ABC’s The Note: It Was All A Ploy To Upset Bloggers
ABC’s The Note: It Was All A Ploy To Upset Bloggers
Yesterday, we mentioned The Note’s self-professed lack of interest in the Dubai ports issue. They responded in this morning’s edition:
Today is:
… The end of The Note’s latest experiment in which we see how easy it is to get liberal bloggers and e-mailers mad at us, and the beginning of the experiment in which we see how mad they get when we joke about their getting mad. LINK (We particularly recommend post #26.)
For the record, we’re not mad that The Note is joking about us being mad. We did find it strange, however, that they spend time devising “experiments” to “see how easy it is to get liberal bloggers and e-mailers mad at us.” (Do they think it’s that hard?)
Are experiments on bloggers really more interesting than the ports deal? We don’t get it. But that’s why they’re “the most influential tip sheet in Washington,” and we’re just Googling monkeys.
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[...] UPDATE: The Note’s response to our post, and our subsequent response, is here. [...]
February 28th, 2006 at 3:01 pmas of yesterday, Powerliars have barely mentioned this issue. No surprise.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:05 pmSummary:
“We had nothing else better to do than fake-report the seriousness of a large news item to satisfy our own partisan sneakiness and try to prove a point that really only proves that we are not journalists, but immature frat-boys seeing if we can make the pledges dance like monkeys. Dance, monkey! Dance!”
February 28th, 2006 at 3:06 pmHey, It’s working gang!
February 28th, 2006 at 3:07 pmIf a major news organization has to spend time and energy trying to defuse free speech, then their corporate sponsors must be sweating!!
It’s a juggernaut!
It’s a rockslide!
TP was down for awhile here in my neighborhood, I’m choosing to believe it was all the heavy traffic today.
There’s a lot going down, let’s ride this wave to the beach!!
Very bizarre. The Note is smart enough to see the status quo they’re tied to (Bush, Cheney, the neocons, the Iraq war, etc.) is winding down, so they have lots of free time on their hands.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:10 pmYou mean Karl paid somebody to post here and they paid somebody to read this? I wonder if some troll is double dipping on the bosses?
February 28th, 2006 at 3:12 pmLame!
February 28th, 2006 at 3:12 pmHow nice!!!!
Bless their hearts!!!
(Those from the South know what I mean)
February 28th, 2006 at 3:18 pmSo, they wasted the time of writers, editors and web programers to try and make people on the left mad?
What a waste of time energy and money.
So, you intentionally tried to make people mad by stating that one of the most important news topics right now is not news. Sorry dumb fvcks, that pissed off my card carrying republican, conservative, righty dad.
Your little experiment just cost you ratings.
I sent this to everybody I know. And I know more than just liberal Democrats. Everybody is talking about this story, not just people on the left.
Dumbasses.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:22 pmExperiment my behind! It’s just another way to distract the public, including us, from the real issues.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:25 pmTo Halperin et al., politics has nothing to do with anyone’s real life — it’s all just a jolly game played by the upper crust in their summer whites. Thirteen hundred dead in Iraq violence in a week? Poor people in New Orleans still unable to get broken bones set six months after Katrina? Oh, Biff, stop being such a gloomy gus. Have another bloody and come play badminton!
February 28th, 2006 at 3:27 pminteresting…
February 28th, 2006 at 3:28 pmDoes the note do such experiments to see if they can enrage the reactionary right? No? Why not?
February 28th, 2006 at 3:30 pmI, for one, don’t believe it was an “experiment” on liberal bloggers at all.
For one reason, the hue and cry about the ports deal is more shrill from the right. If they were seriously intending to get a rise out of left bloggers, they would have picked a partisan issue.
Let’s face reality: The Note got caught in an embarrassing admission of disinterest about a matter involving national security, and to cover their sorry asses, they claim they were “just kidding”. Which is eight year old behavior.
They don’t have the spine to stand by their own political apathy. “Lame” doesn’t even cover it.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:30 pmThe Note can choose to be irrelevant. No wonder they are not respected.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:31 pmMethinks they do protest too loudly!
What better advertisement do we need?
