http://americablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/mainstream-media-abc-and-cbs-and-others.html
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Mainstream media, ABC and CBS and others, Swiftboat Al Gore
by John Aravosis
A few days ago, a small "organization" no one had ever heard of got
their hands on Al Gore's utility bill.
And, not surprising for a man who lives in a large home, Gore's bill
was a lot of money.
The "organization" claimed that Gore was a hypocrite for proclaiming
the need to address Global Warming while living in a 20-room home.
Huh?
Since when was it a crime, or even in poor taste, in America to do
well and live in a nice home - and since when did Al Gore lecture
anyone on the need to buy smaller homes?
(Sure, it fits into the conservative smear about rich liberals being
hypocrites, because somehow we're all supposed to be poor Capuchin
monks, but that's neither true nor news.)
But, no one was claiming that Gore was wasteful with his energy use.
No one was claiming that Gore didn't try to "greenify" his home (he
did).
What they were claiming was that Al Gore lived in a large home and
thus had a high energy bill.
Uh, yeah.
And?
So how exactly is this story news?
Simply because some out-of-nowhere "organization" just happens to
attack Al Gore a few days after his documentary gets the Oscar?
Gee, some conicidence there.
And in fact, contrary to the implication that Gore was sloppy with his
own energy use - which would be news - Gore has been doing exactly
what he preached:
The vice president has done that, Kreider argues, and the family tries
to offset that carbon footprint by purchasing their power through the
local Green Power Switch program -- electricity generated through
renewable resources such as solar, wind, and methane gas, which create
less waste and pollution.
"In addition, they are in the midst of installing solar panels on
their home, which will enable them to use less power," Kreider added.
"They also use compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy efficiency
measures and then they purchase offsets for their carbon emissions to
bring their carbon footprint down to zero."
Now, ABC will argue that there is a controversy here and they're
simply reporting both sides.
Gee, thanks.
But the first rule of journalism, in my book at least, isn't whether
there's a controversy, it's whether there's a story.
You can't legitimiately do a he-said-she-said when you know that
there's no there-there. In this story, the complaint on its face, that
Al Gore lives in a 20-room house, is bogus, unless Al Gore has been
lecturing people about the need to live in smaller houses - and he
hasn't, to my knowledge, nor do the stories say otherwise.
To reiterate a point made by ABC's own Mark Halperin a few years back:
We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public
interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold
both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that.
The attack on Al Gore is the equivalent of the "have you stopped
beating your wife" allegation.
It's not news, and it's not fair and balanced, simply because you
report the views of the slanderer and the victim, especially when you
know that the only thing people in the middle will take away from the
story is a scent of scandal that blackens Gore's good name.
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Back to your caves, rightards, your farting in the wind.
Harry
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