By Lee Camp, the creator, host, and head writer of the comedy news show “Redacted Tonight with Lee Camp” that airs every Friday on RT America and at YouTube.com/RedactedTonight. He’s a former comedy writer for the Onion and the Huffington Post and has been a touring stand-up comedian for 18 years.
This past Thursday the New York Times vomited up a hit piece on little ol’ me – a guy who has been doing stand-up comedy for nearly 20 years and thought maybe that comedy could be used to inform and inspire audiences, rather than just make fun of the differences between men and women.
At first when you’re the center of a smear job, you’re annoyed and frustrated. But as I read further through the piece, I realized it was a master class in how to write propaganda for one of the most “respected” news outlets in our country. I’m actually grateful it was written about me because now I can see with my own eyes exactly how the glorious chicanery is done. I count no less than 15 lies, manipulations, and false implications in this short article, a score that even our fearless prevaricator-in-chief Donald Trump would envy.
So here now is a “How To” for writing propaganda for the New York Times – using the smear piece against me as an example.
Step One: Prime the Readers
The author Jason Zinoman starts the piece this way:
Last week, Lee Camp, an acerbic left-wing comic, dedicated six minutes of his topical TV show, “Redacted Tonight,” to the discredited conspiracy theory that it wasn’t Russian hackers who leaked emails during the presidential election but Seth Rich, the Democratic National Committee staff member killed in a botched robbery
Okay, folks, we’re off to the races. Now what does one take from that opening paragraph?
I bet you assumed that this crank, Lee Camp, did a segment bolstering a discredited nonsense theory about the death of DNC staffer Seth Rich.
But in fact, the segment I performed on-air does nothing but cast doubts on the theory that Seth Rich was murdered for the leaked e-mails. You can watch the segment here and judge for yourself.
Zinoman does go on in the next paragraph to say “Mr. Camp’s tepid take — he doesn’t know the truth, but he’s skeptical.” So despite Zinoman’s sheepish second-paragraph admission that I didn’t back the conspiracy theory, he’s already made use of a nice little psychology trick called “priming.” His opening paragraph has primed the reader to believe I give credence to discredited conspiracy theories. That, along with the title of the article – “An American Comic on a Russian Channel: What He Avoids Speaks Volumes” – has set the reader up to believe I’m a Russian agent of sorts putting forward conspiracies and our brave Ivy League author has been able to spot my sinister plot. (Thank god he was here or the plot might very well have destroyed America!) And in fact Zinoman goes on to reference the Seth Rich segment multiple times as if I had supported the theories.
That brings us to our next propaganda trick….
Step Two: Guilt by Association
That Mr. Camp does this on RT — which describes itself as the ‘Russian view on global news’ and which paid Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser, to speak at the gala where he sat next to Vladimir V. Putin — raises questions about the comedian’s independence, particularly when he delves into the conspiracy about Mr. Rich. Just last month, Andrew Feinberg, a former White House reporter for Sputnik, another Russian-financed media outlet, said that his bosses ‘wanted the Seth Rich story pushed.’
So now he’s somehow looping in me and my comedy news show with Michael Flynn, Putin, Sputnik (the radio channel), Seth Rich conspiracies, and I’m pretty sure he mentioned something about me hanging out with Bill Cosby.
Here’s the problem with that paragraph – I have nothing to do with Sputnik. I have nothing to do with Michael Flynn, Andrew Feinberg, nor Vladimir Putin. I have never spoken to or met any of them. (Nor do I speak Russian, so a conversation with Putin would consist of me grunting and trying to act out references to The Hunt For Red October.) I have never been told by anyone at RT America to say anything about Seth Rich, nor have I seen anyone being told to talk about Seth Rich, nor did my segment even support the theory that he was killed by the DNC.
So basically nothing in that paragraph has anything to do with me, but Zinoman wants to lead you to believe it does. This technique is called “guilt by association,” although Zinoman couldn’t actually find the “association” part so he just included a paragraph about these people to imply guilt by association. Subconsciously the reader is left to think, “If Lee Camp didn’t have anything to do with any of those things, then our fearless author would never have brought any of it up.”
Furthermore, Zinoman is correct that RT has said in the past that they are “the Russian view on global news” in the same way BBC has said in the past that they are “the British view of global news.” However, BBC also creates many shows that are outside the realm of straight news – such as Dr. Who. I’ve rarely heard anyone accuse Dr. Who of being the British view of global news. (Why do those crazy Brits always insist on taking flying police boxes to go everywhere?)
My show, written by me and my correspondents, is certainly not the Russian view of global news and neither is – for example – Larry King’s show on RT America. (I get that Dr. Who is further afield of news than my show is, but the analogy is simply meant to say these networks create shows that are not strictly straight news.) And anyone who thinks CNN, for instance, isn’t the American view of global news is kidding themselves. But I have to agree that CNN’s Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown did a terrible job of covering the terror attacks in London.
I speak only for my show – I don’t speak for any other show on RT America. I write the words I say on Redacted Tonight and have never been told I have to say anything. Compare that to… (Oh, so many examples to choose from! How can I only pick one?!)… let’s say Melissa Harris Perry on MSNBC. After being forced out she said she was censored often. As an example she said – close to showtime – that she was told not to cover Beyonce’s Black Panther inspired Super Bowl halftime show. In no uncertain terms MSNBC heads stopped her from talking about it. Perry was literally forbidden from discussing the two most popular things to ever exist on our planet earth – Beyonce and the Super Bowl (and I’m including food and sex).
Now that we’ve established a good foundation of guilt by association (without the association) and some priming and some baseless implications, it’s time to move on to:
Step Three: Write Off Good Attributes That Don’t Fit the Storyline
Mr. Camp’s hard-edge critique of corporate greed and American policy is genuine; he was taking this line in his stand-up act before working for RT. But context matters.
Writing about the fact that I have spent nearly two decades involved in comedy, much of it political, much of it trying to make America better, trying to stand up for people over profit… well, that just wouldn’t fit with the author’s theme. So he had to find a way to get this stumbling block out of the way of his race to propaganda victory! He did that by casually mentioning the good attributes before writing them off as meaningless. My work and what I stand for is beside the point because “context matters.”
Step Four: It’s What the Person Doesn’t Say That Really Matters
Because Zinoman wasn’t able to find any statements from me pledging allegiance to Russia, or supporting war by Russia (or anyone for that matter), or even voicing support for Donald Trump in any way, shape, or form (because none of those statements exist), he had to resort to going after what I don’t say. …And oddly, I agree with him that what people don’t say can be important, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
As hacking and Russia’s relationship to the Trump campaign increasingly dominate headlines, Mr. Camp’s refusal to dig into the story is conspicuous. He avoids the subject on air, and while he does criticize President Trump, his considerable comic bile rarely focuses on him.
Despite all his extensive research (sarcasm), Jason Zinoman failed to read the title of my show. …Redacted Tonight. I’m hoping he knows what the word “tonight” means but maybe the “redacted” part eluded him. “Redacted” means “censored,” and my show tries very hard to focus on the news that (ironically in this conversation) is NOT being covered on the mainstream media, the stuff that is being censored. As he just admitted, bullshit about Trump and hacking claims FILL the mainstream airwaves. Some of it true, some of it not, but all of it covered intensively. I have no interest in being a mainstream media or government mouthpiece for anyone – which is why I created REDACTED Tonight. It’s also why the things I say (particularly the anti-corporate things) are not allowed on any standard American TV channel. Zinoman, on the other hand, is quite content working at a propaganda outlet like the New York Times – also more on that later – and after all, context matters.