Keep up the good work TP. You do the pitching and collectively we commenters will knock the ball out of the park and the slimy crooks out of office.
WAY TO GO!
February 28th, 2006 at 3:38 pmi agree with you, ken ashford #14, and i wonder the same with the watcher #13…
but, this, from the note, also confuses me:
— Elizabeth Vargas’ exclusive White House interview with President Bush, conducted right before he leaves for his commanding overseas trip.
“commanding”? what does that mean? is this more brown nosing?
February 28th, 2006 at 3:41 pmoh, i get it now …
Before seeing the original ThinkProgress item, I didn’t even know what ‘The Note’ was (and I’m still unsure), but as far as reading this followup item, I can only share with you what it made me think of (strangely)…
That movie, I think titled ‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure’ (or something like that), where Pee Wee Herman falls off his bike in front of the other kids, but jumps right to his feet and proclaims:
“I meant to do that!”
February 28th, 2006 at 3:41 pmWho is paying attention to ABC? Or, NBC, or CBS, or NPR? I’m tired of them, the ennui is complete. That’s what they’re really crying about. The impirical data is in: Mainstream Media is obsolete, a thing of the past, kaput, gone for good.
Nice try though, but it doesn’t work anymore. Not that blogging is the place to be; however, listening to the ‘news’ is old, gone, and forgotten.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:42 pmIt is a shame to waste that “Zzzzzzzzzz”. Maybe they could use it to describe ABC Nightly News.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:42 pmconstructive way to spend your time, guys…
February 28th, 2006 at 3:47 pmFirst – I found this site through the Note’s comment, so I’m glad I was steered this way.
Second – It’s so obvious that the Note looked bad with their “ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz” statement about Dubai Ports that they had to lie today, by saying it was really just a joke to stir up liberals. They WERE NOT doing an experiment (obviously). They are lying today to cover their ass so they don’t look as out of touch as they really are.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:50 pmhttp://www.harpers.org/SexualAssault.html#2006-02-22-636515767950864E8
You know… Maybe humanity just isn’t ready for what America was supposed to be.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:53 pmNote to self – do not read The Note
February 28th, 2006 at 3:54 pmI remember comparing the ‘Note’ to Oprah Winfrey Bloggers.
Not only did the Experiment FAIL, it was stupid to begin with, it has backfired in the Worst way.
They want you to think Bloggers are just Chumps. Dont believe it.
Bloggers expose them for the Flip-floppping self-promoting Liars that they are.
Guess What?
February 28th, 2006 at 3:58 pmHahahahahaaaaaa!
The Note is the Naught!
A ploy.
February 28th, 2006 at 3:59 pmBoy is that a Good way to Hide Stupidity or What?
Nice job by the braintrust over at The Note in turning more of their readership onto the liberal (i.e. truthtelling) blogs that they attempt so boldly to annoy. How to undermine your credibility and lose readership in one fell swoop. You can’t make this shi* up.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:01 pmThis is the “I was just testing you” dodge. Sure you were. Now FOAD you wastes of protoplasm.
[stands with smug look while 'The Note' has to look up "protoplasm" on wikipedia ... stands with even smugger look while 'The Note' has to look up half the words they just read in the widipedia article on "protoplasm"]
While they’re at it, they can ignore this, too. You know they want to ….
February 28th, 2006 at 4:02 pm.
LOL at the ‘Naught’(Note) We dont ever get Mad. The ones that got MAD were the Same FAUX MSM watchers!!
LAMERS @ the Note;
PS Information Junkies aren’t fooled by the MSM
WE dont watch it =)
Good luck with that PISS off the Blogger ‘Ploy’
February 28th, 2006 at 4:03 pmBut hey you can prolly expect the people, the Neo-con Crowd, to get really Pissed though!
Keep up the Good WORK the Naught!
you help us Bushs Poll ratings Greatly!
Woooooooo!!!
I quit watch ABC years ago. This just confirms my feelings that their farts circulate in their brains causing them to have no idea what is going on in the world.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:05 pmThe Rove Hate machine has torpedoed itself once again.
