For reporting that is an embarrassment to the profession
of journalism, and for being beholden to corporate paymasters rather than
the citizens of America.
On its Web site, Boston station WBZ-TV posted
an article about four Iowans
who attempted to arrest Karl Rove when he appeared at a Republican Party
fundraiser at a country club in Des Moines. The station reported the story
in its "On The Lighter Side" section. We thought that must
be because they think war crimes are uproariously funny.
BuzzFlash reader Johanna McKenna of Longmeadow, MA, nominated the station,
pointing out their putzitry with a healthy dose of sarcasm:
"Somehow this just hits my outrage bone more than my funny
bone. On Sunday, July 27 [the station] posted the AP story of the attempt
of citizens
to arrest Karl Rove on the WBZ news Web site, but in "The Lighter Side" along
with stories of movie stars and other trivia. I am sure that it is hilarious
that our elected representatives are unable to hold to account a person
who has perverted the Justice Department through the political appointments
of
federal prosecutors, the political imprisonment of an Alabama governor,
and the corruption of our democracy by politicizing every federal agency.
I crack
up at the thought of genuine American patriots arrested while the criminal,
Rove, walks away. Let's hope I am still laughing on January 21, 2009."
Nicely said, Johanna.
This week's Media Putz is somewhat unique in that we've given it to a whole
station. There's no specific writer to blame this one on; the station just
plucked a serious news story from the Associated Press and turned it into
a joke. If you prefer to have a specific name, the closest to the blame would
probably be Jeff Kiernan, the station's news director. Alternatively, it
could have been the work of a lowly pencil pusher or intern without the requisite
news judgment to accurately categorize the story. Or, if you prefer to take
the blame to the corporate level, why not fault CBS for fostering the MSM
environment of not taking the actions of regular U.S. citizens seriously?
In reaction to the news station's putziness, 57-year-old Mona Shaw, one
of the four arrested In Iowa that day, told BuzzFlash she wished that the
media would focus on the real story here:
"The fact that hundreds of thousands have been killed so a handful
of wealthy people can become wealthier doesn't horrify people more is very
painful and perplexing. I simply wish that rather obsessing about and critiquing
how some of us try to stop this horror that people would think more about
the fact that Karl Rove and others are committing these acts of horror.
It's not about us. It's about those who have told lies that lead to these
needless
deaths. That's where public attention belongs."
It seems there are some members of the judiciary, if not officials in the
Justice Department, who agree with Shaw. When she had her day in court over
the trespassing charge, Polk County Fifth Judicial District Associate Judge
William Price asked Shaw why she was trespassing in the first place.
According to a press
release from Des Moines Catholic Worker, one of the
groups that organized the protest at the country club, when Shaw told the
judge she was there to attempt to arrest Rove, the judge replied, "It's
about time."
Days after the attempted arrest of Rove, a House panel voted to find Rove
in contempt for refusing to testify under oath before the Judiciary Committee.
Meanwhile,
Des Moines Catholic Worker and others continue to urge Americans to exercise
their right to citizen's arrest of Rove and others in the Bush
Administration.
Maybe there's something wrong with the BuzzFlash funny bone, but we just
don't find that amusing. Which is why CBS owned-and-operated WBZ-TV is our
Media PUTZ of the Week.
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