The Day After: Take 5
The Oregonian’s Douglas Perry….
Just as the iPod has allowed us all to feel like we’re in a movie by giving us our own life soundtrack, terrible tragedies now enable us to rise to leading-man status. So the loss of a home is at least partly offset by the opportunity to become Bruce Willis for an afternoon.
Too cynical? Maybe, but there’s no denying that TV news has increasingly embraced the movie trailer as its creative model. Never is that more obvious than during horrifying events, like Hurricane Katrina, when 24/7 coverage and a lack of new information require news shows to juice up their rhetoric.
….
As a result, after a day and a half, no hero had clearly revealed him or herself, telegenically speaking. (The Coast Guard guys kept their helmets on and were too busy to talk to reporters.) And so CNN went to Plan B: With images of men and women wading through chest-high water, a graphic spun onto the screen: “What About Pets?
I never found out what happened to the pets because I switched over to Fox News Channel, where detailed knowledge was also sparse. “New Orleans is under water,” said “Day Side” host Linda Vester, her blond hair pulled back into a bun to signify the seriousness of the moment. “The levees are broken, and they can’t figure out why.” (The hurricane, Linda, the hurricane.)
How can anyone be expected to take this article seriously when the author obviously can’t recognize Linda Vester? Linda is out on materinity leave and wasn’t on Dayside yesterday. And it’s not like Juliet Huddy was trying to disguise herself as Linda Vester either. She must have announced herself as Juliet Huddy half a dozen times during the show. How Perry could miss this rather obvious bit of information makes the whole article suspect in my opinion…
Maybe This writer and Jonathan Storm from the Philadelphia Inquirer are related. Just another example of writers not taking the time to do their jobs correctly. I will never believe another thing I read in the Philadelphia Inquirer or the Oregonian.
Comment by JMW — August 31, 2005 @ 10:23 am
This is unbelievable. This writer has obvioulsy never turned fox news channel on his TV before, and he has not read the newpapers or blogs, ever. He and this other one from yesterday should both be fired.
Comment by Jake — August 31, 2005 @ 10:27 am
It’s the best example of fox news being written about by people who don’t even watch them, and only have it out to get them for taking over the lead a few years ago from CNN.
Comment by Gregg — August 31, 2005 @ 10:45 am
Quite frankly, at least they were reporting ON the hurricane. I’m still not over the fact that Nancy Grace and Rita Cosby seem to think that I’m still remotely interested in Natalee Holloway. How many people are missing here in the United States? How many dead? And yet somehow, this missing, blonde, teenage cheerleader is way more important than all of that?
Comment by RHW — August 31, 2005 @ 11:20 am
Are people really this stupid? I guess they are.
Comment by chris — August 31, 2005 @ 11:31 am
I am stunned. NO HEROES? Is he out of his mind? Heroes abound - whenever someone’s outstretched hand leads a neighbor to safety; when a police officer-dealing with a fatigued populous-faces many uncertainties; when nurses and doctors carry sick patient up stairs to rooftops for evacuation; and when reporters, who are so grave, fatigued and earnest themselves, tell us all the stories.
Fire this guy!
Comment by Cara — August 31, 2005 @ 12:39 pm
What is the old saying? Better to remain quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and confirm it?
Douglas Perry can take a flying leap as far as I am concerned.
Comment by OverHere — August 31, 2005 @ 12:48 pm
Way to go on this essay, heelpd a ton.
Comment by Xandy — September 20, 2011 @ 12:17 pm