Nowadays, as people have generally not enough time to delve into the news, mainstream media shouldn’t profit too much of their credibility, opting for a fair and honest way on reporting the facts.
Even though this should be dictated by people common sense…it’s not always that obvious. Saying that, I’m referring to the recent declarations which have been made by Roger Ailes – Fox News Channel president – regarding the financial aids given by Americans to the Haiti population.
For you guys who haven’t had time to read the newspaper last weekend…just to make a long story short… last week, after the first earthquake runned over the island, Fox News alerted US citizens not to make donations for Haiti as those money would be used by Obama for his own political purposes.
I mean…I understand that Fox News is one of the main TV channel followed by American Republicans…so I guess it’s normal as they tend not to support President Obama politics. (Being Italian I know ‘something’ about how media can manipulate the facts, influencing country’s political opinion…). In any case I think that, to do a kind of statements like that, media channels should be, at least, aware of the possible consequences which might follow. (Something that Mr. Ailes hadn’t calculated at all…apparently…)
I was then positively surprised by the quick and responsible response which the two former US Presidents (Mr. George Bush Jr. and Mr. Bill Clinton) gave in a public TV announcement, getting behind President Obama. As a matter of fact, the day after, in a public conference, President Obama and his wife, the first lady Michelle Obama, made a donation of $ 15.000 to the ‘Clinton Bush Haiti Fund’(www.clintonbushhaitifund.org) – a foundation set up just after last week’s earthquake – to support the ongoing relief efforts in that country.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Clinton attended the official event, so they could testimony and reassure American citizens about how these money will be spent to relieve the situation in the Caribbean island.
I guess that in the very embarrassing moments, as this media reporting ‘slither’ by Fox News, even political parties have to go over their political discrepancies and collimate for the sake of the truth…or at least for a facts’ ethics.
What do you think about?