Zinoman tepidly says “while he does criticize Trump his considerable comic bile rarely focuses on him.” Well, first of all, for anyone who watches my show regularly, you know that hardly an episode goes by in which I don’t call Trump a megalomaniacal fascist man-boy with the decision-making capacity of a gopher recently run over by a Hummer (or something similar). You can watch some examples HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, & HERE. In fact I went harsher on Trump than pretty much all of the mainstream media during the campaign season. Please point to the moments when Anderson Cooper or Brian Williams called Trump a fascist, or a psychopath, or photoshopped his head onto Hitler’s body. (I did all those things.)
And the reason I don’t spend EVEN MORE lengthy segments on him is that A) We’re the “redacted” stories, remember? The title of my show is not “Stories Everyone Has Heard 8 Billion Times On Cable News… Tonight.” And B) I don’t believe Trump is the cause of our country’s main problems. I believe he is a symptom of an incredibly corrupt corporate-ruled system. He is a horrible and rather – not bright – man, but he is not the cause of the millions of hungry and homeless and imprisoned in our country. He is not the cause of the flaws in our democracy and our media. He is just the pimple that has risen up. So either Zinoman is intentionally misunderstanding the viewpoint of my show or he’s just so desperate to push his talking points that he’s looking past it.
And I believe the New York Times is one of those directly responsible for making Trump president by – along with other mainstream outlets – giving him $5 BILLION of free coverage during the campaign season. In fact, Bernie Sanders supporters got so angry with the Times for their lack of coverage that the Times eventually issued a response. Even in that response in which they say they’ve covered Sanders plenty, they admit that in one sample month Sanders had 14 articles about him while Trump had 63 articles. If that distribution of coverage had been ANYWHERE NEAR even, we would have either Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton as president. So, Mr. Zinoman, let me know when you’d like to apologize for your outlet giving us the Trump presidency.
Step Five: Fuck It, Insult the Guy’s Looks
Mr. Camp — who looks like a Broadway musical costume designer’s idea of a counterculture comedian, with ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ hair and T-shirts bearing images of Bill Hicks or ‘Catch-22’…
The NY Times has so deeply fallen into their own propaganda hole, they’ve resorted to just insulting the looks of people they feel threatened by. I don’t know what Jason Zinoman looks like, but I’m sure it’s awesome.
Step Six: Trot Out Discredited Neocon Think-Tank-Backed Source
Liz Wahl is a former journalist for RT who quit on air, accusing the network of ‘whitewashing the actions of Putin’ in its coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ms. Wahl calls Mr. Camp a ‘stooge’. …Ms. Wahl was working at RT when “Redacted Tonight” had its premiere in 2014, and she recalled that it was envisioned in the style of “The Daily Show.”
There’s only one problem with this statement… It’s not true.
Liz Wahl was not working at RT America when Redacted Tonight premiered.
Liz Wahl quit on March 5, 2014. Redacted Tonight first aired at the end of May, 2014. So, you know, at least Wahl and Zinoman were only about three months off.
But I can’t blame Zinoman for not catching something that Wahl incorrectly described since doing so would’ve required at least one – if not TWO – Wikipedia searches. (And who has the time??) Egregious mistakes like this don’t just speak to the sloppy work of the author, they also speak to his eagerness to portray me and my show in a certain light. He seems to have thought, “If I can’t find someone who has an inside track on how Redacted Tonight is secretly sinister, I’ll pretend I do.
But besides that, Liz Wahl’s claims about how and why she left RT America have been completely debunked, including this TruthDig article entitled “How Cold War-Hungry Neocons Stage Managed RT Anchor Liz Wahl’s Resignation.” It details how the Foreign Policy Institute (FPI) was in fact tweeting about Wahl’s on-air resignation before it ever happened, and they had had a longstanding relationship with her. The authors say:
The tweets from FPI suggested a direct level of coordination between Wahl and the neoconservative think tank. …Launched by Weekly Standard founder William Kristol and two former foreign policy aides to Mitt Romney, Dan Senor and Robert Kagan (the husband of Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland), FPI grew directly out of the Project for a New American Century that led the public pressure campaign for a unilateral U.S. invasion of Iraq after the Bin Laden-orchestrated 9/11 attacks.
So a completely discredited source gave Jason Zinoman the incorrect statements he was looking for. This is not the only time in recent months the New York Times has been caught flat-out lying about such things. In fact former RT host Abby Martin issued a response to the fake news put out about her which you can read here. Apparently the Times is just tripping over themselves to push this propaganda, so much so that they can’t or won’t verify simple facts.
Zinoman doesn’t let any of this stop him from quoting Wahl in the article. He’s hoping you won’t learn these things about her and her past. But you know… context matters.
Step Seven: Lie
Enough beating around the bush, it’s time to flat-out lie.
According to several people in the comedy scene, his stand-up diatribes succeeded with like-minded fans but had more trouble with crowds that didn’t share his point of view. ‘We wouldn’t book him for a weekend, let’s put it that way,’ said Cris Italia, one of the owners of the New York comedy club the Stand.
First of all, I’d love to know who these mysterious “comedy scene” people were. Waitresses? Busboys? Phanton of The Opera types lurking underneath the stage silently judging my satire? Unfortunately, we’ll never know because “the comedy scene” only speak on deep cover. (First rule of comedy scene – Don’t talk about comedy scene!)
Secondly, Zinoman claims that Cris Italia told him that the comedy club the Stand in NYC would not book me on the weekends. Cris had actually contacted me two days before the Times article came out to tell me that a reporter had reached out to him about me and that he could tell from the questions the reporter was trying to portray me in a negative light. (Read: Trying to push an agenda rather than being, you know, a journalist.) Italia said:
I told him you were liked by everyone. I also said what Dennis Miller, Janeane Garofalo, & Marc Maron were for their generation, you were for this generation.
But Zinoman did the smart thing for a propaganda machine – leave out the stuff that does not fit the false story you’re pushing. (I picture Zinoman cringing on the other end of the line as nice things are said about the unscrupulous Russian agent – Lee Camp. After jotting down the quote about Dennis Miller, he furiously rips the page out of his notebook, chews it up, and swallows it.)
Cris Italia says he was next asked whether the Stand would book me on a Saturday, and he replied that they don’t book headliners on weekends. (Most NYC clubs do what’s called a “showcase” show in which many comics get onstage over the course of the evening.) Zinoman – upon not getting the quote he wanted – must have figured he could slant this into something saying the Stand would not book me. He either didn’t understand Italia or chose to misquote him. So Zinoman is sloppy at best and a fraud at worst.
Final Step: Leave the Reader With the Same (False) Prime You Started With
The article wraps up by describing my live stand-up performance at the Cutting Room in NYC a few weeks ago. Zinoman attended the show and in the article wrongly states that I performed with two correspondents from Redacted Tonight. Only one of the openers – John F. O’Donnell – is from Redacted. But getting that fact correct would have required ANOTHER Google search. (The work never ends!) Zinoman of course fails to mention in his description that A) The 250-capacity room was nearly sold out with excited fans B) The show went great and I think everyone left having had a wonderful time C) My stand-up performances (unless done for a TV special) have no connection to RT America at all. They are my own events. But the author leaves all of that out even though… context matters.
Anyway, the article ends like this:
Once Mr. Camp finished and the crowd had filed out, I lingered for a minute on the sidewalk. And while there wasn’t any rally, I couldn’t help noticing two beefy guys speaking in Russian and laughing uproariously.
