Run! The Media’s there!
One of the most interesting conversations to come out of the Hurricane Katrina disaster is the one about how the media has handled it. I took a Media Ethics class in college so, though I’m not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, I find this kind of thing fascinating. I watched mesmorized as reporters gave water to those stranded at the Superdome, helped people clean up the debris at their beachfront homes, and helped feed the sick at Louis Armstrong airport. I kept thinking of that scene from “Broadcast News” when Holly Hunter’s character stops her camerman from staging a scene where a freedom fighter puts his boots on. The belief is that the media is supposed to report not interfere or create news.
There has been much talk of reporters losing their cool, breaking down on camera, lashing out at politicians, and the only thing I have to say to that is “It’s about damn time!” Bill Maher asked Anderson Cooper a couple of weeks ago if he thinks a silver lining (how vulgar does it feel to be talking about silver linings when there are still so many people suffering?) to this whole thing could be that we got our press corp back. Anderson kind of hemmed and hawed about how he didn’t think we ever lost it. Pshaw.
I think part of the problem the past several years has been a backlash toward the “Liberal Media.” Therefore, everyone is so concerened about appearing biased that they stopped asking hard questions. Has this tragedy, and the anger so many of us feel about the reaction (or lack thereof) to it, made reporters feisty again? God, I hope so.
September 13th, 2005 at 8:38 am
They may be feisty, but they will still put their own slant on it and sensationalize it. They also suppress news at the request of gov’t. and therefore have no credibility.