Or just self-made idiots?
Actually, I can believe both to be true. Consider two separate cases of ideologically-driven stupidity from Mass Media Podpeople in the last couple of weeks, both concerning Katrina coverage, which among Mass Media Podpeople has been almost universally critical of George Bush.
The federal response to Katrina was not as portrayed
It is settled wisdom among journalists that the federal response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina was unconscionably slow…
…But the conventional wisdom is the opposite of the trut
Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. He notes that:
“The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne.”
That’s one lying meme being promoted by the Mass Media Podpeople’s Army and their fellow travelers among the Loony Left Moonbat Brigade. But one simply expects that when a MMP’s lips are moving…
But what about this? Michael Kinsley, often over-the-top in his leftist cant, found it too much to stomach that CNN was coaching news anchors to… well, let me just quote him, courtesy of Drudge
:
“The TV news networks, which only a few months ago were piously suppressing emotional fireworks by their pundits, are now piously encouraging their news anchors to break out of the emotional straitjackets and express outrage. A Los Angeles Times colleague of mine, appearing on CNN last week to talk about Katrina, was told by a producer to ‘get angry.'”
Heh. Outright lies about federal response time and coaching news anchors to “get angryâ€â€”“fair and balanced†sure ain’t the watchword of most so-called “news†reporting.
Were Mark Twain around today, he might have to amend his adage to “Lies, damned lies and news reports.â€