What Zinoman really REALLY doesn’t want you to know is that those “beefy Russians” were almost certainly not there for my stand-up comedy show. The Cutting Room had a show starting after mine that had nothing to do with my show. And guess what – that show was a rapper named Noize, who is described as “The most outspoken, daring and exciting Russian rapper.” That’s right, the reason there were people in line speaking Russian outside my comedy show is because they were there to see a Russian rapper that had nothing to do with me.
And don’t forget – context matters.
Either Zinoman knew about the rapper and decided not to reveal it (so he’s basically a liar), or he didn’t bother to look at the massive sign listing the performances, nor ask the Russians (who probably spoke English) why they were there (in which case he’s possibly the worst “journalist” to walk the earth). It’s tough to say which one of those two things is worse.
But describing those laughing Russians serves a purpose greater than an interesting tidbit. Zinoman sat through an entire 90-minute stand-up comedy show in which I covered everything from how our leaders force us into endless war, to how we can feed every human on the planet, to how we are sold an infinite parade of lies, to how my comedy doesn’t go over well at children’s birthday parties. He saw me cover all those important issues. He saw an audience of over 200 people loving it and coming up to meet me afterwards. He saw a guy who has fought hard for 20 years to just do stand-up comedy that matters – that enlightens and informs and entertains. He saw it all. But none of THAT fit with the propaganda he needed to push. In fact, it went against the storyline he was trying to create.
So instead he leaves the reader with the idea that either A) My show is meant for burly Russians (according to online analytics roughly 80% or 90% of my viewers are Americans) or B) My show is being watched over by burly Russians to make sure I don’t say anything “out of line.” Both of those are fake news. The reality is that burly Russians like a rapper named Noize.
I want to conclude with a little bit of context about the New York Times, and how they’ve become such a propaganda outlet that they would even hire journalists who pump out loads of fake news like this article on me.
Chris Hedges worked for 15 years as a foreign correspondent at the Times and won a Pulitzer for his work. He now hosts the show “On Contact” at RT America. He once said of his former employer,
…many at the paper have no real moral compass. They know the rules imposed by the paper’s stylebook. They know what constitutes a ‘balanced’ story. They know what the institution demands. They work hard. They have ingested the byzantine quirks and traditions of the paper. But they cannot finally make independent moral choices. The entire paper — I speak as someone who was there at the time — enthusiastically served as a propaganda machine for the impending invasion of Iraq.
Hedges went on to say,
[The senior editors] do not question the utopian faith in globalization. They support preemptive war, at least before it goes horribly wrong. And they accept unfettered capitalism, despite what it has done to the nation, as a kind of natural law.
The Times was a strong cheerleader for the War in Iraq. (Don’t worry though – they still have reporters out there looking for the weapons of mass destruction. …Any day now.) When Hedges came out against the Iraq War, the paper reprimanded him for “public remarks that could undermine public trust in the paper’s impartiality.” …So basically they said, “Either stand behind this flawed, illegal invasion of Iraq or else you’re not welcome at the Times.” Hedges left the paper soon after.
Want some more evidence of exactly how the New York Times operates? Here’s world renowned political philosopher Noam Chomsky going through a single issue of the Times in 2015 explaining how it is pure propaganda.
Best-selling journalist Greg Palast (BBC, Rolling Stone) wrote to me after he saw the article. Here’s his unsolicited opinion –
The hatchet job on Lee Camp by the NY Times is the pathetic new Red-baiting 2.0. The Times man claimed Lee was afraid to attack Trump because that would displease the owners of RT. Really? What in Lee’s statement, ‘Fuck Trump,’ sounds like an endorsement?
So the next time you’re reading so-called journalism in the New York Times, remember… context matters.
130 comments
Comments are closed.
My last day of regular Times reading came when a co-worker said, “Oh my God, Eliot Spitzer has ties to organized crime.” “Where are you reading this?” I asked. “It’s on the front page of the New York Times’ online edition.” You see, Spitzer slept with a prostitute, and some prostitutes work with gangsters, hence… After the Iraq War cheerleading I said “enough” and now I use my “up to 10 free articles” if someone links to a Times article that sounds interesting.
Same here, among other things including the lead up to the Iraq War. What teed me off about the obvious hatchet job on Spitzer was the constant referral to whatever number he was, Customer #197 or whatever, yet they never once mentioned the names of any of the other customer numbers.
I always figured they didn’t mention the other names because the many of those numbers referred to Bush, Cheney, and most of the editors of the New York Times.
There’s a great documentary on the “fall” of Eliot Spitzer, Client 9. The other names of the clients weren’t leaked. Neither was Spitzer’s technically. Yet parts of his background were leaked which led willing reporters to out him. It was a political assassination.
Indeed. He was getting too close to putting bankers in jail.
I loved the documentary Client 9! However, it did leave out a few details like him asking State Troopers to cover for him, misusing a state airplane to travel cross lines to meet his escort, and the fact that he asked a bank employee to hide his payments from the very regulations he promulgated to supposedly stop organized crime.
It also sort of glossed over his fathers background as a NYC real estate tycoon.
Quite!
me too.. and if you get CCleaner, once you’ve reached your 10 free articles you just clean your browser and start all over again.
Unlimited NYT articles for nothing. Which is, let’s face it, what the paper by itself is worth
Thanks for the CCleaner tip!
haha, a Japanese newspaper just tried to pull a hatchet job like that, and the rest of the Japanese media pounced on them immediately. such complete BS articles should get no respect.
oddly enough i don’t think i’ve ever had the desire to use 10 free articles a month on NYT since they’ve imposed the partial paywall. At the most 1 or 2. And usually abandon those half-way through.
I get past the ten free articles by using incognito.
This is really good. If there was infinite time in the world I’d like to write one of these for 99% of NYtimes op-eds and articles.
Well, this is going to get me to watch Lee Camp. Thanks for posting this.
Same. If the Times hates him he’s probably worth a watch.
Seconded. Sounds like I don’t agree with him on lots of stuff. But I like to laugh, and like to keep my eyes and ears open to new perspectives on things!
He is a comedian, and so prone to fits of exaggeration and questionable metaphors, but his overall points have been pretty right on, imho. For more serious reportage, go to Abby Martin’s show (The Empire Files). For some giggles, check out Lee.
Barely know Lee Camp, but am consistently blown away by Jimmy Dore.
I agree. I adore Jimmy Dore. I’m cranky if I don’t get my daily Dore. His outrage matches mine and keeps me going.
Don’t discount comedy’s ability to get across a political message. In fact, its arguable that guys like Lee Camp and Jimmy Dore reach more people through humorous political insight than NC does.
Camp is quite often insightful, and Dore is not only insightful but brings a generous dose of appropriate outrage and anger directed at people like Obama who have sold out the people countless times and yet still attempt to maintain some shred of progressive reputation. Dore has reminded many of us that anger is a fully appropriate response to what is happening, in direct opposition to the insistently “moderate” tone of propaganda outlets like NPR.
The Smother Brothers did it a generation ago, along with many others. Camp, Dore and others are doing it today (although no actual television networks will dare air their reportage — and thankfully television networks are about as relevant to the younger generation as landlines).
Lee Camp is the real deal, ye with powerful enemies …
Dore is pretty funny, but Lee is superb. Sarcasm is the highest form of humor, and Lee is wonderfully sarcastic. I never miss his Friday show, it’s on my YouTube app on the smart TV.
