Reply #24: the media issue is peripheral

[William Z. Foster]

Whether or not the media has given the administration a fair shake is really a separate issue from what the response by the administration has been.

I would say that the critics of the response by the administration are not the ones being driven by mass media ideas, rather it is the defenders of the response by the administration who are obsessed with mass media coverage and assuming that it explains the criticism.

But is the catastrophe in the Gulf primarily a public relations concern? Is the impact of the catastrophe on the fortunes of any politician what we should be worried about?

The impact of this catastrophe is going to be so far-reaching and long lasting that I think perceptions and mass media coverage pale by comparison. Reality is overshadowing and will continue to overshadow mass media induced perceptions. If anything, mass media coverage has downplayed the extent and horror of this, which - if we are going to be primarily concerned with the image of the administration - helps rather than harms that image.