Accountability After Katrina
Atrios posts on what Accountability means and what the media is responsible for:
Will it ever be reached? This government has proven that Accountability has nothing to do with their governing principles. They are more interested in protecting their interests, political and economic, despite the fact that they become very close to criminally liable for them. Atrios points out that the Media, by either misunderstanding what their role in politics is or by understanding and neglecting their role, has consistently veered toward complicit cronyism with The Administration since they came to office.
Katrina is an opportunity for the Media to Get It. Seeing Geraldo cry in his reporting may be a watershed moment- obviously Fox News isn't interested in losing their prime position as The Mouthpiece, but any other media outlet might decide, as Atrios suggests, to become actual Journalists again.
As for the rest of us, the voting, opinionated, overeducated public: what is our role in maintaining accountability? How can we assure that those who make policy or cultural decisions are then held accountable to make them operate in the best interest of America, as opposed to the best interest of their career?
The way for the press to require accountability isn't simply by writing angry editorials, it's about continuing to do its job in reporting the news.Accountability. One of Jiggavegas' Big Issues that needs to become one of all of ours.
One such bit of news is the fact that Bush continues to be either deceptive or clueless about what happened. Pointing that out might be a good start.
Another way to have more accountability is to investigate the rampant cronyism in FEMA and elsewhere. Now that maybe we've had another lesson in why having decent people in charge actually matters, instead of just people who you might want to have a beer with, it's time to look hard at the people in important positions in all the government agencies.
In addition, it's time to start looking into where we're spending all that money. Steve Clemons suggests there may be a lot of fraud in FEMA contracting. Follow the money...
Will it ever be reached? This government has proven that Accountability has nothing to do with their governing principles. They are more interested in protecting their interests, political and economic, despite the fact that they become very close to criminally liable for them. Atrios points out that the Media, by either misunderstanding what their role in politics is or by understanding and neglecting their role, has consistently veered toward complicit cronyism with The Administration since they came to office.
Katrina is an opportunity for the Media to Get It. Seeing Geraldo cry in his reporting may be a watershed moment- obviously Fox News isn't interested in losing their prime position as The Mouthpiece, but any other media outlet might decide, as Atrios suggests, to become actual Journalists again.
As for the rest of us, the voting, opinionated, overeducated public: what is our role in maintaining accountability? How can we assure that those who make policy or cultural decisions are then held accountable to make them operate in the best interest of America, as opposed to the best interest of their career?
posted by General Stan at 12:36 PM
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