As we approach the election, the media (with certain examples like Fox) are doing all they can to help President Obama win. Two examples are the Benghazi massacre and the coverage of Hurricane Sandy.
In the case of Benghazi, it is Fox News that has led the way while CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and most newspapers have downplayed it. Two reporters who have distinguished themselves are Catherine Herridge and Jenifer Griffin, both of Fox News. In one sidelight, it has also been Fox that has taken the lead in bringing Charles Woods' feelings about the death of his son to public light after he initially called into a talk show in Portland, Oregon. How much attention have the other networks paid to him? Contrast that with how they lionized Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in Iraq. There was no such controversy surrounding the death of her son. He died in combat. Yet Sheehan was made into a celebrity because she held George W Bush personally responsible.
The second example is the handling of Hurricane Sandy compared with Hurricane Katrina. In the latter, there were failures and breakdowns at the national (FEMA), state and local levels. The most egregious were by the mayor of New Orleans. Yet, the media zeroed in on FEMA and its director, Mike Brown. That translated into blame being directed at President Bush. Yes, FEMA made mistakes. I recall (and have posted) the anecdote about volunteer firefighters from the North who sat for days at FEMA Hqs in Atlanta being briefed on the history of FEMA and sexual harassment policies before they could go to the Gulf Coast.
Not much was said, however, about the procrastinating by Governor Blanco about requesting federal aid and Mayor Nagin's dereliction in getting people out of town with all those buses that sat in their parking lots until they were flooded.
Why isn't the media reporting the situation in Staten Island, which was devastated as the residents were stranded without help? They are complaining bitterly about the Red Cross and FEMA. The press only wanted to capture Obama's great action in flying to New Jersey to ride in a helicopter with Governor Christie in a great show of bi-partisanship before flying off to Ohio, Wisconsin and all those battleground states.
Plus they didn't have to report on the mess in Benghazi.
They may as well call it State-run media.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
What a tired partisan rant. Fox News IS a big chunk of the media. Don't pretend they're not. If they play a story up, just about everyone knows about it. Voters still aren't buying it. If ALL the other media are leaving the hyper speculative "story" alone, Gary's take is one plausible explanation. The other is, there is nothing there, and only those with an ax to grind are pumping it.
If what you say about Staten Island is true, then if I were President Obama, as soon as I read this in Fouse Squawk, I would check once, twice, three times, to see if there is any substance to Gary's sparse, paragraph, and if there is, I would be flying there tomorrow to check it out personally. But if nobody else is publicizing it, and Gov. Cuomo doesn't tell him, how would he know?
Or, maybe its already being taken care of, and Gary is two days behind the story.
Post a Comment