SO...WHATS NEW

Let me tell you, it’s hard to know “what’s new” because, more and more, I am listening to Sports radio! Not that they have anything great to contribute, but they are “reporting,” not “creating” their stories. There certainly isn’t anything wrong with round table discussions about politics or sports, but when a reporter begins making himself the story, that leaves me cold.

Case in point, David Gregory’s proprietary dialog of spin on the recent Cheney accident. David was incensed on “Meet the Press” last Sunday because there was a time lag in the reporting of the incident from the Vice-President’s office to White House reporters. Mary Maitlen carefully laid out the time line of what happened, when it happened and what the parties were doing. Not good enough for Mr. Gregory, he persists in believing that somehow there is some kind of insidious plan by this administration to obfuscate and control release of the news. Well, hello, wouldn’t that be a prudent strategy considering the carnivorous and insatiable need for these reporters to find a “gotcha” incident?

The funny thing about this is that Mr. Gregory is an insightful reporter and has a healthy sense of humor (Imus A.M. show.) But, lately it’s as though Mr. Gregory is positioning himself to become the next national news anchor so he’s making “his bones” by viciously denigrating the administration. Did you notice in the congressional report on mis-handling of Katrina that the first villain reported by the news (media and written) was, of course, George Bush? Yet, if one actually reads the final report, there was a preponderance of evidence finger pointing at local and state governments screw-ups. If you think about, doesn’t that make more sense? As Tip O’Neil used to say “All Politics are Local!”

The biggest problem today is related to what shocked liberals when Kerry lost in 2004. That problem is the media has become so isolated within the Beltway, the Streisand companions or the City by the Bay that they don’t really “hear” what’s going on and instead rely on their personal prejudices to spin the news. Hey, I’m not naïve, I know the White House is and has been capable of stonewalling the facts and that is NOT condoned. However, Journalism #101 teaches reporters to get off their butts and find out “what,” “where,” “when” and “how” when they source or investigate a story. What we are getting now is what the reporter “THINKS!” Not good.

Thanks for letting me vent. Gotta go now and find out if there’s another teaser on the sports show about McNair signing. By the way, I did read that the Jets have a DE they would be interested in trading…(oh yeah)…well, they need Billy Volek and he deserves to be a starting quarterback and we could use a veteran DE. Come on, Floyd, life can be a simple equation! You've got to BELIEVE!