Propaganda Strikes
As anyone would have guessed, it appears that propaganda has reared its ugly head yet again. The decision of Andrew Breitbart, a conservative website blogger, to post a video clip of a speech given by Shirley Sherrod, a Dept. of Agriculture employee who is African-American, to the Local Georgia Chapter of the NAACP depicting her as a racist who did not give her all to a white farmer facing foreclosure. The video clip, which inevitably aired on several media outlets, was misleading, incomplete, and fabricated. Unfortunately, the video clip was deliberately taken out of context creating a mass media fact twisting hailstorm. I'm appalled (along with countless other Americans) that the video was not watched in its entirety before being tossed out to the media vultures. Moreover, Sherrod was asked to resign her position with the Dept., publicly humiliated and was condemned by the N.A.A.C.P. for a politically correct speech held in front of one of their local chapters. Now that the frenzy is in full swing, the original video in its entirety has been aired and apologies to Sherrod are flooding in by the truckload. When will these media outlets research the facts of a story before spreading misleading information? What will it take for the public majority to stand up against and denounce political media opportunists?
I am always struck when I hear white men talk about members of a minority group being racist. Isn't it true that to be racist, the element of power mus be on your side? That is not to say Shirley Sherrod didn't and doesn't have any power, but on an institutional level, more of the power is held by white people.
I too find it alarming when a media outlets produce misleading reports. This does seem to be a deliberate attempt to mislead the public. But I am having difficulty jumping on the liberal bandwagon and condemning Fox news for this when both sides are doing the same thing. I submit this as an example - I was watching Chris Mathews and he spent a fair amount of time criticizing Fox News (which he should) and also questioning the actions of the Dept of Ag, the NAACP, and even the possible role of the White House. I found it to be a good report. But the next story started out with the statement "Republicans do not want to extend unemployment benefits!" No mention that they would pass it if it was paid for in the budget. I get this does not get as an emotional response as racism does, but it stills looks to me like misleading reporting. I would agree that we need to "stand up against and denounce political media opportunists" and would suggest that they exist on both sides of the table.
Note: I actually like watching Hardball and in no way suggest that Chris Mathews is a media opportunist. Just happened to be the example that I remembered.