Media Criticism

I was scrolling through Yahoo! News this afternoon as a distraction from my work when I came across the following headline:

Wicca teacher claims 1 Mega ticket

As a naturally curious person, I read the article while realizing that Yahoo! News and the Associated Press were using a silly headline to get the attention of readers.

Who cares if Elwood “Bunky” Bartlett is a Wicca teacher or helps practice New Age medicine? It does not contribute to the story at hand and it seems like Yahoo! News is simply highlighting the freak show that is American society. Bartlett’s remarks in the Associated Press interview seem normal but the centerpiece of the article is the agreement the ticket holder made with the “multiple gods associated with his Wiccan beliefs.” It seems that Mr. Bartlett asked to win the lottery in exchange for a lifetime mission of teaching Wicca to interested students.

I think my annoyance with this story comes from my belief that lottery winners are not newsworthy. While the media expresses concern with the fame of people who have done nothing (read anyone from The Hills or anyone named Paris Hilton) noteworthy, they try to promote “average” people making it big. If I won the lottery, I would be happy with winning the lottery and not having the Associated Press breath down my neck. Lottery winners should decline comment, do the press conference that the lottery will invariably set up and hopefully live happy without letting the money get to them if only to break the curse of big time winners who have encountered unthinkable problems after their victory.

The controversy over the firing of eight prosecutors continues with Bush’s announcement today that two former members of his administration will not testify before Congress. According to ABC News, “President Bush ordered former counsel Harriet Miers to defy a congressional summons….” The article adds that “[c]ontempt citations against both women were a possibility.”

It is intriguing, to say the least, that the administration is going to such lengths to obstruct the investigation into these firings. It’s also interesting to investigate the way in which this news is presented.

It’s no secret that ABC News leans to the left. Left-wing crazies would argue that it’s perfectly fair and objective (if not a wee bit conservative), whereas right-wing crazies tend to lump ABC in with CNN and CBS as part of the vast left-wing conspiracy. Regardless, the ABC article definitely disparages the administration’s move. The easiest way to understand how it does so is to read this article on the same subject from Fox News. Not only is the ABC article significantly lengthier and more detailed, but it also focuses more on the possibility of Meirs facing contempt charges. Fox, on the other hand, opens with the quotation regarding Meirs’ protection from subpoena and gives only a few words to the possible contempt charges. This then indicates a more sympathetic view of Bush’s announcement today.

However, I believe both articles raise the same question: why is Bush trying to suppress this testimony? According to both articles, Sarah Taylor (former White House political director) defended the president and claimed that he had no role in the firings. It is unclear why Bush would suppress positive testimony about him; he has enough bad press these days as it is.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out; it will be even more interesting to see how the media handles this controversy.

Article Source: ABC News: Bush Orders Miers Not to Testify