Hi Tim, let me clarify what I was original trying to say, because I think wasn't very clear.
I don't believe Newsweek reporters or Editors sat around and planned strategy to let this story out in order to "get Bush". What I think happened, and what I thing happens in allot of these kind of situations, is default values come into play. I'll give you an example:
Let's say the reporter in question found some rumor in which a dozen detainees had banded together and decided to turn over a new leaf and denounce terrorism because of the respect they have for President Bush. The reporter would probably never write the note down. It just wouldn't fit what he knows his/her Editors would accept as newsworthy. On the other hand, when the reporter hears a rumor about a prison guard flushing the Koran down the toilet, he/she immediately grabs pen to paper and notes it down. Why? Because the reporter KNOWS his/her Editor would love hearing about it. Why? Because the reporter KNOWS they all follow in the same circle of anti-Republican default values, so they take note of the information and pass it along.
This kind of MSM cultural awareness pervades the news. It pervades what gets reported, what doesn't get reported, and what gets covered.
A good example of this was Nightline the other night. Ted Koppel was on and the entire show was devoted to a Cuban revolutionary (terrorists), depending on what you believe. In the show, Ted Koppel did everything in his power to cast an embarrassing light on the fact that this anti-Castro agitator had come into the United States, held a press conference, and was simultaneously being viewed by the Cuban government as a terrorist responsible for the downing of a Cuban airline 20 or so year ago. Frankly, I didn't know a darn thing about the case until I saw the show while cruising on the Elliptical machine, but, from the presentation given, which at one point gave carte' blanch to the Cuban Ambassador to spout Cuban propaganda without any information from the other point of view. Homeland Security was all screwed up, and Bush Administration was responsible.
Well, I hope I've made my position a bit clearer, sorry so long winded.
Mike |
