A Hurricane of Lies

Unlike the gents at Powerline, Loose Canon does not believe that the press should be "investigated." But I do believe they lie all the time and we must say this--again, and again, and again. They lie.

This story tells you about some of their lies they told about Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath.

Here is Powerline:

"It's time for some accountability here. The conventional wisdom is that no one performed particularly well in the aftermath of Katrina--not local, state or federal authorities, and not considerable numbers of private citizens. But it now appears clear that the worst performance of all was turned in by the mainstream media. Congress should promptly investigate, and try to get to the bottom of the following questions:

How did so many false rumors come to be reported as fact?

Do news outlets have any procedures in place to avoid this kind of mis-reporting? If so, why did their procedures fail so miserably?

To what extent were the false rumors honest mistakes, and to what extent were they deliberate fabrications?

To the extent that the false reports were deliberate, did the press pass them on through sheer negligence, or did some reporters participate in deliberate fabrication?

Did the widespread breakdown in accurate reporting stem only from a failure to follow proper journalistic standards, or did it also reflect a deliberate effort to damage the Bush administration by passing on unconfirmed rumors as fact?

In deciding what stories to report, did the news media consider the likelihood that passing on false rumors would damage the rescue effort?

"It is vitally important to get to the bottom of these questions, so that future natural disasters are not similarly mis-reported."

Michael Barone has a piece on how reality and the media picture of reality are radically different.

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