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Jan. 9, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Why there's hope amidst the destruction

Martin Peretz: At War, Not at War

Charles Krauthammer: Will Olmert screw it up yet again?

Jan. 8, 2009

Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Arab regimes secretly rooting for Israel?

Larry Elder: Israelis and Palestinians: Who's David, Who's Goliath?

Jeff Jacoby: Yes, it's anti-Semitism

Jan. 7, 2009

Jonah Goldberg: Who are the real Nazis?

Anne Applebaum: Pointless Peace Proposals

Jan. 6, 2009

Caroline B. Glick: Iran's Gazan diversion?

Dennis Prager: Dissecting Dershowitz

Jan. 5, 2009

Mark Steyn: Gaza has its version of rocket scientists

Mona Charen: The So-called International Community

Jan. 2, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Having a holy tongue

Caroline B. Glick : Hamas' march to victory

Dec. 31, 2008

Dore Gold: Is Israel Using 'Disproportionate Force'?

Renee Enna:: Succulent 'stewp' is quick, easy fix

Dec. 30, 2008

Jonathan Mark: Israel's Response Is Disproportionate

Wesley Pruden: It's time once more to blame the Jews

Dec. 29, 2008

Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Chanukah: 'Give me Judaism or give me death'

Michael B. Oren: A crisis and an opportunity

Dec. 26, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: When the past meets the future

Caroline B. Glick: Iran and Hamas do Christmas

Dec. 24, 2008

Rabbi Dovid Zauderer: Judaism's Santa problem

The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman CHANUKAH FORK-FINGER FOOD FEAST

Dec. 23, 2008

Caroline B. Glick: Repeating failure in Gaza

Dec. 22, 2008

Rabbi Boruch Leff: Too many Jews today are missing the intended purpose of one of Judaism's most beloved holidays

Barry Rubin: Liar, liar, pants on cease-fire

Dec. 19, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Final Battlefield

Caroline B. Glick: Betting on a dead horse

Dec. 18, 2008

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: Juicy Chef's hella top, hella bottom, hallelujah in the middle

Craig Crossman : More gifts for geeks --- and those who love them

Dec. 17, 2008

Dion Nissenbaum: Israel kicks out outrageously biased UN official

Craig Crossman : Gifts for geeks --- and those who love them

Dec. 16, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: The Gift of Joy

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Uncle Shariah

Dec. 15, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Expert witnesses who put themselves first

Barry Rubin: What they say isn't what you hear

Dec. 12, 2008

Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Can the Bible be a secular language?

Caroline B. Glick: What a PM Netanyahu faces from Washington

Dec. 11, 2008

Rabbi Leiby Burnham: Our role in the Divine's global corporation, World Inc.

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: A retro-tasting pareve pot pie made with a light hand

Dec. 10, 2008

Rabbi Paysach J. Krohn: Groom admits he was caught "red handed"

Kara McGuire: No money for gifts? No problem

Dec. 9, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Can I make my boss treat me fairly?

Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Next Steps in the Indo-Pakistani Crisis

Dec. 8, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: 'Chanukah Bush' flap and graciousness

Mark Steyn: Jews get killed, but Muslims feel vulnerable

Dec. 5, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Truth --- The Key to Gratitude

Jeff Jacoby: UN's obsession is grotesque and Orwellian

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Sept. 20, 2005 / 16 Elul, 5765

(Journalistic) Disaster: When emotions and opinions dominate facts and reason

By Jack Kelly

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | NBC anchorman Brian Williams thinks a lasting legacy of Hurricane Katrina for journalists will be an end to a period of deference to elected officials.

"By dint of the fact that our country was hit we've offered a preponderance of the benefit of the doubt over the past couple of years," Williams told David Bauder of the Associated Press. "Perhaps we've taken something off our fastball and perhaps this is a story that brings a healthy amount of cynicism back to a news media known for it."

Given what a zoo the White House press room has been on briefings on Iraq and during the Valerie Plame affair, those of us who live on Planet Earth haven't seen much evidence of this deference.

Williams was in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina, and his reporting often went beyond describing what he saw to expressing how he felt about what he saw.

"Brian took his anchor hat off and put his human being hat on in a lot of the broadcasts that I saw," said Jeff Alan, who has written a book about the changing face of network news.

"If I let my emotion or anger get the better of me, what some have called a failing of a journalist I think should be taken the other way around on this story," Williams told Bauder.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was hailed for the same thing in a fawning profile in New York magazine.

"Anderson Cooper's on-air breakdown was an honest expression of his complicated personality — and a breakthrough for the future of television news," said the headline on Jonathan Van Meter's story.

Among others who often let their emotions and opinions dominate their reporting were Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera of Fox News, ABC's Ted Koppel, and NBC's Tim Russert.

This makes for great television — for Oprah or Dr. Phil. But it's lousy journalism.

Journalists are patting themselves on the back for their coverage of Katrina. But I doubt a more adversarial style will lead to the journalistic renaissance Williams imagines.

I was inundated with emails after my column praising the Katrina relief effort. The vast majority expressed sentiments like this: "Thank you for providing a factual analysis to counter the malicious, arrogant or simply stupid strident voices of the media," said a businessman in Pennsylvania.

"I'm so tired of reading articles that tear the federal government's relief efforts to shreds and is based totally on a lack of knowledge and ignorance on the reporter's part," said a lady in Austin.

These people want less moralizing and finger-pointing, and more reporting. Their ranks are likely to increase when shortcomings in the media's coverage to date become more apparent. The "toxic soup" that was supposed to have enveloped New Orleans doesn't exist. The death toll from Katrina figures to be nearer 1,000 than the more than 10,000 figure so widely bandied about.

"For all the media's efforts to turn the natural disaster in New Orleans into a racist nightmare, the death knell for one or the other of the political parties, or an indictment of American culture at large, it was none of that at all," said historian Victor Davis Hanson.

"What we did endure instead were slick but poorly educated journalists, worried not about truth but about preempting their rivals with an ever more hysterical story, all in the fuzzy context of political correctness about race, the environment, and war."

Many suspect the goal of the media's Katrina coverage is to bring down President Bush. If so, it doesn't appear to be working.

A recent Washington Post poll did show Bush's popularity at an all time low of 42 percent, which the Post trumpeted in its story.

But while 54 percent disapproved of Bush's handling of relief operations, 57 percent said state and local governments were more responsible for shortcomings, and 60 percent suspected Democrats of trying to use the disaster for political advantage.

Since the media already have blamed Bush for everything that has gone wrong, as more information comes out, his numbers can only rise. Indeed, in the daily Rasmussen robo-poll, he's already back to about where he was when he won re-election.

By adopting a more adversarial stance, journalists are unlikely to bring down the president. But they are likely to bring down their ratings, their circulation, and their credibility.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.



JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. Comment by clicking here.

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