This BBC editorial writer thinks the anger toward the government over its slow action in New Orleans may shake the US news media out of its “timid and self-censoring journalistic culture that is no match for the masterfully aggressive spin-surgeons of the Bush administration.” What? Do actual investigative reporting instead of just using press releases?
The most spectacular example came last Friday night on Fox News, the cable network that has become the darling of the Republican heartland. This highly successful Murdoch-owned station sets itself up in opposition to the “mainstream liberal media elite”
The president looked affronted when a reporter covering his Mississippi walkabout had the temerity to suggest that having a third of the National Guard from the affected states on duty in Iraq might be a factor. It is something I suspect he is going to have to get used to from now on: the list of follow-up questions is too long to ignore or bury.
How about the local government?
Let go of you hate.
I just want the same amount of coverage as Clintin was exposed.
If the neocons would spend 1/5th the effort they spent going after Clinton in overseeing the Duh, we would have been ready for NO.
Its time to impeach Duhbya.
The BBC should shut up and worry about their own country. And I’m not really surprised the ultra liberal BBC hates Fox news.
Speaking of the media and Katrina, you know how Under Secretary Brown is being criticized for not having had enough disaster experience before becoming head of FEMA and stuff? It’s neat how they’ve buffed up his bio. Compare http://web.archive.org/web/20041012223049/www.fema.gov/about/bios/brown.shtm
to http://www.fema.gov/about/bios/brown.shtm . The weird thing is that the new text sounds almost EXACTLY like the sound bites on the radio — “Under Secretary Brown has led Homeland Security’s response to more than 164 presidentially declared disasters and emergencies, including the 2003 Columbia Shuttle disaster and the California wildfires in 2003.” If these things happened before the 2004 bio, why wouldn’t anyone have included them then? I don’t mean to be abrasive, I just get annoyed by the political strategy of “repeat the same stuff over and over again verbatim until it becomes true and important.”
Did anybody else hear the story in the that the mayor and other city officals in New Orleans warned citizens that if a major hurricane hit the citizens were on their own? It was in the July 24, 2005 Times-Picayune.
I certainly hope some good can come out of this tragedy. It would be great to actually get some critical thinking out of the mainstream press in the US.
This is a comment similiar to the one made by Bill Maher on “Real Time …”. “Well, if anything good came of this it’s that we got our press core back”.
So far, cynicism outweighs my optimism. Tonight, I watched “personalities” like Joe Scarborough start backpedaling on the criticisms he leveled two days ago. I hesitate to call most of these people journalists. For the same reasons as ever.
Now, that something is getting done to help folks, principle starts to diminish along with anger. You watch Bush do his latest damage-control walkabout and folks are so impressed — golly gee, Bubba, it’s the president — they fall over themselves to get in on the gladhand.
The people who are surviving this disaster ain’t going to forget. The TV talking heads? Politicians lining up for future pork? Their principles won’t be in sight for the next election.
I’ve heard many parallels to the 1927 flood but only one person has pointed out that the 1927 flood led to a MAJOR national political shake up.
Heard the best question asked (via PBS) tonight. Why were 10,000 + people initally packed into the Superdome with no National Guard, no Police, no Red Cross, no supplies, no emergency services, no emergency outside communications, no leadership, nothing at all. A huge hurrican is coming and we hope that it will just blow over in one day and everyone can just go home. That place should have been ready for 10,000 poeple for 7 days at a minimum before they moved ANYONE in there. Several tankers of water could have at least been parked in there. There is no doubt that the blame is on the US prez for a horribly botched (criminally liable?) initial response by his administration, but the real problem starts at the local level (Mayor of NO and Governor of LA) for setting this disaster up in the first place. The real insanity is just shoving thousands of people into a small space with no guidance, support or leadership. The Mayor of NO, the people in charge of emergency planning and the Governor of LA belong in prison for criminal negligence.
Hurricanes have come and gone and people have stayed put and waited for it to blow over. The difference here was the flood defences were breeched and the city got flooded. The response could have been quicker, but New Orleans has a Governor and a Mayor. What where they doing to get people out? Shouldn’t they have had plans to get people out especially in light of the heightened security fears currently prevalent in America?
And as for the slowness in reaction being due to the fact that most victims are/were black – total hogwash!!!. They were slow to react because most of the victims were POOR.
Does anyone around here ever believe in personal responsibity? There are people that are not capable of leaving the city and they need help. However, most of them probably could have gotten out if they’d wanted. Why did the people of New Orleans not demand that their levy be improved years ago? When do they take the blame for some of their misfortune.
You mean Geraldo is not a real journalist?
I’m crushed.
>> Why did the people of New Orleans not demand that their levy be improved years ago? When do they take the blame for some of their misfortune.
To me _this_ is the biggest scandal. The levees have been neglected for years to save a few million bucks. Now it is going to cost us taxpayers BILLIONS AND BILLIONS.
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Below is a history of funding for the Lake Pontchartrain and Vincinity Hurricane Protection project. (Note: This was the levee system that broke. Due to lack of funding, major construction stopped in 2004 — the first such stoppage in 37 years.)
2004:
Army Corps request: $11 million
Bush request: $3 million
Approved by Congress: $5.5 million
2005:
Army Corps request: $22.5 million
Bush request: $3.9 million
Approved by Congress: $5.7 million
2006:
Bush request: $2.9 million
Today, Scott McClellan claimed that “flood control has been a priority of this administration from day one.” This figures show that the administration has consistently budgeted far less that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has requested for flood control in Louisiana. And over the last several years, the gap between what the Corps requested and what the administration budgeted has increased.
Let’s get back on track here. The issue is the doormat media realizing how the Bush administration has been using them for years – and thus their complicity in the situation. Remember the headlines Monday evening – ‘New Orleans dodged a bullet’. Remember the many, many times the press has swallowed the administration bait, hook line and sinker.
Those days are over. Hard questions are being asked once again. It’s about time.
(When will the Democrats step up and starting acting like a proper loyal opponent?)