Implosion Shortly
February 28th, 2006 at 4:05 pmFirst – I found this site through the Note’s comment, so I’m glad I was steered this way.
Welcome, Nathan. The good guys welcome you into the fold.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:11 pm# 8 I will echo you
February 28th, 2006 at 4:21 pmZZZZZZZZZZ, Wake me up when you have something that will really make a difference.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:23 pmNo.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:25 pmI guess thats what happens to some when you get picked up by a big company and have a steady paycheck. You get lazy, quality of production goes down, goof off, play games, etc. NIce to know there time is well spent covering the big stories. Can you imagine of there were career journalists that got together and decided to really work? They would break stories that would make their careers outshine everyone else’s.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:28 pm“The Note” is the blank post-it of the news world.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:29 pmI love it when a nation simultaneously awakes. It’s almost here. A little revolution every now and then is a good thing don’t you think?
Thank you Think Progress for your diligence. And thank you to all the people that take the time to post here and on other similar sites. It simply means you give a shit!
As for “The Note”, well…. a turd is a turd is a turd.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:32 pmAdd me to the list of those who had never even heard of “The Note” before this. Why would a “news” site be trying to annoy a group of people, anyway ? What does this say about them ? Do they plan to get the goat of conservative blogs as well ? I for one, question their professional qualifications.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:34 pmIf they wanted to piss off bloggers they could fine a better way. They were just asleep at the wheel – zzzzzz.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:34 pmThe Note is the most infl…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…with Chris Matthews.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:36 pmWhat a bunch of smoke and mirrors. Like we see from the trolls here, a whole bunch of wasted time. BTW, what’s the Note. No really, I’ve never heard of it.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:42 pm#42 – BTW, what’s the Note. No really, I’ve never heard of it.
Are you saying that just to piss them off? :p
February 28th, 2006 at 4:47 pmI guess that means that ABC is officially not part of the Liberal Media. No one in their right mind would run an experiment to see how quickly they could piss off their core customers. It’s not even an action of a neutral party. So, let’s hear no more about the “liberal” main stream media.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:51 pmAhhhhh, troll ammo. Can’t wait to shoot them with it.
February 28th, 2006 at 4:58 pmAdd me to the list of those who had never even heard of “The Note†before this…I for one, question their professional qualifications.
The Note claims to be an insiders guide to daily politics that is supposedly read by what they call “the Gang of 500″, who are the 500 or so legislators, staff and lobbyists who are the big decision-makers in Washington.
Over the last several months especially the Note has seemed to be every bit as tone-deaf to politics as Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and George Bush. Their complete rightward slant is becoming painfully obvious (if it wasn’t already obvious before politics began swinging to the left…).
February 28th, 2006 at 4:59 pmPost 46 “Add me to the list of those who had never even heard of “The Note†before this…I for one, question their professional qualifications.”
was supposed to be in quotes…
February 28th, 2006 at 5:00 pmsounds like typical repub kindergarten tactics. i wonder how much money that cost the tax-payers?
February 28th, 2006 at 5:01 pmhere it is two of their collegues were injured in iraq and not sure how they are doing. haven’t heard much about em lately. and this is the kind of obsurd crap they pull. so i wonder what else they are making light of and thinking this is some fricken game? unfrickenbelievable.
February 28th, 2006 at 5:10 pmheh – this is apropos: from http://www.crooksandliars.com/
Quote of the Day
“What’s unfortunate, and what I think is really going on here, is that FOX News and other Republican surrogates have so prostituted what it means to be a journalist – including using real prostitutes as journalists – that any journalist with an opinion is now suspect.”
February 28th, 2006 at 5:28 pmWhen you can’t stand the heat in the kitchen, mock the cooks who are feeding you. Careful “Note” your act of stupidity might come back to haunt you.
February 28th, 2006 at 5:30 pmVery funny, but the port issue is like the Terri Shiavo issue, so base it crosses party lines. Perhaps they just meant to insult the majority of Americans? Sure seems so..
February 28th, 2006 at 5:33 pmHmm, I’ve never even seen their show.
Oh well, tell em if they want to experiment some more, well be happy to oblige.
