Repeater (a reporter who repeats rather than reports)
A “repeater” is a “reporter” who fails to report, but simply repeats what is told (by a government administration, for example). Reporters who are “repeaters” have also been called mere “typists” or “stenographers;” the White House Press Corps has sometimes been nicknamed the “White House Stenography Pool.”
The saying “repeaters—not reporters” has been cited in print since at least 1973. Conservative radio talk show host Mark Levin often uses the “repeater” nickname on his show. The term “repeater” was popularized in the 2000s, when the “mainstream media” was often criticized as the “lamestream media.”
Google News Archive
19 February 1973, Milwaukee (WI) Journal, “US Bid to Control News Seen,” Accent, pg. 7, col. 4:
“The Washington game is to turn newsmen into repeaters— not reporters,” Johnson said.
(Federal Communication Commission member Nicholas Johnson—ed.)
28 December 1988, St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch, “‘The Press and the Reagan Presidency’ by Mark Hertsgaard’” by Steve Weinberg, Everyday Magazine, pg. 5E:
Many journalists in Washington during the Reagan years indeed served as stenographers for the administration—repeaters, not reporters.
Heads Up
A Weekly View from the Foothills of Appalachia
September 12, 1999 #151
by: Doug Fiedor
THE TRUTH AS ITS OWN DEFENSE
(...)
In matters of government, many in the national media are slow and uninformed. They are but “repeaters,” not reporters. There are very few actual “journalists” left in this country. Most who claim the title are but purveyors of socialist propaganda.
New York (NY) Daily News
Mayor Rudy’s Judi Is Headed For A ‘Change’
BY MITCHELL FINK WITH LAUREN RUBIN
Saturday, March 03, 2001
(...)
“There has been a complete collapse of journalistic standards,” said Begala. “We are now repeaters, not reporters.”
Democratic Underground
Pathwalker
Mon Jul-26-04 04:26 PM
7. We should call them REPEATERS, not reporters, since
all they do is REPEAT KKKarl’s talking points. Go Theresa!
Democratic Underground
Divernan
Fri Dec-03-04 06:28 AM
2. Exactly! They should be called REPEATERS, not reporters!
eSchool News
April 16th, 2007
Editorial: Repeaters, not reporters
By Gregg Downey, Editor, eSchool News
The efficacy of math and reading software has been maligned around the world as the result of careless, inappropriate, and misguided news reports about a study paid for by U.S. taxpayers. The Bush Administration was the proximate cause of this disservice, but so-called reporters supplied the megaphone. All in all, the spectacle was enough to make me want to burn my press pass.
(...)
The whole fiasco is a dirty shame. But that’s what happens when the reporters and editors we rely on for news and analysis become nothing but repeaters.
Dave Against the Machine
Friday, November 30, 2007
David Icke: ‘Repeaters’ not ‘Reporters’
Free Republic
SOMETHING IN THE AIR: CBS, NBC, ABC to be slammed by more than 100 protests
WorldNetDaily ^ | October 9, 2009 | Chelsea Schilling
Posted on Friday, October 09, 2009 4:29:13 PM by jmaroneps37
American taxpayers are planning to storm more than 100 mainstream media offices and stations across the nation next week in protest of a media blackout of the growing movement against Obama administration policies.
Following sparse coverage of a massive 9/12 march on Washington, talk show host Rush Limbaugh urged citizens to bring their protests to the front doors of major media outlets.
“The media [are] no longer reporters. They are repeaters,” Limbaugh said on his Sept. 14 show. “There have been hundreds and thousands of protests by conservative groups that haven’t been covered, and tiny turnouts by the Left that are covered.”
Texas Oil Spill Lawyer
Whose SWAT Teams Went To ALL Gulf Of Mexico Oil Rigs & What The Hell Are They Doing?
(...)
COMMENTS
MadamedePlume says:
June 29, 2010 at 4:38 am
As I watched the field reporter tell Diane Sawyer that 30 SWAT teams had been sent to inspect other gulf oil rigs, I couldn’t believe that she never once inquired as to Why, Whose SWAT teams, or What a SWAT team might possibly know about inspecting an oil rig! She just sat there and read her teleprompter like a good main stream media reporter – Oops, I mean repeater. A reporter asks questions, especially if they’ve just been told that a US President has just sent 30 SWAT teams somewhere – Duh!
Townhall.com
Here Comes the Mud
By Brent Bozell
Sep 15, 2010
(...)
But when it comes from the alleged Great Uniter? No worries: The media are repeaters, not reporters.
Tundra Tabloids
CONGRESSMAN ALLEN WEST: THE MEDIA HAS EGG ON IT’S FACE, THEY’RE REPEATERS NOT REPORTERS………
Posted on 14/04/2012 by KGS
The Left has a meltdown every time this Reaganite, red blooded American conservative opens his mouth. Good. We need more articulate, well educated conservative politicians speaking out and calling it like it is
NewsBusters.org
NB’s Graham on ‘Cavuto’: Media Acting As Mere ‘Stenographers’ for Obama Campaign Rhetoric
By NB Staff | April 19, 2012 | 18:19
The liberal media generally but the Associated Press in particular are acting as mere “stenographers” for Barack Obama, failing to scrutinize the president’s campaign rhetoric about the economy, NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham noted on today’s Your World with Neil Cavuto.
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COMMENTS
KISS Principle
Submitted by stratman on Thu, 04/19/2012 - 7:16pm.
As Mark Levin says - they are repeaters, not reporters.
Free Republic
Will the Media Carry Obama to Victory in November?
Right Side News ^ | SATURDAY, 28 APRIL 2012 08:28
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COMMENTS
Mark Levin calls reporters repeaters. Essentially that passes for journalism today. The MSM repeats what their favorites want said. I recall the web site “The Fireman’s Hat” that referred to Clinton press conferences as “Reporter obedience training.”
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12 posted on Sunday, April 29, 2012 5:40:59 PM by WilliamofCarmichael
The Gateway Pundit
Good Grief… Lib Reporter Leslie Stahl Calls It ‘Orwellian’ For Terrorist KSM To Be Forced To Drink ‘Ensure’ (Video)
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 5:02 AM
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COMMENTS
#4 May 2, 2012 at 6:37 am
mg4us commented:
Leslie Stahl. . look in the mirror first!. . .What is “Orwellian ” is for so called media and journalists to be “Repeaters” not ‘Reporters”
Repeating the talking points from the State in blind ignorance or worse, in collusion
Repeating the BS as news when it is purely political propaganda
Repeating the radical agenda as elitists and putting a positive spin on it while demonizing patriotic Americans.