Posted on 09/20/2005 9:13:57 AM PDT by crushkerry
It now appears that the estimate of 10,000 lost souls in New Orleans alone as a result of Katrina’s wrath was greatly exaggerated. While New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was the source of this dubious figure, the mainstream media turned it into a tautology. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes a fact. And a damn good story.
But then rescuers began the grisly chore of searching for and counting the dead. Now you can almost hear the nation’s assignment editors shouting at the top of their lungs: “That’s it!? 700? Oh, you gotta do better than that!”
Just as the federal government’s response to Katrina provides us yet another chapter in the chronicles of big government ineptitude (a multi-volume series, to be sure), the mainstream media’s coverage of Katrina sits shamefully upon the mantle alongside the Jayson Blair saga, Dan Rather’s magic memo, the early exit polls results on Election Day, 2004 and countless other examples of mainstream media malfeasance. Simply put, big media is irredeemably broken.
It’s wasn’t just the demoniac chanting of the mythical 10,000 dead figure, but the perverse and obvious pleasure the on-the-scene gaggle took in covering the aftermath that betrayed their by now eaily recognizable bias for bad news. Writing for TIME Magazine, Kathy Booth Thomas and Tim Padgett come off as ambitious staff writers for Rob Zombie’s production company. On their first day, at that:
“What little life remains in New Orleans is largely devoted to counting the dead, a task so vast and grim that even the city's coroner, Frank Minyard, doesn't hazard a guess at what lies beneath the receding waters. ‘We don't really know what's in the houses,’ Minyard says, sitting on an overturned fishing skiff in the shadow of the Superdome. He stares down an empty street as two ambulances creep through brackish waters toward Tulane University Hospital and its morgue. Near him, five men in white haz-mat uniforms wait on dry ground to collect bodies. Minyard extends his hand by way of introduction to his city. ‘Tough place,’ he says.”Clearly enjoying the assignment of a lifetime, they added: "he smell of bloated bodies and swamp rot permeates the air."
About those bloated bodies. It seems now that there were more reporters claiming to have seen bloated bodies floating through New Orleans than actual bloated bodies.
Virtually every news agency in the world confidently averred their omnipresence: The BBC (“As the flood waters in the city slowly begin to recede, emergency crews face a grim task of recovering bloated bodies amid fears that thousands may have died.”); Reuters (“But it will still take weeks to dry the city out, and rescue teams expect to find thousands of bloated bodies inside homes that were swallowed in the flood.”); the International Herald Tribune (“Their bloated bodies floated in the flooded streets, but a week after the storm, a definitive death toll remained elusive.”); the New York Times (“New Orleans, Flannery O'Connor once wrote, is a place where the devil's existence is freely recognized. But not this devil. Not the devil of bloated bodies floating in muddy waters …”) ABC News (“The operation to recover the bloated bodies of those killed in the disaster, which struck the Gulf Coast more than a week ago, has also begun in earnest.”)
Big Media couldn’t swing a bloated cat without hitting a bloated body in New Orleans, but the number of first-hand accounts is being readjusted downward almost as fast as the death toll.
One guy with a unique fetish for the bloated bodies during this whole affair was CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Cooper – whose Emmy-posturing during his coverage of the recovery efforts would make Susan Lucci blush – did his very best to characterize the Gulf Coast as a Republican killing field.
Cooper showed the world a bloated body while on location in the Gulf Coast region. When FEMA – and common decency – objected, he and CNN sued FEMA so they could show some more. “The government cannot be allowed to hinder the free flow of information,” said Cooper (or the free flow of bloated bodies, I suppose.) “That’s what we say in the lawsuit.” Well, yeah, I suppose I agree with him. But there seems to be an unhealthy enthusiasm for bloated bodies among the mainstream press who, by the way, have a general blackout when it comes to images of 9-11 and people jumping out of windows thanks to Islamofascist terrorism.
So in Iraq the motto is “If it bleeds it leads”. In New Orleans it’s “If it bloats it leads.” But toward what end?
The question hardly needs asking at this point. The entire post-Katrina media swarm has “Bush Hatchet Job” written all over it. Big media’s leitmotif was obvious. George W. Bush’s global warming caused the hurricane. George W. Bush’s budget cuts made it worse. And George W. Bush’s oblivion to black people stagnated the recovery effort. It’s a neat narrative made more dramatic with higher numbers and puffier corpses. To hell with dignity, objectivity, or the facts.
No doubt the death toll along the Gulf Coast will increase as the weeks roll on. But it’s already clear we won’t touch upon the 10,000 corpses Mayor Nagin promised and Big Media reported. And in a bizarre twist, the macabre, agenda-driven media will be disappointed.
Now that the waters have begun to recede and the recovery effort is well underway, consumer watchdogs are warning against Katrina-related scams. Big media’s coverage of this terrible tragedy belongs at the top of that list.
Patrick Hynes is a freelance writer and the proprietor of www.anklebitingpundits.com
I remember your post. It flew in the face of the conventional wisdom but I was hoping the reduced count was true and glad it was. You deserve to toot toot.
The MSM is so disappointed that they are now back to the Iraq death count. I am starting to really despise them.
Great post. I almost fell for the "10,000 dead" myself. Some FR'rs were even talking 35,000.
read later
Can I get on this ping list?
Cannibals ate `em up? That's my story and I'm stickin' . .
I think that thread was pulled in about 3 nano-seconds.
Bravo! When this is all over I hope the media is exposed for the frauds they are. From Aaron Broussard and NBC's attempts to use the death of a elderly woman to CNN and ABC's efforts to discredit FEMA with the lies about their "Convention Center" coverage...the media has deliberately manipulated the events of this catastrophy.
These people have reported rumor and innuendo as fact, while at the same time, intentionally ignoring facts about those most responsible for these failures. In their attempts to blame FEMA, they have deliberately confused the roles...and identity, of New Orleans' Homeland Security office and local FEMA with that of Federal FEMA.
Whether it was the Red Cross being denied access to the city, or truckers and boaters being turned away from rescue efforts, the media has intentionally misidentified those agencies in charge to give the impression that it is the Federal government who was making these calls. I can only hope that as time goes by, people will realize just how corrupt and politically biased our MSM has become. So much so, that they are now willing to exploit the deaths...and jeopardize the lives, of other Americans.
"As I write this, Rush is reviewing an ABC NEWS broadcast that points out that CNN is grossly exaggerating "missing" children as a result of Katrina."
Has ABC News reported that the "Joos" kidnapped the children to use in their making of the Matzoh? /sarcasm
Roger that ~ the lady is sharp!
It all depends on how sober Nagin is, at the time of his statements. ;)
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