http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=11749

From BOB LAURENCE, TV critic, San Diego Union-Tribune: I'd like to offer a couple of possible reasons for the lack of attention given to the kidnapping of the two guys from Fox:

 

One is that, sadly, they are far from the first to be kidnapped, injured or killed. They are, alas, only the most recent two of many. The kidnapping or targeting of journalists in Iraq isn't the story it once was.

 

Second, Fox has deliberately set itself apart from other news media. Starting at the top with Roger Ailes, the Fox sales pitch has been to deride other media, to declare itself the one source of the real truth, the sole source of 'fair and accurate' news reporting. As a result, there's not a reservoir of kinship or good will with Fox on the part of the rest of the news media. You can't keep insulting people and then expect friendship when you need it.

 

They've made it a policy to keep a distance between themselves and the rest of the media, far beyond the usual competitive spirit, so that's where they are: at a distance.

 

This sounds like "you don't like us, so we won't care about you. " These are PEOPLE that were kidnapped, and just because they worked for FoxNews, there is no 'reservoir of good will'? What about basic human fu*king compassion? Bob Laurence, may you someday be kidnapped and be a non-story as well, you pissant waste of human flesh. Your inability to set aside your contempt and/or jealousy of a competitor speaks volumes about your soul. At DU, posters openly hope for their beheadding. You would seem right at home with the bottomfeeders there.

http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=11749

This sounds like "you don't like us, so we won't care about you. " These are PEOPLE that were kidnapped, and just because they worked for FoxNews, there is no 'reservoir of good will'? What about basic human fu*king compassion? Bob Laurence, may you someday be kidnapped and be a non-story as well, you pissant waste of human flesh. Your inability to set aside your contempt and/or jealousy of a competitor speaks volumes about your soul. At DU, posters openly hope for their beheadding. You would seem right at home with the bottomfeeders there.

His points are all correct - if embarrassing. Do you think he is trying to defend that fact? If he is, then I agree, that makes him pretty slimy. But I think maybe he was just reporting the fact, and not so much saying it was right. If that is the case, then be angry with the Beirut bureau reporters for ignoring the kidnapping - not this writer.

 

DU?

His points are all correct - if embarrassing. Do you think he is trying to defend that fact? If he is, then I agree, that makes him pretty slimy. But I think maybe he was just reporting the fact, and not so much saying it was right. If that is the case, then be angry with the Beirut bureau reporters for ignoring the kidnapping - not this writer.

 

DU?

Yes, I feel he is trying to defend the fact they he, and other reporters by default, are not reporting on it by basically saying 'we don't like you, so we aren't going to act like this is a big deal'. If the two were from CNN, they would be all over it. I'm not saying they should be buddies, but there is some small level of decency that this guy has missed. If my anger is misplaced, then I will surely redirect it at whomever it rightly belongs to.

 

Oh, and DU is http://www.democraticunderground.com/

Edited August 23, 200619 yr by EvilMonkey

wow, thats messed up

 

the media is so untrustworthy. it's all turned into bs politics.

His points are all correct - if embarrassing. Do you think he is trying to defend that fact? If he is, then I agree, that makes him pretty slimy. But I think maybe he was just reporting the fact, and not so much saying it was right. If that is the case, then be angry with the Beirut bureau reporters for ignoring the kidnapping - not this writer.

 

DU?

 

Actually the Beirut bureaus are busy with Lebanon. This is happening in Gaza. We kinda forgot about that mess in general. And besides, who wants to hear about missing journalists when the Jon Benet suspected farted in business class on his flight to LA?

Btw: The Fox News Journalists is the Third Top Story on CNN.com. The 8th lead on MSNBC and Fourth on Foxnews.com.

Actually the Beirut bureaus are busy with Lebanon. This is happening in Gaza. We kinda forgot about that mess in general. And besides, who wants to hear about missing journalists when the Jon Benet suspected farted in business class on his flight to LA?

Most US news outlets don't have bureaus or offices in the Gaza. Its Beirut, or somewhere in Israel, or Jordan.

I know that. Most of them are in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. There are a "few" in Beirut - but they're busy with what's happening locally. US News resources in the Middle East are much fewer than you'd think.

 

Did you know that only CNN had an active Baghdad journalist team during the Iraqi invasion in 2003, and they were expelled two days into the war?

Should a reporter receive more attention than anyone else?

Should a reporter receive more attention than anyone else?

No, they shouldn't. But these two had received less than most because they worked for Fox.

No, they shouldn't. But these two had received less than most because they worked for Fox.

 

I didn't want to make it personal to this, but doesn't it seem like reporters receive way more attention than anyone else?

 

I wonder if he worked for the Middletown Crier, if it would be the same?

I know that. Most of them are in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. There are a "few" in Beirut - but they're busy with what's happening locally. US News resources in the Middle East are much fewer than you'd think.

 

Did you know that only CNN had an active Baghdad journalist team during the Iraqi invasion in 2003, and they were expelled two days into the war?

Thats because the people who became the first wave of Baghdad reporters came in as embedded. In essence, they came in with a military escort, and then stayed.

Which means that the story they saw had a very specific point of view. Or bias. I just read "A Hundred and One Days" by Asne Seierstad, the same woman who wrote "The Bookseller of Kabul." It's a clearly interesting read - as she rode out the invasion from her hotel in Baghdad as a journalist for like 8 different Northern Europe TV, Radio and Newspaper properties and what surprised me the most is the lack of American media present.

 

Too often media in our country is faced with keeping resources in one part of a conflict or the other - and in important ones, not having resources in both.

 

FOX News, to its credit, was the only American network to keep resources in Gaza as well as resources in Israel and Lebanon recently.

Journalists freed.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/27/...ists/index.html

 

The "non-coverage" from other media outlets' websites.

 

CNN.com Third top story (behind hurricane and plane crash)

FoxNews.com Second top story (behind plane crash)

MSNBC.com Third top story (behind hurricane and plane crash)

glad to see they were released...

the media is so untrustworthy. it's all turned into bs politics.

Sadly, some of the most trust worthy national news is The Daily Show and the Colbert Report! how sad is that?