Yay, the Media is Finally Mad!

It certainly took long enough. Over at Slate, media cokumnist Jack Shafer has a great rundown on the TV news personalities who have pretty much lost it with guests who go on their programs to apologize for the government's response to the New Orleans flood.

For once, the talking heads, who darned well know spin when they hear it but uually let it slide, are demanding better from the governors and Senators and government employees who drop in to calm an angry public. In this case, the lies are too big to let slide. The guest says nobody expected the city to flood. But the host just an hour ago interviewed Professor "This city's gonna flood someday" from Tulane. The guest says that the government workers are brave and doing the best they can. The host says, "Sure, but where were they three days ago?"

This morning, with air lifts finally getting people out of the city, CNN's Miles O'Brien keeps saying, "It looks like we've turned a corner." But he's still so angry that he can't help but point out that it's a corner we should have turned days ago.

Now, the guests are trying a new tactic. They all seem to be saying, "There'll be plenty of time to assess the blame later." Uh, no. a GAO report and some Senate hearings in a few months or a year is not sufficient. Holding the government accountable later, when this is no longer the country's top story, is the same as letting them off the hook.

It's nice to see the media actually take issue with the government. But, to echo Miles O'Brien... it's a little late to be turning this corner, folks. If you'd been acting like this in 2002, half of the National Guard forces needed in New Orleans wouldn't be in Iraq right now.