What happened at the finish line of the Boston Marathon was an unforeseeable tragedy. What happened immediately after, culminating in an entire day of incorrect, inaccurate reporting on behalf of major media outlets was a travesty.
1. I turned over to the news about 30 minutes after the bomb went off to hear a local CBS newsman who had been there covering the race and witnessed the bomb go off babbling into the microphone about “many runners dead” and graphically describing limbs. I don’t blame the reporter – he was clearly in shock. However I do blame CBS News for thrusting a microphone in his face instead of advising him to get help.
2. An hour later I turned on the radio in the car and heard a sports announcer from ESPN1 going on about foreign bombers, and why America has a right to feel safe that has been stolen by foreign interests and this seems like “a foreign act of terror”. Really???
3. Speculation goes into overdrive – I heard they had a Saudi Arabian man in custody (more racists rhetoric), then they were just questioning him, then it turned out he was a witness, no – he was a victim and a student. It was insane.
4. The 17th I arrived at work to hear “They got him.” I watched the different news station’s websites all afternoon while working: It went from “we got him”, to “he’s arrested” to “We are picking him up” to “We have identified him through phone triangulation” to “We have a picture and are getting him” to “We don’t know who this is, but here’s a pic – please help.”
Media is so worried about being FAST and meeting the public BIAS (“Well, this has to be a foreign job cause they used a pressure cooker” Really? We don’t have those in the US?) - that it has forgotten all about accuracy, objectivity or even that little “innocent before guilty” thing. It’s sickening. I think the FCC should stop chasing around people who expose nipples at the Super bowl and start fining a “news” network every time they get something wrong.
As for the Senate blocking background checks — as I type this entry I just got a bulletin that a police officer was shot at MIT. I’d like to think the senators lying on their mattresses stuffed with cash from the NRA are troubled tonight, but chances are – they are sleeping like rich immoral babies.
