Wolf Blitzer - The Greatest Journalist of All Time?

[Frank Furlong]

I would like to take a survey - is Wolf Blitzer the greatest journalist of all time? Or just the greatest journalist of the last 50 years?

I'll start: I think he is the greatest of all time. I would point out that he has an extraordinarily well-maintained beard, which bumps him up slightly in my rankings. Tom Brokaw is next, but he doesn't have a beard, so its a little unfair for me to compare them.

I think Wolf Blitzer is a genius. Thoughts?

[StrongHeartsWin]

Welcome to Volconvo, Frank.

Great to see you jumping in with your first post and thread, but if you are not going to put forth an OP seriously, then why would you think others are going to share their thoughts with you seriously? If your intent wasn`t meant to be serious, then perhaps the section such as General Discussion would be the best place to drop this topic into.

Thoughts?

[Frank Furlong]

Thanks for the welcome!

I actually really do like Wolf Blitzer - I would like to think of myself as the top collector of Wolf Blitzer related memorabilia in the world. But I recognize that many people do not like him, in fact, they hate him. And I understand why. But let me explain.

The reason why I like Blitzer so much is because he is the embodiment of the modern cable news era, a perfectly transparent conduit through which the 24 hour news cycle passes. The cycle, in and of itself, consists of multiple layers of absurdity, a stew of soundbites and vacuous banter mixed with the need to sell entertainment.

Don't get me wrong, I hate the 24 hour news cycle and CNN, Fox, etc. But Blitzer embodies the absurdity of this denigrated craft so well, with such completeness, I cannot help but think that he is the apogee of journalism in the 21rst century.

The question is, if Blitzer is the inevitable result of the modern era and the limiations that it places on journalism, what can we hope for in the way of informed debate or decision-making?

I guess I've decided that the 24 hour news cycle and the "news-as-entertainment" model cannot be stopped, that democracy in America is doomed, and I have tried to make peace with that by embracing the pide-piper of it all: Wolf Blitzer.

So I really was serious.

[StrongHeartsWin]

And that would have been a great OP to start with.

[PatrickHenry]

He's a mouthpiece for the New World Order.

He pumped the Iraq War just like all the rest of those effen shills.
Wolf Blitzer for the Defense (Department)

They all ought to face a firing squad...

[Osborn F Enready]

Frank, Welcome.

Firstly, I don't think Wolf Blitzer is even a journalist as much as a paid "spokesperson" for the news agency.

Secondly, he works for Time/Warner...... another corporate media schill with an agenda to influence politics, as opposed to INFORMING Americans to make informed choices without bias.

Third, There are about 100 or more "actual" journalists that are far more in depth, far more honest, and far less biased, so no, I don't think Wolf even makes the top 500 list. I don't think Lou Dobbs is much of "journalist" either, but I think he does a much better job than Wolf ever has at speaking truth to power.

[Setnakt]

I suspect that the poster is aware of all of these points, and that the real point of debate may lie in the issue of the state of professional journalism and the preparedness of the citizens of America or even the human species itself to cope with the idea of representationalism in government, among other things.

[PatrickHenry]

Quote by: Setnakt representationalism

Damn! That's a big word.

I don't even understand the definition:

the doctrine that the immediate object of knowledge is an idea in the mind distinct from the external object which is the occasion of perception

:(

[Mozart1220]

Quote by: Frank Furlong I would like to take a survey - is Wolf Blitzer the greatest journalist of all time? Or just the greatest journalist of the last 50 years? I'll start: I think he is the greatest of all time. I would point out that he has an extraordinarily well-maintained beard, which bumps him up slightly in my rankings. Tom Brokaw is next, but he doesn't have a beard, so its a little unfair for me to compare them. I think Wolf Blitzer is a genius. Thoughts?

I think Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow would puke thinking Blitzer is even in the buisiness.

[Nono]

Quote by: PH He's a mouthpiece for the New World Order.

Exactly. A gutless lackey of the uhh.. Washington Consensus. A walking mouthpiece. A tool.

In my view he might just be the 173, 295th best journalist of all time. At best.

[jose]

His career in journalism began in 1972, in the Tel Aviv bureau of the Reuters news agency. He soon moved to Washington, D.C., where he was White House correspondent for The Jerusalem Post after a spell working for AIPAC.

Wolf Blitzer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[shrike]

I didn't found this quote in wikipedia.

Blitzer began his career in journalism in the early 1970s in the Tel Aviv bureau of the Reuters news agency. In 1973 he caught the eye of Jerusalem Post editor Ari Rath, who hired Blitzer as a Washington correspondent for the English-language Israeli newspaper. Blitzer would remain with the Post until 1990, covering both American politics and developments in the Middle East.[2]

Wolf Blitzer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[brien]

I think Wolf Blitzer is a genius. Thoughts?

Is the term "genius" now a subjective term? Wolf is assuredly losing ratings.