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Grubble Grubble
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Sunday, June 08, 2003 :::
rant
Ok, I am back onto “yellow journalism.” (see blog dated 8-13-02)
My last blog blasted the Justice Department for their zealous prosecution of Martha Stewart, but I will admit that I laid some blame on their doorstep that goes elsewhere.
I stated that this is not front page news. I stand by this. However, I neglected to admonish the perpetrators of this lunacy: the fourth estate. Yes, the media. Journalists. (I use that term loosely these days.)
What ever happened to responsible reporting? Turn on the tv news, look at a newspaper headline, heck, go to a news website. The news has become soundbites and headlines. The old saying, “If it bleeds, it leads” seems to be the concept of the times.
No one seems to care if facts are accurate. Just ask Richard Jewel. For those that don’t remember his name, he was the security guard who was first suspected of being the Atlanta Olympics bomber. The news media went after him like a group of hungry sharks.
Well, as we all know, especially now, Mr. Jewel was innocent. No, he was a hero. His quick thinking during the aftermath kept a bad situation from becoming worse. His reward? The complete destruction of his life. Why? The media ran with a story.
Eric Rudolph will soon be tried for that crime. Mr. Jewel has already had his day in court; not a criminal court, a civil one. His settlement was in the millions. Why? Because headlines and circulation were more important than the truth.
Whatever happened to investigative journalism? Where are the young turks out to earn their names through responsible reporting of facts, even those that are covered up? Where are today’s Woodwards and Bernsteins?
God knows I would love to hear about some of the cover-ups being perpetrated by our current administration over the mindless tripe that we are being served up now that the media has the gall to call journalism.
/rant
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