All the News That's Fit to Slant
by Maggie Van Ostrand
These days, media news is so full of errors, it's sickening. I'm not talking about the frequent errors in spelling and grammar, or even the misidentification of people in photographs onscreen, I refer to misrepresenting the news itself.
MSNBC News on 3/18/08, failed to repeat Senator Obama's entire speech. Instead, they focussed on Senator Clinton's response to that speech. Despite the fact that she was wearing her Irish shamrock scarf, evidence that her talk was made on St. Patrick's Day, the day before Obama's speech, they still called it "Hillary Clinton's response to Barack Obama's speech." What?
CNN: They continue to show Rev. Wright's talk, over and over and over, without telling the viewers that his rant occurred just a few days after 9/11. In the heated horror of the World Trade Center tragedy, others, including celebrities (think Rosie O'Donnell, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins), passionately voiced similar thoughts. True, they weren't running for the presidential nomination but at that terrible time, people weren't quite themselves.
Senator Obama explained how predominately African American churches have emotional services, with the congregation shouting out "Amens," frequent fiery speeches, and sometimes, current events. He explained it well, not defensively. I admire his refusal to trash a friend who had a heated, if inappropriate, response to a national tragedy.
If we really listened to Senator Obama's speech, he answered every question raised by newscasters. He just didn't always give the answers they thought he should have given. He's honest and evidently, we're not used to that. As Jack Nicholson's character said in A Few Good Men, maybe we don't want the truth, maybe we can't handle it.
ABC: An alleged "debate" moderated by a former staff member of Clinton's White House. Not only were the same old questions addressed to Obama apparently designed to irritate him, but the audience was not happy with this biased attempt to discredit Obama and bring him down to Clinton's level.
The media has attacked Obama on his comments about his own grandmother, twisted the meaning and intention of remarks he made at a private fundraiser (now referred to by the sinister phrase, "closed door meeting"), and hammered on an honest remark made by his wife. I understood what Michelle Obama said when she said it, but do not recognize it today -- it's as spun and twisted as pajama bottoms caught on the washing machine blades
The New York Times: Once true to its motto "All the news that's fit to print," they are no longer. They failed to fire their Op-Ed columnist, William Kristol, who lied about Senator Obama when he wrote that Obama had been "in the pews" when Rev. Wright spewed his poisonous rhetoric. It was proven that Obama had been in Florida that day and could not possibly have been "in the pews." Did the Times fire Kristol as they did back in the old Jayson Blair days for lying in his column? No. Why don't they change their slogan to "All the news that's fit to slant."
If people are uncomfortable with a black candidate, then deal with his white half. He's a living example of the melting pot America is famous for. Don't be fooled by insinuations that he's anything but Christian, or that he's connected with terrorists. That's not so, but it sells papers and gets ratings if you can be made to think it is.
I don't want to see/read/hear news slanted in a manner designed to form my opinions for me. I can do that all by myself.
Do you hear that laughter? It's not other nations making fun of us this time, it's the Clintons.
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