In fact it’s our pleasure.
February 28th, 2006 at 5:33 pmYa Know Halperin you shouldnt call people monkeys
They just might go wander around the Zoo, looking for things which to throw…
ABCNEWS POLITICAL DIRECTOR MEMO SPARKS CONTROVERSY: BOTH SIDES NOT ‘EQUALLY ACCOUNTABLE’
**Exclusive**
An internal memo written by ABCNEWS Political Director Mark Halperin admonishes ABC staff: During coverage of Democrat Kerry and Republican Bush not to “reflexively and artificially hold both sides ‘equally’ accountable.”
The controversial internal memo obtained by DRUDGE, captures Halperin stating how “Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win.”
But Halperin claims that Bush is hoping to “win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions.”
NO SHEEET? -mr ho?
“The current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done,” Halperin writes.
Halperin’s claim that ABCNEWS will not “reflexively and artificially hold both sides ‘equally’ accountable” set off sparks in St. Louis where media players gathered to cover the second presidential debate.
Can anyone say Hypocrite?
February 28th, 2006 at 5:34 pmHalperin states the responsibilities of the ABCNEWS staff have “become quite grave.”
Bye Bye Faux!! Hate to see ya go..NOT.
February 28th, 2006 at 5:35 pmFair and slanted: Fox executives funnel cash to Santorum, GOP
RAW STORY
Published: February 28, 2006
http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Fox_executives_donate_generously_to_Santorum_0228.html
Fox News host and commentator Sean Hannity may have been recently singled out, but he isn’t the only News Corporation employee padding the re-election coffers of Rick Santorum (R-PA), RAW STORY has learned.
ABC; it was a Ploy because our Ratings suck and the Bloggers are Kicking the crap outta us
February 28th, 2006 at 5:36 pmHalperin states the responsibilities of the ABCNEWS staff have “become quite grave.â€
REALLY?? WoW and here I am under the impression its a Barrel Of Monkies!!
February 28th, 2006 at 5:37 pmABC meets a real Blogger
Blogger; “Liars”
ABC; Silence
February 28th, 2006 at 5:38 pmActually, that’s pretty damn funny. Too bad they’re journalists and not comedians. Then it would be ha-ha funny instead of sad funny.
February 28th, 2006 at 6:03 pmI bet the only people runnig the Note are people who have yet to leave mama’s basement and get laid. :)
February 28th, 2006 at 6:28 pmWhat is “The Note” anyway and why should I care? Is it that show where the group of cackling hens sit around cackling at each other about women’s problems and such? Wow, so they do a so-called “social experiment” because type of social experiment currently running by Karl Rove is too heady for them?
Let’s all sit down and watch that old Afterschool Special called “The Wave” instead of paying any attention to this “The Note” thing.
February 28th, 2006 at 7:14 pmSo funny.
Only a right wing rag would think its funny to make themselves look really REALLY stupid to massive amounts of people.
February 28th, 2006 at 7:40 pmBloggers are rendering them irrelevant…
…besides, anyone who isn’t FIGHTING mad at the damage the criminal Bushite junta has done…
February 28th, 2006 at 7:47 pm…is a traitor…
I have never been accused of lacking a sense of humor; I have always been able to laugh at myself – my children keep me humble. But there is something inherently mean-spirited about ABC’s note deliberately trying to push our buttons. It’s so right wing to behave in such a patronizing and condescending manner.
February 28th, 2006 at 7:52 pmWould they do the same to the humorless right-wing web sites? I seriously doubt it.
Things are so slow at ABC that they can devote time and effort to irritating the liberals?
This is the same channel that has Vargas doing a puff piece with the chimp tonight.
I often read The Note, but this one really pissed me off.
So wait… How do we know this isn’t the experiment?
February 28th, 2006 at 9:33 pmHaHa!!!
Pathetic…..at least we the lefties pay attention to the world around us and care about important issues. The wrongies(righties)…always have time to fabricate. Who’s laughing now….that just made them look even more dumb…
March 1st, 2006 at 1:32 amLOL I NEVER watch ABC,PERIOD, so they can play their silly games and smoke it for all I care! As a TV news network they are almost as bad as FOX news, so blow them off! I hope their network goes bankrupt soon!
