MSM - no bias?
A loyal read (H/T: Russell) brought the following emails to my attention concerning how NBC views itself regarding the reporting of the Virginia Tech massacre. Now, I have not intentions of posting ANY pictures as I have come to the conclusion that I do not wish to give this evil person any more publicity than NBC already gave him when they published his materials.
Sick puppies, all. Russell agreed in his email to me
This is the story that set me off... 'fraid I took brisk exception to this MSM crackberry and his spinnage. Aside from the obvious attempt to demonize hunters, I think it's contemptible that NBC enabled this lunatic bring more pain to folks after his death. It's wrong.
Anyways, one of the pictures show him wearing a vest. Here is how Robert Windrem, an investigative producer at NBC News wrote about the story here (bold emphasis mine):
There also appears to be a change of personality between the first clips and those marked as “end.” Cho is angrier, his language cruder and his speech more rambling. In many of the others, he mumbles and is apologetic about what he is about to do. And in at least two, he talks about what he has done “today.” He is dressed differently as well. In the earlier videos, he is dressed in a black T-shirt, sometimes wearing a hood. In the later ones, he is seen wearing his ammunition-laden vest, with a baseball cap, as if dressed for hunting.
Disclaimer: I am not hunter, nor have I ever hunted. However, both my stepdad and my father-in-law did. I know what a hunter, if s/he is safety conscious, will wear and bring. Our Now, I saw the photo, I would never, ever, have thought this personification of evil was going hunting in the traditional manner.
Anyways, what is important was that this also caught Russell's eye and emailed Mr. Windrem (emphasis mine):
From: <redacted>
To: Windrem, Robert (NBC Universal)
CC: <redacted>
Sent: Thu Apr 19 2007
Subject: "As if dressed for hunting...?"
Your 4/19/07 update article re: VTI killer leads into its concluding paragraph with the sentence "In the later ones, he is seen wearing his ammunition-laden vest, with a baseball cap, as if dressed for hunting."
That vest, and other very similar designs, is also used by Time magazine photographers, NBC videographers, NPR sound engineers, birdwatchers etc - and that type would not be commonly worn by a hunter - it is not blaze orange, or camo, and so not a good choice for hunters. Your attempt to associate this psycho with hunting did not and is not going to go un-noticed.
You are either uninformed, did not research, or just took a cheap shot - not smart - pretty transparent in fact. Your agenda is showing.
I believe that the call-out was justified. Hunters, because of the gun issue and the "Bambi" issue, in my eyes, are denigrated by the Left all the time. However, I'm not going to go off on a rant - not tonite.
However, the response to the email was quite illustrative (emphasis mine):
From: Windrem, Robert (NBC Universal)
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007
To: <redacted>
Subject: Re: "As if dressed for hunting...?"
So is yours
Robert Windrem
NBC Nightly News
I have removed Mr. Windrem's email address and his phone numbers...if you really wish to contact him, it should be easy enough.
To me, it continues to show a bias....at one level, it tries to tie evil to hunters...after all, guns are guns, right? They all can kill people, right? Therefore, they are all bad.
Sure, let's get two targets with one stone (MSM thinking).
And they continue to wonder why the dead tree media outlets are losing profits and employees hand over fist, and the network share ratings are starting to follow suit. They have not gotten the message that people want them to REPORT THE NEWS - straight up. Leave the opinions on the Op Ed page, or at least make it clear.
Bloggers are not the end all be all. However, we ARE subject matters in what we do for livings (or serious hobbies). We also depend a lot on the MSM for actual news (and thus give us food for fodder).
But the vast majority of us tell our readers who we are and what our biases are.
