focus on women in the military. Recruiters were very informal at that time as we had just gone to all-volunteer, and they didn't want to scare off a qualified enlistee. But women? Especially a war-time active-duty veteran recruiter?

I can sure see a Marine discouraging an older female with "coke bottle glasses" just making an inquiry.

Don't we all have a lifetime of casual undocumented anecdotes that make up our lives?

The end of conversation will occur when every utterance we make is fact-checked and googled.

Which may explain why we text, tweet and blog. So everyone can check us - like I'm checking you!