March 1st, 2006 at 2:03 amDear MARK HALPERIN, DAVID CHALIAN, TEDDY DAVIS, EMILY O’DONNELL, ANGIE HU, and SARAH BAKER, DAN NECHITA, and MIKE WESTLING,
Admittedly, I have never read The Note prior to this. I may have stumbled across it in my various forays on the net, as one can when searching for something, but I have never knowingly sought out and read The Note; until now.
Now, I’m a novice in the world of journalism, but I do know a thing or two about experiments. So that I have a clear understanding of the facts I’ll relate what I know, and I’m sure you’ll correct me where I’m wrong.
On 02/27/2006 you commented on port security by saying:
Though you did mention what Gov. Schwarzenegger had to say and had a few, sparse, rehashed quotes, you had absolutely nothing to report on the issue. The same day you reported the “Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz” story, Think Progress reported on your self-professed lack of interest and then some of the readers of that blog commented on the post, which was factual. Today, you came out with a response that it was all an experiment.
Now this begs the question; did you not report on a story that Joseph King, who headed the customs agency’s anti-terrorism efforts under the Treasury Department and the new Department of Homeland Security, said was a real national security threat in order to see how upset you could make liberal bloggers? If so, did you have a control group for this experiment? How many blogs were in the experimental and the control groups? How were they selected and by whom? Was it a double blind study? How was the experiment conducted? When did it start and when did it end? Was it well documented so that it could be replicated?
You see, I doubt that you did any of these things, which leaves me with the uncomfortable feeling that either Think Progress caught you with you pants down and you’re now just covering you posteriors with this preposterous story about an experiment (you see, they did some actual reporting), or you are really just a group of egocentric, elitist, insiders who seem to have lost your way and are not real journalists anymore — if you ever were, and are now reduced to playing adolescent pranks on those who are doing some real reporting of the facts.
You know, the great thing about blogging is that anyone can express their opinion, and based on what current reading of The Note I have done, I’d have to say that I fully, and whole-heartedly agree with post #26. BTW, the portion of the Washington Post story about the Dubai Port story with Joseph King is below for you to peruse at you leisure. The link to the entire story is directly above that, and directly below this post.
Goodnight and good luck,
A. Patriot
Republicans Split With Bush on Ports
March 1st, 2006 at 2:12 am
The left is sooo gullible. And just when we think they might be “getting it”….they rarely fail to live down to our “expectations”.
March 1st, 2006 at 10:40 amThe left is sooo gullible. And just when we think they might be “getting itâ€â€¦.they rarely fail to live down to our “expectationsâ€.
Comment by mighty aphrodite — March 1, 2006 @ 10:40 am
You really need a good therapist to work on that hatred and animosity for others.
March 1st, 2006 at 10:54 am#70 He is awful, huh? Just too obtuse to even try to read. What is with expectations in quotes? Just too obtuse, man.
March 1st, 2006 at 3:36 pmINTERESTING. YOU KNOW, SOME CONSERVATIVES OR AN RNC GROUP HAS IT OUT FOR THE PROGRESSIVE BLOGGERS. I’VE SEEN ATTACKS FROM FOX NEWS, ABC AND SEVERAL OTHER OUTLETS/SHOWS.
I’M SURE SOMEONE ON THE CONSERVATIVE SIDE IS SPINNING THE CORPORATE MEDIA TO START GOING AFTER LIBERAL BLOGGERS. (I MEAN, THEY NEVER GO AFTER CONSERVATIVE BLOGS, DO THEY?)
March 1st, 2006 at 4:05 pm#70 He is awful, huh? Just too obtuse to even try to read. What is with expectations in quotes? Just too obtuse, man.
Comment by progressive and proud — March 1, 2006 @ 3:36 pm
She’s got serious self-esteem issues and tries to sound like she’s better than everyone else, but comes across as incoherent most of the time. Oh, and she hates all women, which is why she attacks me so frequently.
March 1st, 2006 at 4:13 pm