WISH-TV News, Indianapolis video: Andre Carson's remarks create tea party stir
Since I know that nobody else will mention it to you, the biggest journalism scandal involving Rep. Andre Carson's ridiculous comments about Tea Party supporters at a Congressional Black Caucus Job Fair/Town Hall meeting last week in Miami, is that there was not a single representative of a South Florida news organization that was there who reported on it the day it happened.
Or the next day.
Or the day after that.
Or...
And neither did any other reporter or columnist or editor who wasn't actually there, but heard about it later.
Until Wednesday, nine days later, it was like it NEVER happened.
The Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Channel 4 (WFOR-TV) - a CBS O&O, Channel 6 (WTVJ-TV) -an NBC O&O, Channel 7 (WSVN-TV) -Fox affiliate, and Channel 10 (WPLG-TV) -ABC affiliate (Post-Newsweek) ALL ignored it or never knew about it.
Which is worse?
As I write this:
Channel 4 still has ZERO.
Channel 6 still has ZERO.
Channel 7 posted an AP story out of Indy at 10:45 p.m. Thursday
Channel 10 posted a story by Deirdre Walsh of CNN on Wednesday morning.
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Later on Wednesday they posted a wire service video of Herman Cain responding to Carson's remarks
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On Wednesday morning they also posted another CNN video of Rick Perry, updated Thursday
morning -that doesn't work.
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That's it for Channel 10.
The Miami Herald's first mention of the controversy -at events they had one of their own reporters at!- was Wednesday around Noon when they posted an AP story out of Indy.
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Six hours later they ran an eight-sentence AP story out of Indy.
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That's it for the Miami Herald.
The Sun-Sentinel's first mention of the controversy was in a Broward Politics blog post Wednesday morning that focused on Rep. Allen West, who represents part of Broward.
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Later Wednesday, they posted a 7:52 p.m. AP story.
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That's it for the Sun-Sentinel.
It's not for nothing that I have joked here in the past that if Fidel Castro dies overnight, esp. a Friday night/Saturday morning, the Miami Herald will be completely scooped and be the last media organization in South Florida to report it.
Like they were on the Japanese tsunmai...
And the 2010 Polish air disaster in Belarus...
And the Moscow Metro bombings...
And...
Rather incredibly, nobody down here among South Florida's largely sleep-walking professional press corps seems the least bit chagrined that they got totally scooped on what has turned out to be a a national news story, nor do they seem to be the least bit interested in asking any questions of Rep. Frederica Wilson, whose FL-17 CD this all happened in, and who hosted the events last week that have echoed across the country this week, no thanks to the local press corps.
Apparently, there's no extant videotape or audio of Wilson's demeanor or comments during or after Carson's heated uncivil rhetoric.
Pity!
But then again, consider the lack of an appropriate follow-up story about Wilson's recent trip to Israel -along with dozens of her colleagues- that was paid for by AIPAC, as I mentioned here on the blog recently when it happened, a congressional gravy train which was first reported by the Washington Post, whom I cited.
Yet not a single South Florida-based news organization, of the less-than-a handfu who even mentioned the trip, felt the need to mention that salient fact, in their mentions of the trip tells you plenty about how dreadful serious news coverage in South Florida in the year 2011 is.
(Oh, in case you forgot, I live in FL-17.)
Weeks later, that fact is, in fact, still missing: no postscripts.
Down here, they just don't believe in them.
Context may be king elsewhere, but not in South Florida.
