This helps explain the front page of the New York Daily News that dashed right past the actual story of the shooter at the Washington Navy Yard in favor of trying to score a political point (talk about burying the lede):
"Never mind"
I'm sure it looked really great to those who really wanted the victims to be slain with the bête noire of the anti-gun lobby, but unfortunately for them, there was no AR-15 used by Aaron Alexis (other than the one wielded by the officer who finally took him out). The story is in need of what we would term the Litella Defense (which is no defense at all), assuming that the NYDN actually had a defense.
It mumbled the usual claptrap about reliable sources being wrong, but all that really meant was that the paper didn't have the professional integrity to secure corroborating evidence before it ran the story. It took them two days to admit their negligence, giving the story a chance to gain a purchase among the low information voters that mull over such dross during their union bus ride to the voting polls.
Nice!
ReplyDeleteProfessional and integrity are not usually linked in the journalistic lexicon. CYA is the rule at all times and the bottom line is paramount. That's why people in the game call it the "news biz." I love the cartoon. The gun wielding the deranged man, indeed, whose security clearance, despite his mental problems, was clearly a case of PC uber alles.
ReplyDeleteBut no matter how many self-inflicted hits they take, they'll still plow on and pretend it never happened.
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