Thursday, January 15, 2009
What some say
Posted by Kevin Allman on Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 11:47 PM
There is also an amusing, appalling dissection of the way Fox uses the phrase "some say," as in "some say Senator Kerry has a tendency to flip-flop," not to cloak a source but to camouflage a statement of opinion.
-- The New York Times, reviewing the documentary Outfoxed
Anyone who has seen Outfoxed, Robert Greenwald's documentary about Fox News Channel, knows about the "some say" canard. Desiring to air an opinion but have it play as "straight" reporting, a Fox anchor will preface it, "Some say...," turning whatever follows into a discussion of a position, rather than an advocacy of it.
-- Conde Nast Portfolio's Mixed Media column
Inspector General Robert Cerasoli has ordered thousands of dollars of weaponry and ammunition for investigators in his office."The office is a law enforcement office by ordinance and by state law," Cerasoli said.
In the first special session of the state legislature in 2008, lawmakers passed HB-80. The legislation says in part that: A municipality may designate the office of inspector general as a law enforcement agency ... and confer upon the office all investigative powers and privileges given to a law enforcement agency.
As such, the inspector general has ordered pistols and ammunition, handcuffs, leg irons and tactical entry tools....
Newschannel 6 has talked to some in the law enforcement community who were surprised by Cerasoli's purchases. Some even said that the weaponry and spending is unnecessary.
-- WDSU.com
Comments (5)
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If George Orwell was still alive he would rip Fox News a new one for their obvious and egregious assault on "Politics and the English Language." Shame on Fox for attempting such two-bit manipulation. Hurrah, for you Kevin for calling it out. I want to see Obama create an Office of Media Literacy with the charge of educating the public on how to read between the lines and call out media shenanigans like Fox's.
Sure sure but in this case, the fact that Cerasoli's nerd squad of auditors doesn't need to be packing heat is kind of obvious. We don't actually need "some" to tell us that.
and good for you calling out WDSU for using the same weak cover to camouflage what appears to be their opinion. I thought the same thing when I heard to report on TV. Who is this phantom 'Some'??? Call em out. While I believe there are some 'somes', WDSU needs to put them out on front street and let the public decide what they think rather than trying to persuade us with some thinly veiled editorialized statement. And hell yeah Cerasoli's office should have guns. I want that office to have all the teeth it needs to be effective. And quite honestly, I trust his judgment over 'some' folks in local law enforcement any day. except maybe Letten...
Isn't WDSU using "some" to cloak a source? They're not doing what Fox does. Just the opposite. It's sloppy, that's for sure. And I don't think this situation warrants letting someone go off the record. Still not great reporting, but for a different reason.
