Possumblog

News? Commentary? Like it really matters.

It's interesting in a time when news organizations seem to sweat a great deal what to call terrorists, and make great howling noises when anyone dares question their self-proclaimed neutrality, it seems you still can't help but see stuff like this on a regular basis:

12/13/2005, 6:11 a.m. CT
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush says racial issues had nothing to do with the federal government's appalling reaction to Hurricane Katrina.

"Appalling" being entirely a judgment call. Sure, the government could have done better--because it is an organization run by fallible humans, who, despite the mantle of power, are still human and still subject to human error. But appalling? Compared to what? From the few stories that have dared to compare the results of this versus the reaction time in past disasters, it was about the same.

It gets better--

Bush said -- quote -- "You can call me anything you want, but do not call me a racist."

The sentence is IN quote marks--you don't have to SAY "quote" unless you're on the television or radio where people can't see the quote marks themselves. It almost seems as though the "writer" is doing his best to wink and nod and make air quotes with his fingers to indicate he thinks Bush is the reincarnation of Simon Legree.

It gets better, though, when we see that the "reporter" isn't doing much more than reporting on watching the teevee.

In an interview with "NBC Nightly News," Bush said he saw televised pictures showing the government's faltering response to Katrina.

He says his first thought was that there was a breakdown of communications between all levels of government after the August 29th hurricane.

This is when I have to ask again about the supposed superiority the professionals tout when they bluster about those silly biased online -- quote -- "bloggers," who dare print something without the aid of an editor. "Bush said" quickly shifts tense to "He says." Then there's the next sentence--

The president says that rumors that Bush didn't respond more quickly because he is racist are "absolutely wrong."

...in which it seems that the President has now taken to speaking of himself in the third person.

Bush spoke with Brian Williams, anchor of "NBC Nightly News," in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One en route to Pennsylvania and backstage at the World Affairs Council in Philadelphia, where Bush was making a speech on Iraq.

So, about the only sentence where there were no language gaffes or outright commentary is the last one about the actual source of the information in the article.

Now obviously, one silly short article can't tar an entire news organization such as the AP. But still, if I was the AP, and I put myself out there as a paragon of honest reportage free of bias, and went so far as to publish a language usage stylebook with "AP" in big letters on it, then this kind of crap wouldn't be allowed out in decent society.

UPDATE: An updated story is now out (the original was posted at 6:11 a.m., the update at 7:51 a.m.) that is much better written, and much clearer about who is saying what about whom. It is still, however, a report done sitting in front of the teevee--which is fine, I suppose, but I can't really see how such a setup would give the AP a big warm fuzzy feeling inside. I mean, anyone can watch TV.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at December 13, 2005 09:33 AM