Ira Glass will always be my media hero. God, I love him.

Rachel Sklar, for today’s Observer rebuttal!!

rachel sklar cause she’s hot

My hero is also Bill Moyers, for his work in eagerly investigating the sex lives of both Johnson and Goldwater political aides, active collusion with J. Edgar Hoover in the illegal wiretapping of Martin Luther King Jr., and his role as willing spokesman for the Vietnam tragedy at its most operationally dysfunctional. Oh wait, that’s why I despise Bill Moyers and consider him a hypocritical moral dwarf cum partisan hatchetman.

Where does Mediaite find these guys? Do they just give away “columnist” positions to any Liberal who signs up? I think one (maybe two) of the list her could be describe as something other than, “strongly liberally biased,” or “advocate for left-wing opinion.”

Ah well… at least this is APPROPRIATELY in the “Columnists” section, so it’s stated that this is Mr. Roker’s opinion.

As for my “media heroes.” None. They all have their flaws and faults… and the moment we get into hero worship, is the moment we lose our common sense and ability to criticize. There are a lot of folks I like to watch, and who’s opinions in find interesting or helpful… but “hero,” certainly not.

@ Pat Doherty — Not to excuse anything Moyers *may* have done (would love some clips here). But if I were to hold every living (white) person accountable for their acts, thoughts, passive or active behaviors, and (mis)deeds in the 1960s, I’d be left with an incredibly thin list of citizens over 50 that I could even remotely respect.

That said, I’ll do a little more research on Moyers before I cross him off my list. You’re more than welcome to post any balanced reporting on this. I give people the benefit of the doubt, especially when current deeds rise far above their past. Selfish, I know, but I’m much more interested in what Moyers has been doing in *my* lifetime.

@ImNotBlue — I’d love to see your list. I’m actually a very open-minded “columnist.”

A pretty decent list. Interesting at least. The other “list” here you request would consist of full-time haters. Uneducated. Uninformed. Uncultured. Goose-stepping goons of conformity. A quivering mass of ignoble sadness and blighted phlegm. We have enough of that out there already. They set very low standards for themselves – and then consistently fail to achieve them.

http://www.slate.com/id/2211601/

http://www.slate.com/id/2213035/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/18/AR2009021803819.html?hpid=topnews

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123517518496237441.html

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/changing_channels/2009/02/bill-moyers-homophobic-history.html

http://gawker.com/5159967/pbs-host-suddenly-remembers-his-homo-hunt

http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/churchfinalreportIIIb.htm

Past actions deserve to be measured by context and moral proportionality, regardless of skin color. This isn’t George W. Bush skipping out on the National Guard and then declaring he has what it takes to be commander-in-chief. That’s a youthful transgression. This isn’t John Kerry smearing his fellow Vietnam veterans and then droning on endlessly 35 years later about his “Band of Brothers.” That’s a youthful transgression. This isn’t Jimmy Carter announcing he had “lust in his heart.” I could go on.
Moyers is a man who has actively posited himself as the “conscience of the media” for decades, the one incorruptible member of the Fourth Estate exposing and pushing back against government illegality and overreach. Yet as LBJ’s top aide, de facto White House Chief of Staff, and eventual press secretary, there was no one more eager to intimidate the media and harass (often by extra-legal means) those who might disturb the president’s agenda. The fact that Moyers now, more or less, attacks people whom you find politically distasteful doesn’t make him a good person or begin to whitewash his sins. He is guilty of an intrinsically wicked hypocrisy, and the treatment of this degenerate as some type of moral arbiter is frankly disgusting.

P.S. Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard has documented how Moyers, from his gilded perch at PBS, has enriched himself and his ideological allies on the public dime. I didn’t link those stories since they come from a conservative publication and thought you might dismiss them outright.

Nachi wrote, apparently without a single twinge of irony:

A pretty decent list. Interesting at least. The other “list” here you request would consist of full-time haters. Uneducated. Uninformed. Uncultured. Goose-stepping goons of conformity. A quivering mass of ignoble sadness and blighted phlegm. We have enough of that out there already. They set very low standards for themselves – and then consistently fail to achieve them.

Yeah, Nachi. Those doggone “full-time haters.” We don’t need any of them around here.

Raymond Leon Roker says:
December 3, 2009 at 11:51 am

Well, as I said before… I don’t really have any media “heroes.” It’s just entertainment… info-tainment at best. And to put “hero” status on these glorified actors is not something I’m prepared to do.

That said, I’ve thought about this all day, and have a short list of my “favorites.”

Bill O’Reilly – I appreciate that he’s fearless and will confront virtually anyone about virtually anything. I don’t always agree with him, and sometimes think he’s more under-informed than he should be (or at least, more argumentative than he should be)… but I appreciate his in-your-face attitude.

