Tel-Chai Nation

It turns out that the media's reports of mass rapes and murders in New Orleans, which were said to have taken place at the city's Superdome, were all a big fat lie. Neal Boortz provides the details on how the MSM has pulled one of the most offensive stunts possible by exploiting a serious subject for cheap, sick sensationalism:

Remember during the week of August 29th, when people who did not evacuate New Orleans were herded into the Louisiana Superdome and the convention center in New Orleans? Once the people had been there for a couple days, the media reported the following:

--Dead bodies were piling up, including those of babies.

--Rapes were being committed, including the claim by the recently-retired Police Chief Eddie Compass that there "little babies getting raped."

--Mayor Ray Nagin went on 'Oprah' to report that there were people "in that frickin' Superdome for five days watching dead bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people."

Now we're realizing the real fact: the media and the politicians made it all up. Nearly everything that was reported to have taken place at the Superdome and the convention center never took place. It was all a fantasy. The actual death toll from the Superdome and the convention center: six. That's right, 6 bodies were recovered from those evacuation points. At least one of those committed suicide, and most of the rest died from natural causes.

Michelle Malkin's got more, plus Discover the Network's Moonbat Central. And what's really angering about all this is how New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin pretty much took part in it from the very beginning.

In a story for the Associated Press, reporter Michelle Roberts details how major news organizations simply took rumors at face value, spinning reckless accounts of mass rape and murder. These accounts quickly began to drive the policy debate, as they were repeated by officials and pundits alike. Mayor Nagin, reacting to today’s AP report, sought again to avoid the blame, suggesting through a spokeswoman that he was too "trusting" of rumor spewing officials.

Uh uh, don't try to fool us, Nagin. You're the mayor(for now), and you're in a position and are supposed to know what exactly is going on in your city. Any such defense, I'm afraid, is simply worthless.

Power Line presents some good observations and questions about the MSM:

It's time for some accountability here. The conventional wisdom is that no one performed particularly well in the aftermath of Katrina--not local, state or federal authorities, and not considerable numbers of private citizens. But it now appears clear that the worse performance of all was turned in by the mainstream media. Congress should promptly investigate, and try to get to the bottom of the following questions:

* How did so many false rumors come to be reported as fact?
* Do news outlets have any procedures in place to avoid this kind of mis-reporting? If so, why did their procedures fail so miserably?
* To what extent were the false rumors honest mistakes, and to what extent were they deliberate fabrications?
* To the extent that the false reports were deliberate, did the press pass them on through sheer negligence, or did some reporters participate in deliberate fabrication?
* Did the widespread breakdown in accurate reporting stem only from a failure to follow proper journalistic standards, or did it also reflect a deliberate effort to damage the Bush administration by passing on unconfirmed rumors as fact?
* In deciding what stories to report, did the news media consider the likelihood that passing on false rumors would damage the rescue effort?

It is vitally important to get to the bottom of these questions, so that future natural disasters are not similarly mis-reported.

The moonbat media has a lot of apologizing to do now, and unless they're able to start repairing their approach to news coverage, I'd say their chances of ever regaining an audience are zip.

While we're on the subject, here's an almost related topic from Michelle Malkin and even Moonbat Central on how the NY Times, which is but one of the culprits in horrors like this, has actually admitted that they're tolerating the publications of lies in their reports, including attempts to smear Geraldo Riveira for all the wrong reasons. But I doubt that means they're going to be trying to reform any time soon. Nope, unlikely.

Labels: msm foulness, United States