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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (101813)	2/23/2005 1:05:51 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793742

Choices By Cori Dauber You all know my argument about the importance of Fox News: the fact that it tilts rightward does not diminish, indeed is the source of, its importance. Because it provides different stories, and different frames for the stories it covers in common with other networks, by its very existence it makes clear the fact that news stories are not the product of reporters who function as human recording devices, but rather the product of human choices, which means in turn that those choices could easily have been made very differently. The last few minutes here have provided some very stark examples of this at work. I presume that all three networks covered the President's remarks to a US military base in Germany. (I had stepped out to run an errand.) After those remarks, MS and CNN went to commercial. Fox interviewed a guest, but while that interview went on, kept the camera on the scene with the President, showing him wading into the midst of an obviously adoring military crowd, snapping pictures and holding up videocameras, eager to get a quick hand shake. Visuals, of course, are simply a different way of making arguments, and the argument of this visual was pretty clear: the President, whatever you've heard, is popular with the military. Is that a "GOP talking point," or an item that favors the President and the administration? Oh, you betcha. But that doesn't mean it isn't true. And that doesn't mean it isn't relevant, given the intimations that the military must surely be mightily unhappy right now. In point of fact it's quite useful information, since it suggests that the idea that the military must be mightily unhappy with everything going on right now might not be quite as complete a picture as we're often led to believe. Information can benefit the administration, and still be useful to the public, helping them gain a more complete and nuanced view of the world. Moving on from Germany, Fox then moves to Wisconsin, where a National Guard unit is returning home from Iraq. Why are they so newsworthy? Because they are returning home without the one American soldier currently unaccounted for, Specialist Matt (Keith) Maupin, captured ten months ago, featured in a hostage video, not heard from since, because the Army will not accept the account that he's been killed. (Also mentioned: a soldier about to receive the Silver Star.) The other networks come back from commercial. MS turns to Michael Jackson. CNN, where the news was once the star, has higher standards for once. They're looking to the weather in California, an actual, you know, news story. Choices, always choices.