Tiger Wasteland

Spin, spin, and more spin!

I'll spin you 'round like a record, round, round? (There's a song in there somewhere!)

Now the president's team is just making shit up. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, Dorothy!"

You've all heard the story by now I am sure. About the Merchant Marine graduate who was so happy that Dubya was there to address the graduates that he couldn't help himself and gave the president a big ole bear hug on the stage.

Well, that's what the news media is "telling" us what happened.

But last night something interesting happened. Our local Atlanta NBC affiliate let something slip through the MSM Corporate news filter and guess what?

I WAS PAYING ATTENTION!!

They played the video of the hug! The graduate walked up to the The Commander in Chief and extended his hand first, and then the President opened HIS arms and prompted the hug "heard round the world" instead of the other way around. But what the Anchors were saying happened was not what really happened. And they call themselves Journalists?

Was this story distributed as only a feel good story for local channels or did it hit the cable channels? Anything this positive surely would have ended up on FAUX News. I am now on a mission to find a copy of the video so this can spread through the blogosphere. I need help spreading this story!

Editor's Note: Please help me in exposing this obvious lack of journalistic integrity by sending my local station an ELetter to the NewsEditor and see if it really makes a difference. Thanks, let's see how powerful the blog community can be to expose this farce! Post this link to your comments on all blogs you visit. Gay blogs, progressive blogs, grassroots blogs, etc. (This is my first activist blog project and I would love your help!) Remember how the right wing bloggers got Dan Rather canned? All it takes is for this to bubble up up from the ground and explode into the mainstream. Thanks for all who help in the endeavor!!

Here is my letter:

I have always been a loyal viewer of 11Alive news because I thought I could trust that what I was viewing was ethical and had journalistic integrity. NO MORE!

Last night, Ted Hall and Brenda Wood were gushing about the "feel good" story of the Merchant Marine graduate who felt compelled to give the President a big bear hug on graduation day. Were they "NOT WATCHING" the accompanying video? It was obvious from my vantage point on my couch that the graduate first extended HIS hand to the President and the President opened HIS arms for the hug like it must have been orchestrated in advance! What a crock!!

I think I will be getting my local news now from another station or the internet or the blogs and/or the alternative media that doesn't cow down to the corporate owners and their pandering to the Republican Party because it is in their best interest.

And by the way, that new ad campaign, "News you can trust, and the balance you deserve!" Another crock of CRAP!

Signed,
A former Loyal Viewer

(Another, and much longer Rant over. Can you tell I was pissed?)