Analyst: Local, State Officials Given 'Pass' on Katrina; Media Place Blame on Bush Instead
by Chad Groening
September 7, 2005
(AgapePress) - A conservative media watchdog organization is calling the mainstream media to task for using the Hurricane Katrina disaster as another opportunity for "Bush bashing." A spokesman for the Virginia-based Media Research Center (MRC) says the mainstream media has pulled out all the stops in blaming the president and members of his political party for the lack of response in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. MRC news analyst Geoff Dickens says the media, for the most part, has given local and state officials a pass.
"First responders, quite frankly, are the people in local government," Dickens says, adding that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco "certainly should be taken to task first and foremost." And while he acknowledges that the federal government could have responded more quickly, he adds: "You've got to remember: the people first on the ground are the ones in the local government."
And Dickens says the president cannot be blamed for an act of nature. Any blame, he says, should "just be put on, quite frankly, the fact that it's just a huge, huge, devastating hurricane -- something that America maybe hasn't seen ever."
But the media, according to the MRC spokesman, is "finding ways to bash the president and Republicans," instead of just finding ways and discovering ways to better help these people [affected by the hurricane]."
Dickens claims the anti-Bush bias has been widespread. "We've actually seen a lot," he says. "There seem to be three avenues people have been criticizing Bush on."
He explains his accusations: "One was saying that [Bush] just wasn't on time -- and we know that the local teams should have been the first ones there. They've also been criticizing [the] lack of money, saying the tax cuts are to blame." Dickens cites comments offered by Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio, who he says over the weekend "blamed tax cuts ... for the reason why the response wasn't quick enough."
And the third? "There's even been a racial component," says Dickens. "On CBS This Morning, they blamed Bush. They openly questioned whether or not he was trusting of African Americans."
The news analyst says it is outrageous that some in the media have made such accusations, while others have said the president cares more about big oil companies than he does the poor who are trapped in flooded areas of New Orleans.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