The NYT is just another yellow rag, along with the Washington Post. Who reads those propaganda sheets? No one who can see what is happening for themselves.
I’m a Brit living in Spain and have been watching redacted tonight for well over a year now (along with TYT and Truthdig) I can highly recommend them and for those American cousins who have never heard of them…shame on you. You should be proud for giving us such wonderful people as Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedges, et al.
I’ve been watching him on RT for 2 years and wouldn’t miss a single one of his shows! He nails it. Every time!
You will not regret it and check Jimmy Dore as well. Different thing altogether, but can be very enjoyable.
Mr. Zinoman forgot to mention Mr Campy dated Marilynn Monroe during her courtship with both Kennedys. Sloppy bit of reporting in an otherwise fine publication.
This real news bit was bought and paid for by Mossad Today, Tel Aviv, Israel.
(Aka, Modern Telecom Technology – Artificial Intelligence.)
Leaked news source: Marilynn Manson and his pen pal, Charles Manson.
We need a left-wing Roger Ailes to keep the message unrelentingly simple…I can tolerate a little stupid.
Looking at the books Zinoman has authored (one about Dave Chappelle, one about David Letterman, one about the Horror film genre) it seems like he’s just likely making a cynical career move in trying to catch a ride on the NYT Russophobia train from his unlikely position on the Comedy / Theater beat.
He’s probably right in his calculation in that the paper won’t feel compelled to publish any sort of redaction or disclaimer for the numerous factual errors and lies of omission outlined here, and he’ll get a pat on the head from his bosses at the news room.
Good on NC for giving Camp another forum for defending himself.
Do you think he uses the same logic in his Dave Chapelle book? Does he call Dave a dangerous anti-american radical?
Zinoman appears to be a classic critic: creates nothing and builds a career primarily on tearing down the work of others.
I’ve always had a problem with these kinds of pure critics and this just reinforces the feeling.
I don’t have a problem with critics, even pure critics. My problem is the fundamental and almost certainly deliberate misrepresentions and intellectual dishonesty with which the NYT article is written. He is not a critic, he is a propagandist.
Zinoman is the definition of Presstitute… he writes his screed to please his pay masters. He doesn’t need to hear “I love you” or even kiss them… he’s just in it for the money, probably everything else he has done has been a big fat flopp, so he has to please the boss from down on his hands and knees.
And, no, he doesn’t look awesome.
As a member of a severely targeted demographic of the new Orthodox Church/KGB Alumni/Oligarch regime, I would still say that Russophobia is not necessarily a bad thing.
That does not mean that Russian media doesn’t provide a useful perspective , and I have always really liked RT.
I have added Redacted to my youtube list!
the NYT is as disgusting as zeit, spiegel and the like in germany, the so-called qualitäsmedien
I’ve been watching Lee Camp for about a year now and he is a joy to watch – he kind of brings out the old Carlin vibe in me….
As for the NYT…. I have a daughter who still thinks Hillary is the Goddess of all that is Good, so to try to sway me from my wicked ways, she sent me the digital NYT as a Christmas present……but all is not lost, I spend an hour each evening doing their Sudoku and Crossword puzzles……
You could cancel your subscription. Despite it already been paid for.
Or, I hear it makes good bird cage liner….
I used to check and read some articles in the NYT. Eventually I could not tolerate the bias and propaganda and warmongering so I began simply looking at headlines. Now I can not tolerate having anything at all to do with the NYT. The reason for that is the total lack of truthfulness. The complete stenography of the ruling elites perspectives and objectives is blatant.
The corruption of our trusted institutions is advanced. The people who run things must be psychopaths.
I gave up reading the NYT after I saw what they did to Bernie and for Clinton. Believe it or not, the Camp article was one I glanced at after a long break…and I realized this rag is just the worst. We get home delivery and every day I wish I could just throw it into recycling before any one in the house reads it. The Russia-baiting neoliberal warmongering goes on and on.
Once upon a time, in the ’60s, a newsletter/magazine was put out that made its only task the gathering of NYT articles and tearing them apart for factual error and political bias. The name escapes me (Signs of the Times? Lies of the Times? Crimes of the Times?- anyone out there share 6+ decades with me?).
Nonetheless, it is a long tradition of those on the left end to distrust mainstream media. The sure sign of propaganda is not the lie or the omission, but the constant repetition/browbeating with the same message that lacks proof or any evidence, save for the word of the bureaucrats in FBI/CIA/NSA. This is Goebbels-ism, pure and simple. New to North Americans, old hat to Europe, death to 3rd-world populations and chosen victims.
Mike – Is this what you’re thinking of?
from Wikipedia:
The hit piece is as old as journalism but obviously the Times’ problem with Lee Camp–who I’ve never heard of…don’t get out much–is that he works for RT. The growing MSM obsession with alternative outlets like RT and the web shows that they are running scared. The great Watergate myth about the goodness and virtue of the American press is becoming quite tattered.
You can catch some of his stuff on YouTube….although after You Tube changed its policies he doesn’t post on there very much any more…
I’m still seeing quite a bit of his stuff on YouTube. And I wish he would come to Tucson for a live show.
@Arizona Slim – grab a beer, coffee sometime?
Heck yeah! Let’s do a Tucson NC meetup!
Any other Tucsonans in the house?
Let’s just propose a place and time and see what happens. (We could identify ourselves by wearing red NC letters?)
Funny those changes to the YouTube policies … they become more like the NY TImes, WaPo, VOA. I’m waiting for the next batch of upstarts to open another “channel” for The Good Stuff®
Yes, the MSM press is running scared.
The great American press Watergate myth began with two junior reporters, not senior reporters, perhaps indicating that even then the well-paid experienced press was not seeking the important story that might upset TPTB.
The press was quite supportive of the Vietnam war for a long time.
One of the Watergate reporters (Woodward) aged into a well connected voice for the elite.
The Times should be scared.
HRC got the candidate she wanted to run against (Trump, per the emails), had the backing of almost all mainstream print media, got to spend 2x what Trump did and still lost.
The Times is fighting for its financial survival as it is effectively losing its ability to project influence.
I suspect a future sign of Times desperation will be when they cut down the number of freely viewed articles from ten.
I used to subscribe to the Times, but after quitting the Times after the Nov election, now find I seldom touch the ten free article reads/month.
Who would want to read 10 articles by the NYT??? Why fill your head with lies and propaganda>
Yes it’s the journalist’s equivalent of slut-shaming. RT is apparently journalism’s cheap bordello, and its employees are most offensive (Sniff!) to the haute courtesans at the Times. This slut-shaming tactic is quite effective with the sort of middle aged, slightly anxious and culturally obedient professionals who are its target audience and core subscriber base.
The Times has been a snooty purveyor of false confidence for the East Coast not-quite-elite for generations. This is far from its first foray into propaganda. However…… they used to be better at it. The lies were less flagrant, the “but nonetheless” retreats from the obvious conclusions were longer, & allowed the reader more room to doubt. The efforts were more accurate; the massage of the medium was less ham-fisted. Thirty year ago, a clumsy hatchet piece like this might show up in Vanity Fair. But, not the Times.
Subscribe button on YouTube works to make sure you get Redacted Tonight without missing any. It is well worth looking for.
Media coverage of a topic one knows well is often an eye-opener–at best, the reporting is lacking in nuance; at worst, it is rife with outright agenda-driven falsehood. Most people have no sense of this until they experience it directly.
Journalism employment is down 50% from a peak in 1990ish. Those that still have jobs aren’t the troublemakers prepared to afflict the comfortable. If anything, reader-supported sites like this and maybe some nonprofit models like ProPublica will save the day.
