The Media Jackals

4:09 pm EST September 7th, 2005 | Republicans | 10 Comments

Forgive some of us for not celebrating the press’s coming-out party. The fact that this kind of aggressive questioning of people in power during times of crisis now passes as news itself only highlights just how timid the mainstream press corps has been during the Bush years.

Is it too much to ask for Russert to just once have shown the same passion — or even hint of outrage — when interviewing Vice President Dick Cheney about the administration’s botched occupation of Iraq in which nearly 2,000 Americans have died? (“How could the president be so wrong, so misinformed?” Russert could have demanded.) Imagine if the press had shown a glimmer of its newfound truth-telling fervor while pursuing the WMD fiasco or uncovering the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth hoax last year, or half a dozen lesser episodes in which the Bush White House mugged the truth and the press knew it but then looked away.

It’s hard to decide which is more troubling: that it took the national press corps five years to summon up enough courage to report, without apology, that what the Bush administration says and does are often two different things, or that it took the sight of bodies floating facedown in the streets of New Orleans to trigger a change in the press’s behavior.

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10 Responses to “The Media Jackals”

Jadegold says:

September 7, 2005 at 5:09 pm

This point cannot be overemphasized.

For all the talk about the MSM beginning to ‘see the light’–remember that, for years, the media has been willing to look the other way and/or content to recycle WH faxes as ‘news.’

Case in point, Michael Brown of FEMA. In the wake of 9/11, you’d think the MSM would have realized FEMA might be a pretty important agency. That it’s not a parking place for political cronies and donors.

But noooooo.

Until Katrina, the only article on Brown in the WaPo was a fluff piece that largely quoted his wife.
ewk says:

September 7, 2005 at 6:09 pm

I think the whole “is FEMA part of HS or not” is a tangent, it really shouldn’t matter where they report, they should be adequately funded and competent to do their jobs.
JD says:

September 7, 2005 at 6:09 pm

What part of their job did they not do ?
JD says:

September 7, 2005 at 6:09 pm

Did Brown require confirmation ?
Why is FEMA under Homeland Security ?
Frank_D says:

September 7, 2005 at 8:09 pm

Speaking of “media jackals”:

” Arkansas National Guardsman Mikel Brooks stepped through the food service entrance of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Monday, flipped on the light at the end of his machine gun, and started pointing out bodies.

Don t step in that blood – it s contaminated, he said. That one with his arm sticking up in the air, he s an old man.
Then he shined the light on the smaller human figure under the white sheet next to the elderly man.

That s a kid, he said. There s another one in the freezer, a 7-year-old with her throat cut.

He moved on, walking quickly through the darkness, pulling his camouflage shirt to his face to screen out the overwhelming odor.
There s an old woman, he said, pointing to a wheelchair covered by a sheet. I escorted her in myself. And that old man got bludgeoned to death, he said of the body lying on the floor next to the wheelchair.”

Did you eat your lunch just before, or just after you posted that, Oliver?
Semanticleo says:

September 7, 2005 at 8:09 pm

I am sick and tired of hearing this ‘crap’ about the liberal bias of the MSM.

No, it’s not crap. It’s a crock of shit !

Once upon a time when journalists (print primarily) dealt with the same issues of economic hardship as Joe Lunchbox (prior to the advent of TV journalism where huge salary contracts were born) newsmen had some empathy for the common man due to the shared experience. Plus they saw the seamier side of life and the regular raw deals dealt to those with little or no power.

Now you have ‘happy wanderer’ news readers who want to put their positive spin on every tragedy and wrinkle their noses in silent protest when someone displays an attitude they view as ‘not nice’.

They remind me of the corporate dweeb in ‘Aliens’ who trys to put on a happy face when the marine rescue team sees the only hope of their reaching safety on the mother ship go up in smoke The shuttle they were to depart on explodes in a million bits in front of them and he suggests
“Let’s build a campfire and sing some songs.”

No these people in the MSM don’t give a flying fart about the high cost of gasoline. Their only concern is maintaining the status quo so they can continue to enjoy their ‘upscale’ lefestyle.

Yes there are some good journalists out there who care about the craft of reporting the news. But they are lone voices usually drowned out by the choruses sung by the “Vast Wastelanders” of the MSM.
SadieB says:

September 7, 2005 at 11:09 pm

The thing about FEMA, the reason why it matters, is that it was Bush’ decision to put three of his cronies in charge of it (with no relevant professional background, natch), cut its budget, and then subordinate it to HS. It was I believe in 2003 that they changed their mission from “disaster preparedness,” to “rescue.”

In other words, this actually is sort of what they had in mind, though I don’t think they ever grasped it could be this bad. They really did decide it would be their official policy to let disasters happen, then come in and clean up the mess afterwards, instead of taking measures to prevent widespread suffering in advance.
Oliver says:

September 8, 2005 at 12:09 am

Yeah, how dare I link to a story at a New Orleans newspaper. Where’s the outrage!!!
Frank_D says:

September 8, 2005 at 9:09 am

If it came from the National Enquirer, or Ogrish.com, would you still have printed it?
I don’t care where it came from, it was unnecessarily goulish, and you reprinted it.
Frank_D says:

September 8, 2005 at 11:09 am

Has anybody seen this media report:

http://oglethorpecountynews.com/ocnews/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=331