We were watching Fox News and Shepard Smith was running down brief bios of the astronauts. When he came to the Indian woman astronaut, he mentioned that during a previous shuttle mission, she had made a mistake that required the astronauts to take a spacewalk to fix. Rather rude and inappropriate, I thought.
It seems I wasn’t the only one, because Shepard apologized for his remarks about an hour later, saying it was not his intention to offend.
30 hours of air time to report the same 30 seconds of news over and over again, trying to put new spins on everything in order to fill the time. Comments made that should not be made, comparisons drawn that don’t exist, and no facts to back up alot of claims. How many times have you wanted a cite mentioned?
OK, now obviously within your “30 hours” of broadcasts there were some intelligent things said, and many good questions brought up, etc. Even some “Man on the street” segments were well done, but on the whole, the media does not know how to respond to an event other than trying to say 1 samrt thing more than the network next door. This turns out unprofessional unintelligent commentary with the hopes that out of the 1000 banal things that are said, there might be one that is newsworthy. That isn’t news. And the Hollywoodization of it isnt either. If you cannot think on the fly, bring up good points on a regular basis, and generally be good at your job, then it is time to move on. Only on TV and (professional sports) does someone doing their job well 30% of the time get recognized as the best of the best. And that is sad. I will cut some slack - when FAIR, UNBIASED, news REPORTING and INTELLIGENT ANALYSIS is done on such a regular basis that the occasional slip up is the exception rather than the norm.
Canuck didja happen to notice where I explained the relevance of the remark that sparked your making of this thread???
there was indeed, a very specific Halocaust link, in that the Israeli astronaught’s parent (maybe both, I can’t remember) was a Halocaust survivor.
Network news reporters should have to audition by strapping themselves to a tree and providing live coverage during a hurricane.
(for those who didn’t know, Dan Rather did this during Hurricane Carla)
I certainly hope she kept her kids away from the debris. That stuff’s toxic.
CNN this morning had a caption running on the screen for a good 3 mins to the effect that the “Shuttle broke up while travelling 18 times the speed of LIGHT” (my emphasis).
I would think that they would at least catch something like that.
Yeah wring, I read you post. Doesn’t apply when the OP referred to the comment regarding the “people of Isreal” not “The Israeli’s parents”
Earlier today I was listening to Sky News. The reporter was interviewing someone in Texas (I believe), and asked about “falling masonry” :rolleyes:
I doubt that the OP had access to written transcipts and may have gotten the wording wrong. I recall newscasters speaking about it referring to the parents and 'all Israelis" which would still follow. in any event, there was in fact a direct link, which apparently had escaped the notice of the OP.
Do you have any evidence to back up your apparent slander?
Didn’t think so.
Wring: I believe I worded it that it was as close to a direct quote as I could recall, and I know that he mentioned it in the manner I wrote it because it was that specific meaning that incensed me in the first place.
well, like I say, there is a direct connection w/the Halocaust and the one astranaught. and I recall several comments linking the parents and the Halocaust. so, there’s your connection, as asked in the OP (paraphrased “what does one have to do w/the other?”)
—Actually - it is how it works.—
What are you talking about? I’m talking about the big networks/cable, not regional ones in the UK (though who knows where you work now). And I’m talking about actual journalists who take their professional ethics seriously. Is Brian Williams, in your opinion, a real journalist?
—The breakup of the Columbia was not about Bush, and the networks that spent so much time focusing on Bush really missed the point, to me.—
All Presidents have entire staff members who’s major job is to make sure that any big event is about them, as long as it can come across in a positive light. Nothing new, nothing unique about Bush.
I’m not saying it was unique about Bush. In case you didn’t notice, my words were a criticism of the media machine and its tendency to miss the point of a tragedy, not a criticism of the Bush machine. The networks, in the interest of fair and accurate journalism, shouldn’t be making the Columbia tragedy about the President. It has little to do with him, and affects him only tangentially. When they give him almost half of their air time, they’re missing the point.
Which is what I said in he first place, in slightly different words.
On the ARAB NEWS front page 2/2/03:
“Israeli, US astronauts die in shuttle blast over ‘Palestine’”
The reporter goes on to say how ironic it is that the shuttle broke up over Palestine, Texas.
Sorry about that. Alt tabbing and enter are bad!
Here’s a picture of CNN’s botching of “18 times speed of light.”
Our local station made sure to cut-away from Columbia coverage to ensure we did not miss a single moment of the O.S.U Buckeye Men’s Basketball game.
Sometimes it’s not the words that come out of your mouth but the actions…
OK, Miss Local Fox News lady, I understand what you mean by the word, but don’t you think that calling them the “fallen astronauts” is a bit cringe-worthy?
You know, I thought Miles O’Brian did a very credible job at CNN on Saturday. I wasn’t too impressed with the rest of their coverage (18 X the speed of light, the constant “first Israeli” this and “First woman of Indian descent” that, etc.) but the anchor for CNN did quite all right.
Imho, of course.