I do appreciate a takedown that offers up a few good laughs. It will make a great reading for media literacy classes.
I agree completely. I’m a bit of an [immodest] expert on Obamacare. I believe most people would be willing to politely debate the actual issues. (In 2013, 50% of all healthcare costs went to the 5% sickest people in the country. Who/how do we pay for these people?) The truly egregious stuff (did you know 100% of your claims data – actual medical procedures/drugs – are collected by the federal government? Doesn’t even matter what kind of health care coverage you have.) I cannot stomach Obamacare/AHCA, whatever stories. Flat out lies coupled with as you say, “lack of nuance”.
In honor of one of my communication professor’s of old, I occasionally read the NYT to make sure my courses in using and recognizing propaganda are still holding up. Yep, same ole NYT that we studied in the classes.
streisand effect—-was not aware of lee (sorry)
and nyt attacks a comic of all things? nyt was rotting for years (judith miller, etc), trump derangement syndrome is the finishing touch
i’m one of the decreasing group who still buys the times at a newsstand , harder and harder to do, as newsstands in the city close. after the anti-bernie coverage i gave up on them for six of the seven days – sacrificing my favorite sunday activity, the bi-weekly crostic puzzle. i still buy them on friday because scott and dargis lead a team of really fine movie reviewers. but the op-ed page with krugman and brooks is nonsense and i skip that too.
People actually PAY for their propaganda.
Wow. This is sickening.
What is amazing is how the Times reporter in question seems to be anti social and paranoid, a terrible combination for the Paper of Record. Rather than talking to Camp, rather than talking to the Russians waiting for the rap show, he skirts around unnoticed, making things up. It’s downright bizarre behavior. One of the few impartial people the reporter talks to, the Stand manager, is sidelined. He twists the words out of context.
Lee Camp, I salute what you’re doing. Keep up the funny, buddy, you’re doing fine. Your show cracks me up.
Yes, sickening. This is the commentary that best expresses my feelings after reading the article.
Great to see Lee Camp on NC. For those of you who are not familiar with Lee and Redacted Tonight, his show is what the Daily Show under Jon Stewart could have been without any corporate constraints and censorship.
Another highly recommended comedian also smeared by “professional” journalists is Jimmy Dore:
Washington Post Reporter Dave Weigel Caught Publicly Lying About Conflicts (Part 1)
Agreed, Dore and Camp are comedy treasures, and provide keen political insight as well.
Why is the topic of Seth Rich being treated like it’s Holocaust denial or whatever? And how have speculations been “discredited” if no one knows who killed him?
that makes me scratch my head too—–the “lady doth protest” too much regarding ANYTHING Seth Rich related makes it look like there is smoke and smoldering embers.
Who wouldn’t want closure on a murder (release of police body cam images, etc)?
Because the topic of Seth Rich’s murder could lead to uncomfortable conclusions.
likewise the Kennedy assassinations, the attack on the USS Liberty, the World Trade Center attack, Syrian Gas Attacks, The Ukrainian Putch etc etc etc etc
The World Trade Center attack..?
Thanks Lee Camp and Naked Capitalism for publishing this. Lately I’ve been saying that the NY Times publishes a lot of propagandic nonsense but is still a “good paper”. I’ll have to rethink this. I enjoyed Mr Camp’s humor in this article (c:
Arguing about who killed Seth Rich is a fine way to discredit suggestions that he was the DNC leak.
Story does a fine job of demonstrating how much work it would be to generate fake news that stands up to modest investigation.
Last-century emdia are indeed concerned that they are losing influence. Some readers will recall the spy agency attack on RT, complaining taht they covered third parties.
Re-posted on Citizens’ Media TV
Please take that down. You didn’t get my permission to repost and you are violating my and Lee Camp’s copyright. I don’t want to have to send you a DMCA takedown notice.
In all this crazy, stupid Russian-baiting I’ve don’t believe I’ve once encountered any mention by Trump or anyone else of organizations like the mostly US government funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) – kicked out of Russia in 2015 for among other things
My guess is NC readers could significantly extend the list of “non-governmental organizations” at work to bring the blessings of Western democracy (and regime change) to Russia. If Ukraine was worth $5 billion just how much Russia would be worth!
And America!
Johannes Wahlström, “An Obituary of The New York Times“
That blog post when I read it was so eye opening. The email exchange is just awful, the NYT people felt no responsibility to “Correct the record”, because they are “The Record”.Post Modernism personified into propaganda.
This paragraph was eye opening:
Being part of the Banana republic, and being thanked for it by the leaders.
So it is not just I who have felt that the NYTs has degenerated further than I was used to. The NYTs was a poor man’s Sunday with his hot girl poor with grappa looking at the photos in 1972 murder scene cheap apartment Dewey & Emerson ROC. Photography in the paper back then was simply awesome. I care about photo editors. Sadly there is a difference between the standards of then and now far as photographs, & more.
I’ve been a journalist, feature writer, photographer & stand up, albeit for 3 years instead of 20. I died 5 times at Joe Mullen’s Comic Strip in the early ’80s. Joe gave me some pointers in the kitchen and I started to get better.
Point being I know how hard it is and how someone would be proud they were working and getting paid for doing it one way or the other, on stage or for the camera.
The best two books for reading between the lines in the newspapers are The Borne Identity by Forysyth? Ludlum? & The Hidden History of the Korean War by IF Stone. I read a lot of espionage after contributing to the Canadian “Inspector Gadget Show”.
I get the NYTs, & now the LATimes, and Naked Capitalism, and am reading J. Is for Junk
I watch Thom Hartmann, Lee Camp, (from before he was on RT) Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, and MSMBC, which is changing same as the NYTx.
I ‘ve critiqued Mr. Camp’s show and sent him a postcard offering to write, or be booked to the show since he can be very strong, but the cast mates don’t impress me, and it is a lot to write all your own material for TV.
Well we can be proud of Mr. Camp, and I appreciate Yves for printing him here. New York Times attacking one means you have really hit the big time. Really. It is a powerful paper.
If I had my way I’d hire the best from RT & MSNBC & Yves & David Cay Johnston know I’d want to put a show together for Finance & Economics.
I’ve no money for my channel, but I’m trying to get UNTV fixed. The UN having never properly claimed territory in TV Land needs to change for the best as we see good money going into terrible thinking.
Mr. Camp’s instructions on how to read propaganda, that appears more and more instead of less & less in publications we expect more from, are a worthy read. Thanks, Scott, Transcendian
Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda, pp. 50-51 (1928)
I think there was a wikileaks document showing that the Clinton campaign used its influence with the press to promote Trump, because they expected an easy victory over him in the general election.
Gore Vidal has written/spoken trenchant criticism of the NYT. I remember one time he was asked what the Times could do to appease him and he answered “fold”.
Thank you … thank you … thank you … As always, shedding light amidst the shadows.
It’s as if the NYT, back in the day, went after Arthur Miller for writing The Crucible?
I’m not comparing Jason to Arthur; although as another commenter suggested he does seem to channel a tad o’ George Carlin. For what it is worth, this article underscores the impression that the zeitgeist of the NYT these days is trending ‘Mussolini fascist’ type journalism? And that Mr. Zinoman is onto something!
This is a spot-on breakdown of a truly disgusting piece of garbage that has no place in print. I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry at the stupidity of it. NYT should be ashamed– Assuming that someone with half a brain is getting paid to make editing decisions there, it must be intentional.
