In My Own Backyard, No Less...
In house reporter Debra Tuff presented a package for the 5 this afternoon, wherein she alluded to President Bush's acceptance of responsibility...
Aside from grammatical problems, what I most object to is her use of the phrase "full responsibility." Here is what President Bush actually said...
"To the extent... I take responsibility," is not the same as "I accept full responsibility." The first implies a limited acceptance, whereas the second means what it says, "Full" complete, the whole kit-and-kaboodle.
I'm not inclined to believe this mistake is part of a concerted effort by the entire news department to paint a deliberately false picture. But laziness, or worse-- ignorance of language, is not a quality news departments strive for, especially ours. I just knew if I brought it up at the time, in the middle of the newscast, I would have been blown off.
Knowing what I know about how things are run here-- little or no oversight as to what is written prior to air --it simply reinforces my belief that as far as national news is concerned we (the news dept) are neither capable or knowledgeable enough to effectively or accurately report on national events. Reporters are pretty much left to their own devices when it comes to writing their scripts. We need someone whose job it is is to review the stories before they make air. But that's not going to happen.
On local news, we beat the pants off the competition, but nationally, we get our packages from CBS, primarily, and from other agencies like CNN, and Fox. Debra's not the bad guy here, lack of oversight is. That, and an indifference to the subtleties of language.
"Early last week, President Bush even apologized and took full responsibility for FEMA not being organized through the whole ordeal..."[Emphasis mine]
Aside from grammatical problems, what I most object to is her use of the phrase "full responsibility." Here is what President Bush actually said...
"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government and to the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility."[Emphasis mine]
"To the extent... I take responsibility," is not the same as "I accept full responsibility." The first implies a limited acceptance, whereas the second means what it says, "Full" complete, the whole kit-and-kaboodle.
I'm not inclined to believe this mistake is part of a concerted effort by the entire news department to paint a deliberately false picture. But laziness, or worse-- ignorance of language, is not a quality news departments strive for, especially ours. I just knew if I brought it up at the time, in the middle of the newscast, I would have been blown off.
Knowing what I know about how things are run here-- little or no oversight as to what is written prior to air --it simply reinforces my belief that as far as national news is concerned we (the news dept) are neither capable or knowledgeable enough to effectively or accurately report on national events. Reporters are pretty much left to their own devices when it comes to writing their scripts. We need someone whose job it is is to review the stories before they make air. But that's not going to happen.
On local news, we beat the pants off the competition, but nationally, we get our packages from CBS, primarily, and from other agencies like CNN, and Fox. Debra's not the bad guy here, lack of oversight is. That, and an indifference to the subtleties of language.
from the mind of... Eric | 6:56 PM
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