A New Low in TV News has Arrived
CNN's Wolf Blitzer
A new low point in integrity and quality of television news in the U.S. arrived yesterday. It was ushered in by CNN’s game show participant/news reader, Wolf Blitzer.
Blitzer, in announcing the name of the Ft. Hood shooter as ”Nidal Malik Hasan,” remarked offhandedly that Hasan had “an Arab-sounding name.” Blitzer had no idea what he was talking about. He just assumed. He made it up. It was profiling, an identity slur by a major newscaster.
The news media didn’t know of Hasan’s background at that time. What Blitzer seemed to do was conjure in the minds of his viewers a negative impression of an entire ethnicity – “An Arab-sounding name.”
Now, let’s get past the fact that Hasan is, indeed, a horrible killer. I’m talking about the media’s rush to assumption with no facts. Blitzer quickly labeled the guy solely on the sound of his name.
Is that how it’s going to be from now on – we become a country where the media recklessly hangs alleged ethic origin and religion on anyone who makes news?
I watched Blitzer and thought, what other purpose did he have in mind other than to intentionally be inflammatory and to appeal the the well-known fear many Americans have for persons from the Middle East.
I remember when I was a kid in the DC area. The news media always noted race when a crime was committed … except when the suspect was white. That awful media behavior changed. But now, maybe we’re going back to it. I hope not.
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Unfortunately, the reason that mainstream media keeps doing this is because viewers continue to buy into the sensationalism.
Perhaps the attitude shift doesn’t start with the media – it starts with the viewers. If more people were to speak with their channel changers, the advertisers who support this inflammatory style of “journalism” might not be so quick to sign on the dotted line.
Thanks for this, David – we need more people like you to speak out against this type of irresponsible behaviour.
Susan, I’m with you [and David] 100%.
And I firmly believe that with more and more of “us” [i.e., non-traditional "newscasters"] empowered to speak to large numbers, we can make a difference in a national value system that prefers silence and acceptance to correcting wrongs.
Wolf’s recent appearance on Jeopardy shows he’s not very bright http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/18/andy-richter-crushes-cnns_n_290883.html