Cable News is Sexing Up and Politicizing The Tsunami Disaster

[Vinnie From Indy]

What do child snatching, sex rings and pedophilia have to do with the worst natural disaster to strike our planet in almost a century? Well, if you watch any of the three major cable news outlets, CNN, MSNBC or Fox you would know that this aspect of the recent tsunami tragedy is so important that it deserves far more coverage than the 150,000 dead and the millions of homeless. All three networks are now devoting large chunks of coverage to an alleged child snatching from a Thai hospital of a Caucasian baby during the confusion of the immediate aftermath of the killer wave. The networks want us know that the lost child was most likely snatched by "sex traders" to be used in the "illegal sex trade" notoriously operating in that part of the world. The networks have made it clear that they intend to vigorously search for answers to this alleged crime no matter how many dead, dark skinned people they have step over or move out of the way.

Wolf Blitzer deserves a special award for his clarity and his ability to see the real story in the midst of all the dead natives and devastated towns and villages. After he dutifully led off his broadcast with an in depth examination of the "sex trade" industry in Asia and tied it to the single alleged act of kidnapping a white child, he moved on to the other major aspect of this event that his viewers need to know. Wolf wants you to ponder why Americans should be giving any money to those people if they are going to walk around wearing Osama Bin Laden T-Shirts. He directs the viewers attention to a still picture of a half drowned man begging for water from a helicopter that hovered over a barren, water logged field that used to be his village wearing a shirt with Osama's face printed on it. His guest at the time was William Cohen who seemed stunned by the question but responded that the tragedy should not be politicized. Wolf was having none of that nonsense and countered that most of those non-white people over there are Muslims and again he asked if our support might be going to people that want to do us harm. Cohen repeated his answer about not making a tsunami a political issue.

America can be assured that CNN, MSNBC and FOX will not rest until they have reported fully on why Scott & Lacie Petersen did not honeymoon on Puhket Island before he killed her and his child. Oh the humanity!


http://www.indynewsblog.com

[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. That is SO f*cking disgusting.

Wolf needs a chainsaw enema, the heartless, whoring motherf*cker.
:grr:

[ElectroPrincess]

5. I second that thought, it is disgusting. Don't watch FOX but MSNBC too!

[wtmusic]

2. Can we divert this whole fascination to Neil Bush somehow?

I hear he has some experience with the SE Asian sex trade...

an interview, perhaps?

[Vinnie From Indy]

4. LOL Never Thought of That, But i Like it!

Mind if I use that in a column?

[ixion]

3. they do that with everything

complete with theme music, branding and 'official' story.

[jswordy]

6. Those are the "second-day lead" stories...

...being moved on the wire services too. It's a cycle thing, happens in the media (of which I am a member). Reporters/editors look for a fresh angle on which to hang their stories after the initial event has aged, in order to keep people's interest. Like it or hate it, it is the way the news cycle works.

The criticism of the news media I have found most valid is that their up-close victim coverage (interviews, human interest) has to a very large extent been all about WHITE PEOPLE.

Uh, the vast majority of those victimized were not white.

[vitointn]

8. Re: second day lead stories

Good point JS. Glad I'm not alone in noticing that most of the video during the first coupla days rarely showed the indigenous population's plight, but TOURISTS.

Some of the major media have gotten back on track and concentrated on the REAL victims...those that can't just jump on a return flight OUT of the region, and have pretty much lost most everything.

[jswordy]

12. Just today....

...NPR did a piece on the 9,000 (white) tourists caught up in the wave.

WOW! NINE THOUSAND (white) folks. Heheheheh. Geez.

[Vinnie From Indy]

15. I Vote For Hating It

I can see no justification for focusing on a single missing white child to the exclusion of millions of dark skinned people. For Christ sakes, they don't even know if the kid is truly missing. All the networks are running the story. Is there no editor or producer at these networks that objects to the transparently racist and irrelevant coverage or do they just pass it along?

[Warpy]

7. The problem is a missing blond cherub Scandinavian boy

who left a hosptial "with unknown men." Of course everybody's assuming the worst, that he's now being used for the pleasure of businesssmen on vacation in Thailand. The sad thing is that there's a chance he might be. The sadder thing is that if he were a Thai kid, nobody would care.

Yes, this is sensationalized, lurid, racist, and detracts from much of the real story of the disaster. However, anything that focuses attention on what businessmen do when they think nobody's looking is a good thing. The child sex trade thrives in a lot of poor areas, many of them in our own hemisphere, some of them in our own country. It's a story worth reporting on.

However, focusing on this kid as a way of ignoring all the desperation around him as well as children like him in our own back yard is typical Pox/CNN/MSM horseshit. Do yourself a favor and turn it off.

[SweetLeftFoot]

9. In the UK

its reported everywhere that the missing blond Swedish kid was taken by a white man, probably German.

[haktar]

14. Stefan K. brought kid back to mother

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,335559,00.html (in German)

[Vinnie From Indy]

11. Yes & No

However, anything that focuses attention on what businessmen do when they think nobody's looking is a good thing

No sane person would ever say that child sex rings are tolerable or that they shouldn't be aggressively dismantled, but your statement is too much. To divert the attention of Americans from the CONFIRMED Deaths of over 150,000 people and of MILLIONS left homeless to SPECULATE on the whereabouts of a white kid is so grotesque it defies description. Using the tsunami to focus attention on the Asian sex trade at this time is not a good thing.

However, focusing on this kid as a way of ignoring all the desperation around him as well as children like him in our own back yard is typical Pox/CNN/MSM horseshit. Do yourself a favor and turn it off.

I agree that the sensationalist, racist coverage we are being served by the corporate media is horse shit and several domestic issues concerning children are ignored, but I think that it is important to monitor and speak out against the networks that have become mouthpieces for the BushCo. empire. It is doubtful that the less educated Bush voters will come to DU or other sites discussing substantive issues and they will continue to rely on cable news for their worldview. They will continue to lap up the propaganda being served by the gigantic media conglomerates and it is important that the left monitor and counter this huge river of deception and spin to the best of our ability wherever we can.

edit: removed the word "the"

[Bouncy Ball]

10. What IS their fascination and obsession with SEX about?

Sheesh, everything has to have a sexual angle with these people.

It's sick.

[jswordy]

13. uh, THEY DON'T GET ANY!

Check out Lynne Cheney's book sometime!

;--)

Bumpersticker:

The Cheney Women...Running from DICK!

ROFLMAO! With that, time for lunch!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

16. Cable "News" is horrible!

It is "Hitler Media"!