I Think We Need A Little Revolution
-- Lorie Byrd
PoliPundit.com
I received the following email today:
To my favorite bloggers:
<<<
Just over a year ago, CBS News aired a story bashing a Republican president just weeks from an election based on badly-forged documents. And they would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids.
We all know the media is absurdly biased in favor of Democrats, and they’re scarcely bothering to hide it anymore. So I don’t need to ask: when a Democratic governor specifically orders that the Red Cross and the Salvation Army be blocked from aiding desperate victims of a natural disaster, why is this not huge news, the top story on every network for weeks? I know the answer: because the media is biased. Woe unto the Republican who does something a tenth as heinous, for he will be crucified without mercy.
But a better question is: where are you guys? Sure, a few of you have reported the story, but why isn’t this causing a Rathergate-scale eruption among the blogosphere? Why aren’t we yelling and screaming and making noise until the media have no choice to pay attention to us?
This was a hideous crime that led directly to the death and suffering among poor, elderly, sick, and black innocent Americans, and the media is completely ignoring it. Make them do their jobs.
My open letter to the media is here.
politicalities.com
>>>
That is so right. Those “news” channels that like to accuse Fox News of being biased and not covering hard news, have failed to cover THE story that contradicts almost the entirety of their “Blame Bush” Katrina coverage. They are ignoring THE biggest news break of the “inept Katrina aid led to deaths” story. They are betraying their audiences by refusing to report the whole story. They are intentionally misleading millions of Americans.
I guess that as long as they can claim that they don’t watch Fox News, they can claim ignorance of the story broken last week by Major Garrett, and can plead mere incompetence for not getting the story themselves. But those are the only two options. They are either intentionally misleading their audiences by not covering the story of the Red Cross and Salvation Army being blocked by STATE officials from delivering aid immediately following the hurricane, or they are incompetent and missed one of the biggest stories of the year. Either way, they should be called on it and held to account.
So what the heck should we in the new media do about it? I have posted on the story here at Polipundit, but that is all I have done about it. Tomorrow is September 11 and much of the new and old media coverage then will rightly be focused on that four year anniversary. But Monday is another day, and I suspect that then Katrina coverage will again occupy most of the space in the print and electronic media. Begin by reading the entire open letter linked here.
politicalities.com
It is ten times better than the email posted above, and the email was enough to get me on board.
I will give some thought to what might be the most effective way to encourage the old media to do their jobs and report this story. Maybe an open letter to the networks signed by scores of bloggers would get some attention, or maybe a countdown clock similar to Polipundit’s “Kerry Form 180? clock counting down how long it takes CNN and MSNBC to discover what Major Garrett did last week would do the trick. I am going to mull it over and hopefully will have a proposed course of action by Monday. Please feel free to use the comments section to submit any suggestions. Extra points will go to those who come up with something innovative that has not yet been done.
If CNN or MSNBC or ABC News or any of the other major news outlets have reported the Red Cross/Salvation Army story it was not given sufficient coverage for me or anyone I have discussed this with to have seen it. This is a HUGE story and should not only be reported once to viewers/readers, but should be mentioned in any segments that insinuate that FEMA or the federal government (led by BusHitler) were responsible for those in the Convention Center or the Superdome dying from dehydration or lack of medical treatment. This story should not only be reported, but should be given significant coverage due to its relevance to the accusations being hurled at the President over the past week and a half.
UPDATE: Betsy Newmark agrees and did some research and found that this story has almost exclusively been covered by conservative bloggers. The MSM can’t ignore all of us, forever, can they? At some point, if we shout loud enough, they will have to acknowledge this story. As Betsy says, it is a very important part of the puzzle to learn what went wrong at the Convention Center and Superdome.
polipundit.com
betsyspage.blogspot.com |
