From a BBC Op-Ed: Has Katrina saved US media?
Amidst the horror, American broadcast journalism just might have grown its spine back, thanks to Katrina.... with the sick and the dying forced to sit in their own excrement behind him in New Orleans, Fox News early-evening anchor Shepard Smith declared civil war against the studio-driven notion that the biggest problem was still stopping the looters. On other networks like NBC, CNN and ABC it was the authority figures, who are so used to an easy ride at press conferences, that felt the full force of reporters finally determined to ditch the deference.
As the heads of the Homeland Security department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) appeared for network interviews, their defensive remarks about where aid was arriving to, and when, were exposed immediately as either downright lies or breath-taking ignorance. And you did not need a degree in journalism to know it either. Just watching TV for the previous few hours would have sufficed.
... It is way too early to tell whether this really will become "Katrinagate" for President Bush
... The dithering and incompetence that will be exposed will not spare the commander-in-chief, or the sunny, faith-based propaganda that he was still spouting as he left New Orleans airport last Friday, saying it was all going to turn out fine. People were still trapped, hungry and dying on his watch, less than a mile away.
I sure hope the media wakes up and starts questioning what it's told. Unfortunately I have yet to see much sign of it. This morning, the radio was still reporting that Cheney would be returning to Louisiana tomorrow. Who cares? Is he bringing temporary housing with him? Or is he just going to go and flap his hands, the way the rest of the administration has been doing?
That's not news -- I don't know why they even bother telling me such things. I assume they expect it to pacify the public, make them feel like "something is being done". But it's just appearances, bluffing, bullshit. It's not real responsibility.
Posted on September 7, 2005 08:52 AM
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The most telling moment came last night on the Daily Show. Jon Stewart had been berating Bush for his pitiful handling of the disaster. The next clip shown was Bush talking about Trent Lott's house being lost and how great it will be when it's rebuilt. After the clip, Stewart was simply speechless. I have never seen that before from him. Bush sank so low there was nothing to say, let alone joke about.
Disgraceful and embarrassing as the administration has been for five years, this is an unimanginable all-time low.
As I heard talk about Cheney still planning to go on his fly-fishing vacation, of Condi being berated in a shoe store for shopping for $1000 shoes while New Orleans sat under 15 feet of water, and most especially as I heard news of Bush's new guitar, one thought popped into my head over and over again: The legend of Nero fiddling as Rome burned.
The only thing missing from the comparison is an attempt by the administration to claim eminent domain, and redesign downtown New Orleans when the rebuilding begins. They'll have ample opportunity to do so as things dry out.