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Last week I wrote about the non stop coverage on the war with Iraq. To be honest it seems to have relaxed a bit this week, but it is still too heavy for my liking. The worst part is that what has begun to happen this week is the reporting of peripheral fallout stories from the war. In some cases these stories are just downright goofy.
While I feel that some coverage is necessary, like the more uplifting news of soldiers being rescued, like Jessica Lynch, or our soldiers trying to win over the trust of Iraqi citizens. The Iraqis are justifiably leery that the allied forces will pull out before completely disposing of Saddam and his band of thugs. These stories should be reported on and be seen by Americans.
What falls into the goofy category are some of the things that are being lumped into the war coverage that really don’t belong. While being completely silly, I am not referring to the little sound bites of the likes of Rosie O’Donnell. If you haven’t heard her, she’s been spouting off about how if she were still on the air she would open each show with “Hi I’m Rosie O’Donnell and this war is wrong.” I’m sure glad she’s off the air so we don’t have to listen to anything she has to say. Next to Joan Rivers she is the most annoying woman on TV and I am hoping she remains retired.
The Rosie’s out there are just annoying little sideshows at the war circus. They are just little blips on the radar compared to the stories that are given the same sort of coverage as the war itself. This week’s entries are so irritatingly stupid that they left me numb.
The first contestant, from the land of “Overly Politically Correct,” is Warner Brother’s movie division. They are about to release a harmless little movie called “What a Girl Wants” starring Nickelodeon favorite Amanda Bynes. The movie is neither politically or war themed, that is not the problem. The imagined problem is with the publicity poster for the film.
So what was so wrong with this poster that compelled the studio to recall thousands of posters and modify all of its print ads? Did it have a picture of Saddam in the background? Did it include some disparaging remark about our troops? No, it has a photograph of Ms. Bynes in a t-shirt with an American flag on it. Behind her are two British Royal Guards and her arm is raised. With her hand she is giving the peace sign or victory sign depending on which generation you are from.
That little hand gesture has been on more news reports in the last week than Saddam’s moustache. In what has to be one of the greatest over reactions to a harmless symbol of peace or victory, Warner Brothers has displayed either an incredible degree of paranoia or a great way to get free advertising for a new film.
Then we have the Queen of self-promotion, Madonna, doing something that is completely out of character, avoiding controversy. Apparently her new video, which was made prior to the conflict with Iraq began, is very anti war and doesn’t show the President in a very flattering light. It sounds like typical Madonna and in her younger days she would have just let it fly and embraced whatever heat it generated. I guess motherhood and age have mellowed her a bit. But don’t be too surprised, the fact that I’m mentioning her means that she is getting as much publicity mileage out of not releasing the video than if she had released it and she is using the war and the news media to do it.
And finally we have the Grand PooBah of tabloid news reporters, the sleazy and self-serving Geraldo Rivera. O’ he of such television milestones as “Opening Al Capone’s Vault” and being hit in the face with a folding chair during a brawl with Klu Klux Klan members on his highly distinguished talk show. As much as I hate the Klan I really should have sent them a thank you note on that one.
This slimy little parasite was in Iraq in a heartbeat after hearing that the war was going to begin. His skills as a reporter have always been lacking, as the fact that MSNBC and others have fired him for unethical tactics have shown. But why people keep hiring this clown is a mystery. Every time they do he displays his true colors and does something incredibly underhanded and stupid.
Now that he is on the Fox News Network and has been turned loose in Iraq he is back at it again. Only this time his poor judgment could have potentially endangered our troops. While doing a live report last week in the field he did the unthinkable. He bent down and drew a diagram in the dirt of the exact positioning of our troops.
His actions reeked of tabloid journalism and displayed a total disregard for our troops’ security. It got the reaction that I’m sure Rivera wanted. His foolish actions went to the top of the news reports, once again making him more important than the story he was sent to cover. The military has, as of this writing, asked Rivera to leave the country. As Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” pointed out last night that puts Rivera in a very exclusive group that includes Saddam and his sons.
I can only hope that the reporters try to stick to the job at hand and report the war and not the little freak shows on the side. The Shrub Speaks: “Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better.” At a press conference 9/24/01. I guess Dubya forget about the big country that’s between the two!
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