Bob Beckle – Bob has a similar quality to O’Reilly in that he’s fearless, and will get in anyone’s face about anything. He argues well, will do a good recitation of left-wing talking points, and is pretty funny at the same time.

Bernie Goldberg – I turn to Bernie for informed media criticism. Sometimes he’s a little harsh or goofy, but overall I find him very enjoyable to watch or read.

Juan Williams & Lanny Davis – They both have taken on the roles of “realistic” Democrats in their commentary. They’re never gushing, and provide well thought highbrow commentary, that doesn’t resort to the “well, everyone else is stupid,” or the “what do you expect, we’re great” lines that so many other pundits fall into.

South Park – Political humor at its most disgusting. I don’t always agree (and their most recent season left a lot to be desired), but their common sense approach to politics is probably closest to my own.

Jake Tapper and Brian Ross – They’re one of the few journalists right now who will go face first into any controversy, not tip his hand one way or another politically, and write about what’s important… not just what’s “convenient.” Very respectable journalists.

Megyn Kelly – Super smart, gorgeous, and personable… a really great television personality. She does straight news with the best of them, and can throw a little opinion around when she needs to. Best of all, she’s got real law experience, and isn’t afraid to back down when talking about it… even when she disagrees with the law, or emotion would suggest a different result, she can ignore that and give the true legal rationale… and that’s important.

Those are the people I most respect, right now… and who I look forward to hearing from. But as I said, if you have too much faith in them, they’ll surely let you down… just like any other television performer.

Ray – Wasn’t it only a few weeks ago that Rachel Maddow went on TV claiming that Rush Limbaugh had made certain racists statements, which YOU acknowledged were made up? And yet you credit her with “Not allowing a poorly researched or factually porous statement—by the Right or Left—to waft by without getting swatted down”??? Is this selective memory or just blind adoration?

ImNotBlue, I like some of your observations but probably the one about Goldbery resonates with me the most. He worked in the belly of the beast at CBS with that half man-half alien Dan Rather and lived to tell the story. By far he’s the best prepared and most entertaining to listen too. I like Dennis Miller as well. He’s honest to a fault and doesn’t let the fact he’s in Hollyweird to affect his judgment. Like him or not Rush Limbaugh is pure genius in the sense that he created himself and has become uber successful. Another superstar is Matt Drudge. He knows how to get the liberal zombie dander up into a rage filled fest.

Never mind the ideological tilt of these “media heroes.” They’re all so wearily predictable. Now let me get this straight: a columnist for Mediasite, a Web property, picks precisely one “media hero” (Huffington) who has any Web presence whatsoever. Tellingly, Mr. Roker, in praising Huffington, does not refer to anything Huffington has written, only to her Web site. The only other writer in the bunch is Zakaria, and Roker makes no mention of his writing, either. Therefore, I guess the only way to be a “media hero” is to spend your time — as does Huffington — in front of a TV camera.

Bill Moyers? Give me a break. When was the last time Roker, or any one else at Mediasite for that matter, actually sat down and watched one of Moyers’ painfully earnest documentaries. It’s telling that the photo of Moyers is at least 20 years old.

Funny, I thought Mediaste was supposed to offer an insightful look into ALL media, print, broadcast and online. I also thought Mediasite would have top-flight columnists attracting users because of their savvy and compelling opinions. When I read a list of “media heroes” I expect to see some names I’ve never heard before. You guys are the media experts, remember? I don’t expect to read a list culled from the 200 best-known “journalists” in America.

Ah, but here’s the rub. My daddy’s not a TV star. I don’t get columnist slots handed to me because I won the genetic lottery and attend the right cocktail parties with Abrams, Sklar and co. It’s a shame. There are people out there who actually have interesting things to say about the media but are precluded from doing so because they are not properly connected. Oh, well. There are bigger crimes on the planet. Maybe next time Mr. Roker will put a little more thought into his next list of “media heroes.” Peace.

@Greendale — I watch Bill Moyers weekly on PBS. My respect from him is totally current. I picked the vintage photo to show his history. Stewart is a writer (a published author and for his show). Ifill is an author. And so is Huffington, who writes countless Op-Eds and books. Even so, you don’t have to be toiling away at a keyboard to be a hero on my list. I didn’t catch your list of “names I’ve never heard before.” I’d love to get turned onto some.

@freetrademan — I didn’t catch Maddow railing on Limbaugh for being a racist—I may have missed that. I either tune her out when she drifts onto Rush or have little recollection of her giving him much airtime at all. But I’ve heard her on numerous occasions set the record straight over something she got wrong.

And a hero doesn’t ever have to mean blind adoration, btw.

@ImNotBlue — We can agree on South Park. Cheers.