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Posted on 12/17/2001 12:15:05 PM PST by Pokey78
Geraldo Rivera - Playing Soldier - has gotten out of hand.
Last week we saw - over and over and over - scenes of Rivera crawling backward into an empty hole as if this signifies anything. He was allegedly near Tora Bora and, because the U.S. military will not allow him anywhere near the real action, he has had to adopt a new strategy: recreating the news.
In this role Geraldo is on camera for virtually every second of his reports. No scenes of U.S. soldiers in combat - what American viewers really want to see - or even anti-Taliban soldiers.
All the Fox viewer gets to see are the same three exhausted 'extras' and the dilapidated old tanks that serve as a backdrop to Geraldo's reports.
Do you think Fox News Channel is paying for these tanks and the three Afghan soldiers? Do they get scale? Did they have to join AFTRA? Do they get health insurance?
By last week Geraldo had really stepped in it. As reported in the Baltimore Sun, Geraldo misled his viewers when he claimed to be at the site where the three U.S. soldiers died in a friendly fire accident. The self-promoting, chameleon-like Rivera - putting on his patriotic persona - claimed he had recited the Lord's Prayer over that "hallowed ground."
Guess what?
He was never there!
For three days he allowed this false story to run on Fox until it was pointed out to him that he was airing false information. Only then did he relent, using the excuse of the "fog of war" to explain his mis-statements.
Reporting - a skill not easily developed - is not the same as preaching, rooting, acting - or 'divining.'
Geraldo is decidedly not a reporter.
Last Thursday he 'reported' that Osama was up in the caves of Tora Bora. How did he know this? What were his intelligence sources?
He said - repeatedly - the 'vibes' were all around him.
No journalism school would allow a student to source 'vibes' in a report. Any student who tried that would - and should - be thrown out on his can.
"Vibes" became a popular hippie, psychedelic slang term after the Beach Boys' drug-induced 1967 hit "Good Vibrations." Somehow the authors of Surfin' Safari and Osama bin Laden don't quite belong in the same sentence.
By Friday a new 'source' entered the picture: the "buzz" around him was telling him that "we are closing in on Osama bin Laden."
Oh, really?
"Buzzes" can provide a reporter with information?
Here Rivera is sitting around with stragglers from the Eastern Alliance. He can't speak their language; they can't speak his. No wonder he has to rely on "buzzes" and "vibes."
By Friday afternoon - and on until Saturday - Rivera had a new prediction: "Osama will be caught or killed by High Noon tomorrow".
Geraldo as Gary Cooper. The lone cowboy rides into Tora Bora and comes out with Osama as a notch on his belt.
Is a reporter's job to make predictions? Should a reporter make himself into the 'star' of his reports?
Saturday morning - High Noon over there had come and gone and no Osama - and Geraldo had a new theme: "The hills are alive with the sound of bombing."
So now we have Julie Andrews singing in the Sound of Music.
From the Beach Boys to Gary Cooper to Julie Andrews Geraldo Rivera is demonstrating his utter lack of knowledge of the war he is 'covering' or the culture in that part of the world.
Inside Fox HQ in New York the troops are dispirited. No Christmas party, no new hires. Why? Budget cuts and a hiring freeze - and huge satellite costs to cover the war. But what does Geraldo do?
He demands - and gets - to leave the war for a Christmas vacation!
He and his entire entourage are coming home for Christmas.
Tens of thousands of dollars so that this 'patriot' can see his girlfriend in Manhattan.
What about getting the "rat up in the Rat's Nest"?
Guess that'll have to wait until after the holidays.
The instant he shows up on FOX, I flip to CNN. The only other guy's face I can't stomach is Herr StainMaster.... well, then there's Daschle, Gephardt, Kennedy, The Beast....
And every single time, Whoraldo is gesturing wildly and telling us about some new B-52 raid coming in. He then points out to the mountains and has the camera pan out there. And then, every single time, absolutely nothing happens. All the while, Whoraldo is saying "any minute now, any minute now...you will see the bombs exploding. Well, you should have seen the raid that came through here a half hour ago!"
Right, he was already wearing thin on me with his predictions as news. But when I saw that, it just proved once again that he thinks we're all idiots. So he dodges one bullet and didn't run for cover of the big log to the right of him? Kinda makes HIM the idiot if you ask me. Hmm....and ONE bullet? So the sniper was Barney Fife up there on the hill behind the rock. I get it now...it's all so clear. /sarcasm
I hope this is when they catch Osama and Mullah Omar -- when Geraldo's not there!
I still would like to see Christiane Amanapour, Ashleigh Banfield, Dan Rather, Nick Robertson, the BBC guys and gals, and Geraldo fighting over some piece of evidence. There would be assassins everywhere but they would be network assassins.
Guess what? He was never there!
I point out again: Geraldo is Jewish. What's he doing saying The Lord's Prayer? Or is this another scam he's pulling on his audience?
Brett Sandler is on the front lines ... excellent reporting along with Nic Robertson both of CNN. ... Or you can watch Geraldo and his props.
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