The Media has completely failed on the Wright issue

[Drachasor]

I'm not terribly surprised, but it still seems so incredibly outrageous. The Media has seemingly settled on the idea that Wright is this extremely hateful man. They repeatedly air the clip and don't even try to examine who Wright really is.

Despite many who go to Trinity saying Wright hardly ever makes comments like those in the clips. Despite sermon upon sermon of good things Wright has given. Despite his tolerance of others (such as making a singles group for homosexuals at Trinity), his helping of the poor, and his other good works, the media completely refuses to examine this much larger side of Wright.

So here we are left with this 1-dimensional view of an imperfect human being; made wholly imperfect by the media's inability to search for the truth. I guess it just proves that our news organizations are still largely a train wreck of ineptitude.

(To be clear, I am not defending Wright's outrageous comments, I am merely saying those are comments a small fraction of who he is).

[yardwork]

1. The media has done exactly what they set out to do.

This is brought to you by the same media who swift-boated John Kerry.

The media is owned by a handful of corporations who are close business associates with the Bush administration. The media seeks always to get Republicans elected and destroy the reputations of any Democrat who threatens their business interests. They did it to Gore. They did it to Kerry. They'll try to do it to Obama.

[LakeSamish706]

2. But thats par for the course for this media... Cherry pick and play the sound bites...

ad naeusm....

[polichick]

3. You're right - and that kind of spin is why this country is stuck in second gear...

As Senator Obama said, we can stay stuck or we can focus on important issues like the war, the economy and global warming.

[Texas Hill Country]

4. they play what gets ratings... god you guys are FOS.

[Drachasor]

6. It's called the 4th estate for a reason!

I'm sorry I am upset that the NEWS organizations can't actually do their dang JOB

[crankychatter]

18. Do you cut and paste that sentence?

Or do you actually type it out?

Speaking of Laissez Fair and Darwinism...

Do you think genocide is a function of natural selection?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. for crying out loud he gave Farrakhan a "Lifetime Achievement Award"

[soundguy]

8. I Wonder How Malcolm X Would Have Felt?

Didn't he have him whacked after he went to Mecca and saw people of all races worshiping together in peace, and understood and rejected the the nations lies and utter hatred? Maybe the movies and documentaries I have seen were wrong. But it seems to me Malcolm X knew then what we know now, preaching a doctrine of blame and division will NEVER bring people together.

[NorthernSpy]

20. no, it was Elijah Muhammad who had Malcolm X whacked...

Not Farrakhan.


And the majority have NO business pointing fingers at the minority for blame and division. Not while talk radio blares white resentment over the publicly-owned airwaves in a nasty endless loop 24/7.

[John Q. Citizen]

13. I'm not afraid of Farrkhan like you are. I think you need to spend some time demonizing

him first, before you then link Wright to him and complete the swiftboating on Obama.

That would be my suggestion.

[ellacott]

14. For crying out loud, he didn't

But Ed Rendell did share a stage with Farrakhan and received glowing praise from Farrakhan. Bill also had glowing words for the million man march.

[NorthernSpy]

22. Farrakhan is no threat to me. So why should I care?

:shrug:

[noel711]

23. A few more details about this situation...

Jeremiah WRight did NOT give Farrakhan any award.

His daughter works for a magazine that did.

I have no control over my adult daughter,
and I believe Wright probably also has little control
over his adult daughter and had nothing to say
about it.

So... Wright, by extension, supports Farrakhan?

[democrattotheend]

7. THANK YOU!

I have been screaming this for days on blogs and message boards and all I get are the same right wing talking points. Why the hell is the media not featuring any of the numerous people who have said that they attend Trinity and this is not a typical sermon? They have created such a warped view of Obama's pastor and it's despicable.

[anigbrowl]

16. On the flip side, check out Mike huckabee DEFENDING Wright: (video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNwMPNxwHmQ

3/19, MSNBC 'Morning Joe'

[Drachasor]

25. Huckabee was awesome and showed a lot of integrity

I don't agree with him politically on many, many things (for one, I'm an atheist), but he seems like a really good guy.

[LynzM]

9. What has the media NOT failed us on?!

That's not a criticism of your post, just a general observation... the last time I feel like they got anywhere near actual reporting was Katrina. Ugh. :banghead:

We have "hype" and "drama," not news, in this country.

[Drachasor]

10. It certainly isn't new; I just wish there was some clear way to fix the problem

A functioning Fourth Estate is a vital part of a functioning Democracy.

[LynzM]

19. Agreed.

I'm not sure what the "fix" is other than to somehow take money (advertising, corporate channel support) out of the equation. That seems to be the root of so many problems we are facing... the media, the war, oil profiteering, health insurance industry, on and on and on... ugh.

[John Q. Citizen]

11. I think they may also fail to adaquitely demonize Wright. People are aware that

he's just another human being,

A few would hope that he can be turned into Saddam. It's now, in retrospect, unfortunate that Americans were so quick to demonize Saddam. Had we actually looked, we would have seen that Saddam was mainly worried about and focused on Iran. Just think of the millions of lives destroyed because we couldn't get past some two dimentional images designed to demonize Saddam.

I expect we will see some different views in the coming months about Trinity Untited Church of Christ. I mean the guy is retired, what's the big deal?

[NNN0LHI]

12. Imus was a pretty decent fellow 99% of the time and did some decent things too

Its that other 1% that gets you.

Don

[TheDonkey]

15. This is swiftboat part II

Just like how they distorted Kerry's heroic service they are destroying Obama's integrity at the expense of his church.

[npincus]

17. The MSM is playing the Race Card

they are not that f*cking naive not to realize that playing the angry black man clip 24/7 ad nauseum would do to divide the races in this country, and invariably destroy the candidacy of Barack Obama (or to fatally wound him for the GE).

[Drachasor]

28. That's what happens when profit/sensationalism trumps truth and knowledge

*sigh*

[SeaLyons]

21. Let's Get Real Here....

Obama is the one that failed his supporters....he's the one that knew this giraffe was lerking in the background, and he knew it was very controversial and would not be accepted. He took a big fat chance that the video's would not show up, and he shouldn't have done that. He should have been upfront with everyone from the very beginning. Put blame where it belongs in this case.

[Drachasor]

27. Way to not read my post. Did I even mention Obama?

Can you honestly say that the media is presenting Wright in a remotely fair way?

[cooolandrew]

24. More people have downloaded Obama's speech than Wright it'sall good.Obama is utube record braker.

[Drachasor]

26. One hopes that fixes things, but it doesn't change the abject failure of the 4th Estate

It's hard to think of how we are going to fix that problem.

I am crossing my fingers and hoping that Obama's speech touches blue collar whites and independents. I have no idea how it will play with them.