IrresponsibleUseOfFr's Journal: Exactly

I was so happy, some one else actually seems to understands the War on Terror also.

Here are some follow-ups. As it turns out, an advisor for the Bush-Cheney campaign wound up in a Swift Boat Veterans For Truth ad. What that group is doing personally digusts me. First of all, what Kerry did was a matter of public record for 30 years, they are only challenging it now. Secondly, none of them actually served with John Kerry. Third, they take comments out of context to misrepresent what John Kerry said. There is a nice write-up here for the background about the group. The Bush campagin previously stated that they had no affiliation.

As much as Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" claims not to be a news program. From the segments I've seen from CNN's headline news vs. segments they do on "The Daily Show" about the same topic. "The Daily Show" actually does a better job of giving the viewer the proper context so they can form an opinion about a given news item. For example, when Cheney made attacks against Kerry's remarks about a "sensitive" war. The Daily Show actually ran Kerry saying the word in the sentence which he used it. CNN HL just reported speeches that Cheney made attacking Kerry. "The Daily Show" properly framed the issue. Cheney took one word which was in a litany of others. Then proceeded to take it completely out of context and in what basically boiled-down to Cheney questioning Kerry's masculinity (along social-norms not biological). On the otherhand, CNN HLN did not quote Kerry. They showed Kerry speaking but muted the audio for their voice-over. But, they then showed Cheney giving his speeches attacking Kerry (with audio). "The Daily Show" properly reported the news. I don't know what CNN HL News was doing.

I guess that is what bothers me about the news. There is a lot of talk, and very little content. The News also can manufacture their own controversies by taking things out of context then never really reporting what actually happened. Here is something I wrote about the Gary Barnett controversy.

Reporters wanted to know if she mentioned anything about the rape to the University of Colorado coach, if it had anything to do with her leaving the team, etc. Barnett is like, this is the first time I've heard about it. And she was kicked off the team because she wasn't very good. What got him in real hot water was: Reporter: so, did the other players question her ability? Barnett: Look, Katie was a girl. On top of that, she wasn't very good. She couldn't kick the ball through the uprights...

Barnett honestly answered a question he was asked. It was the media that decided to take those 10secs out of the interview and blow them up like they were the only things that were said. In fact, many news reports cut out the question to make it look like it was some spontaneous outburst. Context is very important. And the media does a poor job at providing sufficient context, hell, I'd settle for any context at all.

The problem with television news is not the biases. I wouldn't mind a slight bias. It is rather that it is so poor at reporting what actually happens. Of course, the rush to be first to report everything doesn't help either.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone (creators of South Park) are coming out with a new film, "Team America: World Police." What bothers me is that people treat these guys as relevant social commentators or something. Their social commentary is about as deep as kicking your mother in the cooch and often times less so. I guess it appeals to the young *sigh*