We love you, Lee! You’re hilarious and brave.
And, personally, I’m a big fan of your Jesus Christ Superstar hair.
Then, if you’re masochistic and want to sicken yourself further, after the political propaganda come the flies on the dog turds: the “lifestyle” journalism at the Times, where the status signifiers of the Overclass and lumpen-bourgeoisie are validated in smug, self-satisfied detail, feature journalism as class warfare…
My Letter to the New York Times:
I Read your Timesaganda on comic Lee Camp (6/7/17) and
realized your new low in editorializing. Why on earth should
a comedian get an editorial? Why is so much attention to a
press-less two bit, small-time comedian who is “left-wing”
and obsessed, as you say, with a “tepid take” on conspiracy
theories on your radar? Since when does “the left” ever get
any press these days in your newspaper, unless it is acerbic
and negative?
Oh, now I see why you wrote it. Another left person to
target and stereotype. I get it.
It likely had more to do with Lee Camp being so popular
on RT. But giving space to the super-paranoid neoconservative
Jason Zinoman, a blogger, leads me to wonder, that besides
the Washington Post, have you too taken some of that $600
million offered up by the Pentagon to produce fake news or
editorials of Timesaganda?
Wouldn’t it be better if you wrote editorials on reporters
who delivered us fake news on “aluminum tubes” and those
“mushroom clouds,” or did everything they could to follow
the CIA line on Libya and Syria? Or the reporters who
now blame Russia, rather than looking at the condemning
content of the emails themselves–destroying a country
for gold and oil, to be shared with their fellow marauders–
I could go on with examples of this acerbic right wing
reporting that does nothing but harm millions of people
around the world, while creating bedlam and bloodshed
and endless wars–But I won’t. I’ll stop here and just say,
before you accuse a comedian, take a look at yourself.
Grant, great reply. I really would have liked to have had penned your letter’s content. Ending it the way you did by asking them to look at themselves really does clear a view of what happened. thanks.
When the NYT promoted the Iraq War they were officially dead to me. Same with the major networks ABC, NBC, and CBS. It took me a while to sour on MSNBC but the compromises network anchors make are all too clear over the last few years. Never again will I believe in the major media outlets. Never.
The NYT was willingly one of the biggest hammers in Debby Wasserman Shultz toolbox. Camp’s main crime is that he remains as merciless on sleazy Dumbocrats as he is on slightly more sleazy Rapepublicbums. The NYT , which values its corporate sponsors much more than it values either democracy or its readers, cannot handle the fact they are not in control of all information. I’m surprised that a hit on Lee Camp didn’t come earlier. The NYT has successfully blacked out the active suit by Berniecrats brought against the DNC. Watch those episodes if you want to know what inspired this particular hatchet job. The more you learn, the more the NYT fears you.
I just got done watching the Seth Rich bit on YouTube and I must say that Zinoman’s implications about its contents are rather staggering in their dishonesty.
One of the notable ways that the Rich conspiracy theory has differed from others has been elite media’s response to it. Usually they either ignore, laugh at, or express mild exasperation. But for some reason this one has sent them right off the rails. It seems you can’t even mention this particular one, skeptically and in passing, without elite media’s knives coming out. If you want the theory to go away then grossly misrepresenting the contents of a brief comedy bit doesn’t seem like the way to go about it.
I think you’re awesome, and that’s all I got to say about that
Lee,
we love you in NY, please come more often!!!
Thank you for being the “Dennis Miller, Janeane Garofalo, & Marc Maron were for our generation” … I would say you are more of George Carlin and Bill Hicks or even Lenny Bruce of our generation…
… the world needs more of what you do.
You nailed the rebuttal, Lee. It’s my opinion that the author of that NYT character assassination had an agenda without the facts to back it up. (You should be marginalized and destroyed, but for these completely fictional reasons; a “pffft, whatever” attitude delivering alternative facts.) Regular viewers of Redacted Tonight will immediately recognize the lies contained therein, but even a casual observer can spot the heavy-handed bullshit. He sure laid the fallacies on thick. What a shameless and shallow display of chicanery.
This Lee Camp piece is great. Must read.
The New York Times is for FICTION. Remember how long Jayson Blair got away with completely made up stories? Nobody with a working mind pays them any attention except to keep an eye our for MSM bullshit. If anything, that article just brought in more eyeballs to the show. But excellent take down on the smear job.
Outstanding!
Of course, whether it is the information garnered from this excellent blog posting, or Dan Rather giving us the very wrong information on the Zapruder film (on the JFK assassination many years ago) or highly edited views of Lee Oswald (proven wrong on the full, unedited version), it has all been fake news during my lifetime.
As an example:
Tuned into NPR this past week, heard that Moslems are good, American workers are bad, and don’t hire them, instead hire undocumented (or illegal) workers.
On Saturday morning, NPR’s dude with the stentorian voice did talk about a closed factory in Birmingham, but as usual never, ever discussed the circumstances as to why it closed, the greed and motivation surrounding those actions.
Several weeks previously, once again Warren Olney held forth on the importance of replacing American workers with foreign visa (scab) workers!? (He’s done quite a few of those shows over the past 17 years.)
This morning I heard that incessant mediocrity, Jaron Lanier, pontificating on 1984-like nonsense (not saying I disagree or that he isn’t correct, simply that belaboring the obvious is hardly special, and Lanier is naturally with Microsoft (Microsoft Research), about the most dishonest corporation I have ever been exposed to, and I have been exposed to many. (Microsoft’s so-called superstars never seem capable of producing anything of value: Nathan Myhrvold, supposedly some kind of genius, leaves there and founds a frigging sleazy patent troll firm; Balmer with that godawfully useless web site he’s recently created.)
And on it goes . . .
And I hear there’s a Real News blackout around the nation on those arrested Moslem doctors in Michigan????
NYT and the WSJ BOTH have lowered their journalism standards. Little “investigating” and lots of regurgitation. I trust my weekly Shoppers Rag more for truth.
RRH
Missed the hit piece the other day, but indeed it was a hit piece, and I noticed that comments were not enabled.
WOW! Congrats Lee! A hit piece in a major MSM venue? You have arrived! lmao
An article like the nyt’s would’ve had me running for Google to find you – ‘cept I already know {and love} you. :) I’ve learned a helluva lot from you these past 2 years. Thank You!
Please, please tell me that your mother taught you good manners and that you’ve already sent the nyt a gushing letter of thanks for the free publicity?! Maybe a page ripped out of the OED?
This is great, NYT giving free publicity for Lee Camp – look what they did for Trump. Redacted should finally get a decent audience.
I started watching Redacted during the election. It’s a good and gutsy show. To my shock he was the only one to point out that both the candidates were good friends of billionaire convicted pedo Jeffrey Epstein (also a close friend of Prince Andrew.) Funny that the NYT CEO is now Mark Thompson, formerly BBC DG, the guy that commissioned the tribute to the late Jimmy Saville and tried to suppress the Newsnight expose. You can see why he wouldn’t find Lee Camp funny.
BTW, for years I used to enjoy listening to BBC Radio 4′ s satirical shows, even after moving to the US, but I finally gave up on the BBC entirely last year. The BBC at least used to give a good veneer of balance in their broadcasting, but now it’s full on propaganda. Their “satirical” shows constantly and vehemently pushed the line that Corbyn was unelectable, so while they still mocked May, they essentially pumped the message that there was no use voting for anyone else. Well ha bloody ha to them.
