Nothing much in the news, making me realize how lucky we’d all be if every day was Christmas and the government shut down altogether. And though I understand we really do need firemen, cops and the military without doubt, the rest of the bunch wouldn’t be missed at all.
However, it’s not only government that’s capable of incredibly poor decision-making, because the press continually proves that its easily as obtusely self-serving as most of those in the public sector. And today’s item is as good an example as we’ll ever get.
I’m sure that many readers are already aware of the subject but I’ve pasted below directly from The Huffington Post on-line. In an article by Rebecca Shapiro she wrote: “In a piece titled, "The gun owner next door: What you don't know about the weapons in your neighborhood," the (New York) Journal News requested (and published) the names and addresses of local residents who are licensed to own handguns through Freedom of Information Law requests. The paper requested information from Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties. The paper was only given the names and addresses of those who have a license to own a handgun. The paper was denied its requests for the amount and type of guns owned by those who have licenses."
Now, at this point I’d ordinarily post my own comments about the subject, and then go on from there. But in this case, Ms. Shapiro included some feedback from readers that make my case far better than I could, so I pasted them in too, as follows: “Do you fools realize that you also made a map for criminals to use to find homes to rob that have no guns in them to protect themselves? What a bunch of liberal boobs you all are," one commenter wrote on the newspaper's website. Others worried that the names would expose law enforcement officials. "You have judges, policemen, retired policemen, FBI agents — they have permits. Once you allow the public to see where they live, that puts them in harm’s way," Paul Piperato, the Rockland county clerk, told Journal News reporter Worley.”
Then, as I read the material back, a memory flashed where a headline-seeking, egotistical egocentric put himself and his career above else when writing an inside story while embedded with our armed forces.
Back in 2003, Geraldo Rivera was traveling with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq for Fox News. And during a broadcast he began to disclose an upcoming operation, even going so far as to draw a map in the sand for his audience. According to Wikipedia, “The military immediately issued a firm denunciation of his actions, saying it put the operation at risk, and nearly expelled Rivera from Iraq. Two days later, he announced that he would be reporting on the Iraq conflict from Kuwait.”
Now, in the two preceding cases of journalism gone considerably too far, especially regarding audience's need to know, I simply wish that the reporters had used themselves alone as examples, gave out their own home addressees and furthermore…stay there a lot alone and unarmed.
That’s it for today folks.
Adios
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