Monday, September 12, 2005
RAGE REQUESTED
Michael Kinsley reveals CNN’s calm and moderate approach to hurricane coverage:
A Los Angeles Times colleague of mine, appearing on CNN last week to talk about Katrina, was told by a producer to “get angry.”
I wonder if any CNN producer has ever told, say, a commentator on Islamic terrorism to “get angry”. Kinsley also observes:
Obviously — obviously in hindsight, that is — we should have spent the money to strengthen the New Orleans levees. President Clinton should have done it. Presidents Bush the Elder and Reagan should have done it. As Tim Noah notes in Slate, warnings about the perilous New Orleans levees go back at least to Fanny Trollope in 1832. In fact, the one president who is pretty much in the clear on this is our current Bush — not because he did anything about the levees but because even if he had started something, it probably wouldn’t have been finished yet.