And when it gets to using comedy shows for such matters, don’t forget the machine for Hillary that was and still is Late Night TV (including John Oliver, who is a Ben Elton in the making in my opinion – just look at his coverage of Corbyn.) The only smile I got on the miserable day Trump was elected was when that Kissenger-loving Colbert cried. Don’t get me started on Trevor Noah…
In terms of NYT fake news and alternative facts, I’d also recommend a documentary called “The Witness” about the Kitty Genovese murder in the early 60s. They’ve been at it a long long time.
John Oliver, I believe, single handedly destroyed Jill Stein’s chances when he mocked her for making promises that could never be. Like politicians don’t make promises. The clincher was when he played her albums, pretty bad stuff. Almost made me regret having voted for her.
Character Assassination is a good way to get around discussing issues, and it is epidemic these days. The nation has become a cliquey high school, with the in-crowd mocking the “losers”. Notice “loser” is one of Trumpenstien’s favorite words.
This is fantastic, Lee! Great job and well done. NYT has been propagandizing and doing sloppy journalism for as long as I can remember. They even lied about the Kitty Genovese story! Don’t forget about Jayson Blair and what he was allowed to get away with! Publishing lie after lie before finally getting caught. The NYT is rag for neocon and neoliberal agenda pushing.
I didn’t read your whole article, nor did I read the NYT article, because I didn’t need to go any further than the NYT’s first sentence.
Here’s the part I take issue with:
“…the discredited conspiracy theory that it wasn’t Russian hackers who leaked emails during the presidential election but Seth Rich…”
And here’s why:
Who says this is a “conspiracy theory,” and who says it’s “discredited”? Where’s the proof? I don’t know if it is or it isn’t, but this is a statement the author wants his readers to accept as undisputed fact, and everything past this point is based on this unsupported assumption.
“I” don’t know if this statement is true or false or even relevant, and I hardly care. What does annoy me though is that every news story uses this technique, and every interviewer accepts the interviewee’s opening statement and at best only takes argument with the “therefore’s.”
Were “I” in the media (God forbid), I’d have a very hard time letting any guest get past the first sentence in an interview without demanding credible proof, and our current media does us a disservice by letting any unsupported statements go unchallenged.
In any event, any publicity is good, and you’ll probably benefit from the exposure.
Jim B.
Well said, Jim–thank you! ????
The anonymous, far-reaching Propornot gang is on the loose again! Caitlin Johnstone, Tim Black, Lee Camp and other noteworthy alt media sources are getting smeared by the ghoulish phantoms of attack dog media. Consider it a badge of honor; it means that you are making a difference and changing the world, well, definitely The Narrative.
“McCarthyism” is the poisonous weapon of an equally poisonous national policy — unipolarism. Neoliberalism is pedestaled as Natural Law. It’s an antiquated ideology reminicent of the Divine Right of Kings:
“The main way of instilling obedience, however, was propaganda. Through teaching, preaching and writing, the message was sent that sedition was morally wrong, un-Christian, and would result in divine retribution. Even those who escaped punishment in this life would burn in hell fire.”
https://faculty.history.wisc.edu/sommerville/367/367-04.htm
Oliver Stone (the Big Daddy of critical thinking and alternative perspectives) just released The Putin Interviews, the first of which aired last night, offering a refreshingly frank and revealing philosophical discussion about the futility of unipolarism, which, when you consider the methods of control being used today, is anything but God-like:
(destabilization of regions/mass migration, bloody dictatorial coups, economic warfare via “austerity” tactics, medical tyranny via mass vaccination programs/questionable Pharma, perversion of seeds/control of agriculture, corrosion of educational systems, watchdog turned agenda-driven attack dog media, increased militarized police force, prisons for profit, disregard for environmental health, dismantling of democratic structures, mass surveillance, drone warfare)…
It basically boils down to a declaration of war on humanity itself!
Highlight of Putin’s remarks:
“Finally, the Russian president argued that the US has “got a false sense that it is able to do everything without any consequences,” in particular after the Soviet Union’s collapse.
“In such a situation, a man or a country begins to make mistakes… The state begins to function ineffectively. One mistake follows another. That is the trap in which, as I believe, the United States got caught into,” Putin reflected.
“I believe that if you think you are the only world power, trying to impose on the whole nation the idea of their exclusiveness, this creates an imperialistic mentality in society, which in turn requires an adequate foreign policy expected by society. And the country’s leaders are forced to follow this logic. And in practice this might go contrary to the interest of the Americans…. It demonstrates it’s impossible to control everything.””
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-13/putin-warns-america-has-false-sense-it-can-do-anything-without-consequences
Come on. Let’s not go all loony here.
I really hope your children (if you have any) don’t get whooping cough because you are afraid of Big Pharma or some such.
(It’s amazing how the Natural Medicine crowd/Homeopaths sure seem to charge a lot of money for water in little bottles, shining colored lights in people’s eyes, and the like).
In the hospital for three months after a motorcycle accident. Down the hall, an elderly lady would moan all night long, Oiy, Oiy, Oiy. Suddenly it stopped. I asked my nurse if the old dear had died. She said, no they just took her off her medication. So much for your Big Pharma Greed Monkeys
Wow. Thanks Lee, for reminding me of why I unsubscribed from the NYT last year. After having followed your comedy for several years now, I didn’t recognize it at all in that ridiculous column. There’s no doubt that the mainstream news sites are running scared these days, if they feel the need to write such a ludicrous screed about a comedian in an attempt to remain relevant. I, for one, will not be sorry to see the NYT fade from existence, along with the establishment politicians, government, and corporations that they clearly serve. Keep fighting.
Lee,
I love your comedy and it was a pleasure watching you and your Redacted Tonight co-stars perform in NYC back in 2015. Don’t let those jerks at the NYT get you down! You have a ton of talent and I think your show wipes the floors with its competitors.
Best regards,
The Kingfish
I’ve long appreciated Lee Camp even though I rarely take the time to watch him, because I prefer to spend what little time I’ve got getting more per minute, reading progressive policy experts and following what Bernie Sanders has inspired and continues to inspire. But I watched a few shows to see if his support for Bernie was opportunistic or real (it’s real). Like the Young Turks (Cenk Uyghur) you don’t have to admire or even greatly enjoy them, to thank them for what they doing.
Lee Camp, like Jimmy Dore, is a good guy who’s doing important work getting regular people to see how important policy, politics and progressive policy are to everyone’s daily lives and the future, and what we need to fix.
Whether you prefer Camp, Abby Martin, Jimmy Dore, Nina Turner, Nomiki Konst, Ben Jealous, Rev. Barber, Tressie McMillon Cottom, Noah McCormack, Dean Baker, Sandy Darity, the dirtbag left, or most of the often brilliant people that Naked Capitalism sends you to, these are good guys doing important work, in good faith, against all kinds of odds.
The New York Times lost Joseph Stiglitz, promoted David Leonhardt, shills for war and fights the good guys because it is still the paper of record, but now it’s the paper of record for an unsustainable status quo of finance capitalism, wars on fair trade, labor and universal public services, it’s a paper that asked readers to come up with positive stories it could tell about Donald Trump, that is trying to keep not just the Democratic establishment alive and promote presidential candidates like Andrew Cuomo, but is trying to keep the Republican establishment alive too, they hired Bret Stephens, they support Muslim and millennial bashing, as well as the Saudi agenda and Israel’s occupation (you never see a Palestinian or supporter authoring articles).
