Media Enablers

Daily Kos
Shame on the Media
by Dr Teeth Wed Jul 21, 2010

By now everyone knows the story of Shirley Sherrod. The new storyline is whether the Obama administration will restore her status. There is no question they should make this right, but I would prefer it happen behind the scenes.

Still, the question is not what the White House did. It isn't what the NAACP did. It isn't even what the right wing hacks did.

The question is whether the media did their due diligence, before reporting this story.
The tea partier behind this is human garbage, so let's just get that out of the way first. The internet is full of people of his ilk. You simply have to search youtube for a couple minutes, and you'll find a multitude of intellectually dishonest propaganda.

That being said, there is no defense in that fact. Journalism is not a function of populism. Before any news agency touched the story, they should have done the responsible thing. They were about to spur racial tensions, and any producer in television knew the demographic reactions, which would result.

Someone at CNN did actually dig the real story up. They followed the simple process of getting both sides of the story, and are deserving of some admiration. Of course they ran the story like everyone else, before seeking out all sides, so this admiration is tempered.

MSNBC or NBC failed to do this. CBS, ABC and newspapers failed to do this. Every morning show on every network, tapped directly into the race baiting for ratings. I refuse to give Fox News the credential of reviewing their vetting process, as they are simply a right wing blog on TV.

This isn't some complex ruse to debunk. Whenever someone sends me a link to a blog or youtube video, I assume it is bullshit. I've been on the internet as long as the world wide web has existed (and a little before that), and my skepticism is well earned. There isn't really citizen journalism, only citizen propaganda.

I do what ever reasonable person should do. I read something on the internet, then seek a credible source for it elsewhere. This level of skepticism should be the standard for everyone who isn't a political hack.

It certainly should be the standard for the media that unjustly got a good woman fired yesterday.