I know you weren't. But it's rather alarming that judgement can be suspended due to worldviews, isn't it?
If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
They're going fast!
Posted on 10/02/2005 2:35:48 AM PDT by mal
It does do the things you suggest. It also buys into MSM's presentation of New Orleans as the only victims of Katrina. It also suggests that most of the Louisiana citizens in Katrina's path did not evacuate, which is false. Louisiana is not New Orleans. Most Louisianians in Katrina's path gassed up and left well before the storm hit, and we did it on our own without the government having to urge us to do it.
Oh ok! Ha ha, I wasn't deliberately plagerising you I assure you!
BTTT
Thank you for stating the truth. The whole state is not what happened in a small section of New Orleans Proper.
I know you weren't. But it's rather alarming that judgement can be suspended due to worldviews, isn't it?
If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
They're going fast!
"He's a columnist who takes the best information that exists at the time. As has already been mentioned, he is not a reporter on the scene."
But no-one was truly 'on the scene'. None of the reporters claimed to have personally witnessed anyone being raped, for instance. They reported things that they were told, with the caveat that the were reporting things that they had been told (Steyn, in his piece, removed all the caveats and reported it as established fact). In that situation there is no real difference between being in New Orleans being given that information or being 2000 miles away being given that information.
The question then is, what do we expect the media to do? Do we really want them to report on nothing beyond what they have personally seen. I'm looking at the homepage of Fox News now. Lead stories:
Bali Bombing - entirely based on words of Indonesian officials.
New Orleans pumping could end by midweek - based on quotes from Army spokesmen and a police source.
LA Wildfires - based on fire department sources.
Explosion at University of Oklahoma - based on statement from University president and eyewitness.
And so on. Are we really saying that none of these should be reported on by the media? None of those stories are any different to the ones filed by reporters in New Orleans.
We’re going to identify people who created and broadcast racist stereotypes and then we are going to have a conversation about racism. One that is two-way and real, not one in which your anointed “black leader” accuses “whitey” of racism and “whitey” whimpers.
Let’s start with Ray Nagin (B), mayor of New Orleans, who as much as anyone promoted racist stereotypes about the behavior of his fellow citizens in the Superdome. Here’s the LA Times:
Indeed, Mayor C. Ray Nagin told a national television audience on "Oprah" three weeks ago of people "in that frickin' superdome for five days watching dead bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people."
Certified Liberal Alan Colmes (W) (in the same LA Times article):
Fox News, a day before the major evacuation of the Superdome began, issued an "alert" as talk show host Alan Colmes reiterated reports of "robberies, rapes, carjackings, riots and murder. Biolent gangs are roaming the streets at night, hidden by the cover of darkness."
Read the rest HERE
They are a product of what the NYT editorial page demands.
Viewership of the networks and CNN has declined noticeably over the past few years. This didn't happen because "they deliver what the people demand." It has happened because the New Media have finally exposed them for the lying propagandists they have been since the Viet Nam War era.
Journalists, however, do have a burden of not passing on false information if they can and more responsible, deliberative media outlets used the same standards as the 24-hour breaking news outlets.
Consider the Farrakhan example. His statements, to the extent that they were reported, were not reported as a piece of breaking information but in their proper context.
Vitter's statement, which you claim to be the genesis of this mess has two problems. First, he was asked by a reporter to speculate on the totals. Hence, it was, indeed, media generated. Second, he obviously wasn't in a position to know and clearly said so. Other statements were not given any sort of follow-up criticism by the press on the scene. Steyn was not at the press conferences and could not ask the obvious follow-up.
As daviddennis said: At least he's willing to change his story when the known facts changed. Unlike, say, Dan Rather.
With the exception of the Times-Picayune and (believe it or not) the LA Times, there has been little mention in the press of the press coverage being terribly wrong. I have read at least one story that the reports of mobs at the Superdome resulted in a one-day delay of a relief column until enough troops could be rounded up to put down the reported rampaging mobs.
This should be a big story. There should be widespread re-examination of the fault of FEMA, the mayor and the governor AND the press. But where is this searching examination of a really important event? If Dan Rather is any indication, the press will give out awards for Katrina coverage to the very reporters that screwed up so badly.
You state that the press was only reporting what they were being told. Actually this is not true since they were emoting and editorializing about who was at fault for the horrors they were reporting and passing along.
But are we not also constantly told by our masters in the press that they are so skeptical that “if your mother says she loves you, check it out.” So where was the fact checking here? Hummm?
"You state that the press was only reporting what they were being told. Actually this is not true since they were emoting and editorializing about who was at fault for the horrors they were reporting and passing along."
Maybe so, in some cases. That's really a seperate point though, and Steyn's complaints are about 'incorrect facts' being reported, which is what I was responding to.
10,000 was what they expected due to abandoning the weak, the infirm, the ill, the criminal element together with very unhealthy conditions and little or no supervision or information about when they would be allowed to leave.
They all felt trapped, and scared, and hopeless.
They were told they would be taken out on buses.
It is amazing that so few deaths occurred.
Most of the criminal element was actually not in the dome.
What they had was roudy youths and toughs.
The civic center was worse. But the real crimes occurred at the hospital, including a reported rape, and it was 'rumored' at the time the thugs had NO uniforms on .
Eight of the NO cops had a room with beer, AC, all the guns from Walmart, jewelry, and other loot. Plus a generator that was taken from Tulane Hospital.
um........................
It seems the worst crimes were committed by the cops.
"So where was the fact checking here? Hummm?"
How would you have a journalist fact check the eyewitness reports of rapes occuring? Given that you don't think that the police chief of the city confirming the story is enough of a confirmation, and given that it was only ever reported in the context of 'x says that...'?
Now I know where to turn for hard hitting, insightful analysis.
The chief of police confirming the story? Who provided the original report if not the chief of police? And why not go to the Dome? The reports I saw said that the water was only hip deep. The "newsmen" were all over New Orleans.
Fact check, what a new concept.
Well, when zombies are involved, the dead become zombies, so that's why the number's so low. It's surely a byproduct of Haliburton's reanimation process enriching Cheney and friends.
I like that. You're right! Let's go for it. If we don't do it, who will? What a great idea...
Great point.
That's what I kept thinking...aren't reporters Americans or just plain people anymore? Why weren't they bringing in water and carting people out...being part of the solution instead of being the problem? It reminded me of that news clip from a bunch of years ago where the camera kept rolling while that guy torched himself...it seems like their careers surpass their sense of humanity more often than not.
It's incredible! That's how it is with those TV reality shows as well. The contestants are starving or sleeping outdoors freezing in the rain, but you know the camera man must be fed and sheltered pretty well. Filming a real live news tragedy without helping seems immoral at best. What are they thinking?
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