The New York Times is the paper of record of neocon neoliberalism, for an economy that is extractive, fragile, stagnant and promoting ever more inequality – the smartest guys in the room keep riding tigers again and again, after every disaster and “who could have known”; fine with risking everyone’s futures, to keep hitting the political punchbowl. One of my favorite tricks at which the New York Times excels, is coming out against policy, as soon as it’s too late, to preserve their lib rag rep.
My admiration for Lee Camp has gone up after reading his brilliant take down of New York Times reporting on him, not because he’s one of my heroes, but because such well written and devastatingly illustrative examples are rare and helpful, and Lee Camp shows his smarts here.
This seems like a good time to share something I read on the on-line version of The New York Times this past Sunday. It was the lead article in the front left column. The article was about conflicts in the Democratic Party. The first line: “There is a growing tension between the party’s ascendant MILITANT WING, inspired by Bernie Sanders, and Democrats in conservative-leaning terrain.” (I added all caps.) The “reporters” were Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin.
Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of militant: combative and aggressive in support of a political or social cause, and typically favoring extreme, violent, or confrontational methods.
I guess if you believe in economic and social justice, then that qualifies you as a militant according to The New York Times. Good to know.
When your goal is making the world safe for billionaires social justice does seem a bit militant. Ethnic Privilege is the basis of all New York Times opinion.
In 1964 they arrested Lenny Bruce.
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/50-years-ago-lenny-bruces-arrest-no-joking-matter/
In 1972 they arrested George Carlin.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/celebrity/hollywood/george-carlin
And there’ve been others. History has a way of being unflattering to those who bully, smear and censor artists and truth-tellers. And also, people who have talent of their own never stoop to that level, because they don’t like crap. Just sayin’.
Here in LA, Spectrum/Time Warner cable has reduced the image of the RT channel from a normal HD view to a shrunken, blurry, letterboxed view. We can only watch Lee on YouTube now. The censorship runs deep.
Also note Lee and friends recently did two sold-out shows at The Laugh Factory here, one of the most important comedy venues in the country, and he’s constantly touring all over the nation. The Times piece makes it sound like he barely gets to perform anywhere. Overall, this rebuttal to the NYT hit piece is much appreciated. (My only caveat is I do believe Seth Rich leaked to Wikileaks and was killed for it; Assange came very close to saying so by offering a reward for info about his death.) Love from the Left Coast!
Wow, that’s appalling (re Spectrum/Time Warner).
It happened in the last few months. All the other channels look normal!
Likewise Roku has removed RT from its lineup. The RT icon is still there but when you click it you get “This channel is no longer available” Mind you it will get worse. Therese May’s ominous words about “No place for extremism on the Internet.” No doubt any challenge to the powers that be will be viewed as extremism.
Very nice takedown. I think NC readers have become used to identifying this stuff, but it’s still a useful long form analysis for anyone that needs a refresher.
The “two Russian guys laughing outside” bit is classic. I think you should adopt that one. I’m sure you can find a couple of Russians who are willing to stand outside the NYT office (for example) and laugh in sinister fashion.
Lee, I never miss watching your show on YT, or fail to repost it on FB. No problem with your finding a home on RT, though I wish American media wasn’t completely corporate controlled. But then, I wish too that the future wasn’t a bleak feudalistic nightmare. So much for wishes. Someday, when the remnants of humanity pour through our ruins, I hope that future archeologists and historians uncover your wit and insightful dialogues and give you the credit you deserve. Thanks for your moments of clarity and humor. Please book a Tampa Bay gig. We Floridians need a break.
zinoman most likely is a tribal operative at a tribal media joint.
both most likely work for the CIA and/or Israel.
what else do you expect.
It is not a question of lies and truth. It is a question of how to start your fireplace and NYTimes is great for that.
I am a regular viewer of Lee Camp. His correspondents are young, funny with a profound satire.
I never had much respect for the NY Times. Some sections, like science, recipes and art are good, but for politics and international affairs, it is pure USG propaganda. In fact I only read it to know what the elites want us to believe.
The primary campaign and then election campaign really showed the NY Times, and what it’s readers, in the comments sections, are. Ignorant, biased, tribalists, pushing their deranged emotional psychosis, for the lying, cheating criminal, Hillary Clinton. The same for Obama, who I voted for once. They think because he has manners and speaks well, that he walks on water, when in reality, he walks all over small Arab countries, by drone bombing them.
The Times readers like to think they are smarter than Trump’s followers, but in reality, they are as aggressive, violent (toward Sanders supporters and 3rd party candidates) bullies and when it suits them, misogynists toward Jill Stein and arrogant, ruthless cheaters. In fact I can say that I truly as driven away from the Dem Party after over 4 decades of voting straight Dem down the line, by their elites and unquestioning followers. Happy to be gone. #DemExit and for the rest of my time I will work to defeat that party of scumbags and frauds.
I shared it with some distasteful words on every Russia article in the New York Times Facebook. There were like 6 or 8 in a row. I also remanded it on minds and put 900 points on it. Then I shared it all over on Facebook. Now Lee needs to make a cool video chewing their ass and making them look stupid so I can share that.
Excellent journalism Lee and your writing shows the New York Times just how a real journalist does his job.I enjoy Redacted Tonight and watch both your in depth interviews on Thursday of each week and the satirical and very funny episodes on Friday of each week.I appreciate the work that you do for both and thank you very much for both.
“I don’t know what Jason Zinoman looks like, but I’m sure it’s awesome.”
Totally awesome. The long lost twin brothers:
Henry Zinoman
https://tantor-site-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/images/authors/Zinoman_J.jpg
Jason Spencer
http://www.lebanondemocrat.com/image/2016/10/14/x700_q30/eraserhead-1977-jpg.jpg
Both played by Jack Nance in Eraserhead.
apropos smear campaigns and Russophobia
Mark Ames on Mother Jones
http://exiledonline.com/russia-blog-7-when-mother-jones-was-investigated-for-spreading-kremlin-disinformation/
Looks like it is past time for the Los Angeles Times to become the ‘paper of record’:
The U.S. is no stranger to interfering in the elections of other countries
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-us-intervention-foreign-elections-20161213-story.html
IIRC, sometime during the Bush years, the NYT modified a quote without indication, effectively reversing its meaning. When called out by the quoted individual, their response was something along the lines that they reserved the right to do so. I was gobsmacked — it’s the only fitting word. I fired the NYT on the spot.
I’ve tried a few times to find some mention of this on the intertubes, but no luck so far. Maybe if I used Google…
Times issued a correction about Wahl.
Correction: June 14, 2017
An earlier version of this article described incorrectly Liz Wahl’s departure as an anchor from RT America. She was an employee during the gestation of the show “Redacted Tonight,” but quit the network before its premiere, not after. The article also described incorrectly two comedians who performed with Lee Camp at a stand-up show at the Cutting Room last month. Only one was a correspondent for “Redacted Tonight,” which Mr. Camp hosts, not both.
So the liberal press still haven’t learned anything from the election, Lee? Hardly surprising. The liberal Democrats haven’t, either. That’s the problem with liberalism. Prize the liberty of the individual above all other things and shit happens- like Trump. And predatory capitalism. These are sad times for social democrats. I wish the liberals would bugger off and take their economic “conservative” soul mates with them.
#BDSNYT
Am I the only lurker old enough to remember paper tiger tv calling the nyt a penny saver for the rich?
You compare the New York Times’ coverage of Trump and Sanders. Consider that the smear tactics that you ran into suggest another factor, possibly more important, in Trump’s success: maybe it is the use of such tactics that reduces the credibility and influence of such outlets.