A press corps back from the dead?

Jason Sandford September 3, 2005

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

It appears that the one corpse that isn’t floating in the pool that is New Orleans today is the TV media elite, aka the press corps, the reporters we see every night on television.

Perhaps it’s the only good thing to come out of this hurricane mess, but I have to say I sure have been cheering as I’ve listened.

There’s Ted Koppel giving the FEMA director a brutal cross examination about the slow reponse. There’s Anderson Cooper tossing away his veil of civility and sucker punching Mary Landrieu with punishing questions. NPR reporters. NY Times editorialists. The list goes on…

Does this herald the return of a people’s press, a group willing to really stand up for the poor and disenfranchised? A group really willing to challenge the status quo, to not accept a politician’s pat answer? A group ready to stop playing the game we all know they play, and really start making some people uncomfortable?

I hope so. I had forgotten what it was like to cheer at a TV reporter’s question. What a thrill! They’re standing up for me. They’re asking my question. They’re making that dude squirm.

It’s about damn time.

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

Kanye goes off

Rehnquist is dead

3 Comments

StonesFan September 4, 2005

But god bless the blogosphere. That bitch Condi has been exposed — some “sistah” she turned out to be!Let the press live up to this!

Condi Returns to D.C. After Bloggers and ‘Post’ Expose Vacation

By E&P Staff

Published: September 02, 2005 11:05 AM ET

NEW YORK All day Thursday, from the New York Post to several popular blogs, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice came under attack and ridicule for having fun in Manhattan while New Orleans sank and exploded in violence. By nightfall, she had cut short her vacation and returned to her post in Washington.

The Post started it with an early morning Page Six item about Rice playing tennis with Monica Seles at a court near New York’s Grand Central. Then Drudge revealed that she had attended a Broadway play — “Spamalot,” no less — the night before.

Wonkette and Gawker got in on the action, with the latter revealing that she had just been spotted shopping for expensive shoes at a chic New York City boutique — where she had to endure another female customer shouting at her about enjoying herself in such a way while thousands were perishing down South. All of this sparked criticism at many other sites.

By Thursday night she was back in Washington, convening a perhaps-overdue staff meeting to discuss ways of coordinating offers of foreign assistance from dozens of countries and organizations.

Just hours earlier, at the State Department’s daily briefing, spokesman Sean McCormack had responded to a journalist who asked whether Rice was involved with hurricane relief efforts by saying, “She’s in contact with the department as appropriate.” He made no mention that his boss had any plans to leave New York.

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Jeff September 3, 2005

As Bill Mayer SAID IT last night! IT”S ABOUT DAMN TIME!

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Edgy Mama September 3, 2005

As you said, it’s about damn time!

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