It seems from David’s post that Mardell is having a bad day…or I suppose a normal one for him.
Talking about the Republican Convention Mardell of course uses it as an excuse to talk about Thatcher…sorry force of habit…Thatcher always gets the blame…no, Bush of course, and Hurricane Katrina.
Apparently it was the Republican’s ‘callous incompetence’ that Mardell wanted to highlight.
Funny…I thought it was Mayor Nagin’s total incompetence that resulted in unnecessary death and suffering.
But then of course he’s black, and a Democrat, so BBC SOP…look away, blame the white guy…especially if he’s Republican.
The BBC made highly inflammatory claims of racism on the part of the Republican administration…despite the fact that most of the victims were white.
The BBC’s Gavin Hewitt decided he was ‘outraged’ by events…
‘Running through the coverage of Katrina, like an electric current, was outrage. It is an emotion that stands out in television coverage because it is rare. Most reporters shy away from letting their emotions show.
As we left the house I did a piece to camera off the top of my head. I said, “It seems incredible to me that we are the only boat in the neighbourhood …” There was an immediate note of outrage. It was not planned. It just felt right. It was difficult to understand that we were the only rescue team in an area with so many needs.
We all felt a sense of outrage, that this should not be happening.
Outrage is at its most effective when it is based on compassion; the sense that one is speaking out on behalf of ordinary people. The tone of the reporting of Katrina stood out. A moment when correspondents had the confidence to express outrage at what they saw happening around them.’
It is at times like that when the supposed professionalism of a journalist should kick in….who was Hewitt to judge what was really going on, who was he to say it was outrageous?
The hurricane damage covered an area the size of the UK…no matter how rich a country is that’s a big, big job. Naturally it was also used to bash Bush for going into Iraq…no opportunity is too small or fleeting to miss….if he hadn’t started that illegal war he would have had troops to deal with the disaster at home…I guess the Republicans just don’t have second sight…or as Mardell might say ‘Obama’s VISION’…shame that unlike the BBC they can’t tell what the weather is going to do 2 years ahead.
Just when does the ‘right’ to be outraged stop for a journalist? If someone you don’t like gets elected do you start giving your personal opinion…because that’s all it is…and that’s all Hewitt’s ‘outraged’ report from New Orleans was.
If London flooded now and Boris Johnson abandoned the population to its fate you can bet your bottom dollar the BBC would hound him to the ends of the earth…and if Miliband was PM (LOL)…he would get away Scot free.
Think not? Bush said he didn’t land at any emergency sites because he didn’t want to get in the way with a Presidential entourage, the BBC damned him for it.
However when John Prescott didn’t visit Hull when it flooded what did John Humphrys say?….‘They don’t want visits from important people they want things done’
And suddenly Kanye West was very popular with the chatterati of the BBC ….though most had never heard of him in all likelihood….only when he said Bush was a racist did the BBC send out the invitations to make a few personal appearances and hang on his every word.
All in all the BBC’s coverage of Katrina was abysmal, partisan, unprofessional and malicious in intent.
And Gavin Hewitt by coincidence today seems to continue his invention of new historical narratives….he has invented a new catch phrase for Europe..or rather the countries that are having to apply austerity measures…they are in a ‘cycle of decline’….the austerity driving them ever closer to economic armageddon…..no reflection of the British economy of course….odd how often the BBC malign ‘austerity’ in Europe but you know they are really intending you apply the unspoken message that austerity here is also dooming us to the poor house.
Mardell continues to push the White House talking point that Romney is a tough sell and needs to reinvent himself for the convention. Mardell may believe this himself, so maybe he’s not deliberately doing this. After all, that’s his main priority as a titled BBC “editor”: opinion-mongering, not real reporting.
But where are the voices that maybe somebody somewhere might support Romney simply because he is not the current Community-Organizer-in-Chief?
Yes, re-inventing himself to suit the BBC did Cameron a lot of good!
Yes, and he still hasn’t learned – the dolt.
Cameron? You guys are assuming he was ever anything but the wet CINO, who was only a Tory because he was born into it, he’s governed as.
Just read the Mardell’s ‘Ghosts of Hurricane Katrina’ piece.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19393847
Sometimes it seems he’s not so much running with Democrat talking points as trying to create them.
The ‘bad publicity’ Bush got over Katrina was a media propaganda putsch against him, and now Mardell is trying to whip up another media propaganda storm to see if the MSM can give Romney a taste of the buffetting it gave Bush.
Mardell needn’t worry about the “ghostly undertow of the Gulf”, he needs to worry about the ‘ghastly kowtowing of his guff’.
As I understand it the American Constitution, created by wise politicians unlike today’s pigmies, specifically prevents Presidents from using Federal resources, including the National Guard or Emergency Aid, unless specifically requested to by the Governor of that State.
With Katrina and New Orleans the delay was because that request was delayed for as long as possible by the State’s Governor, a Democrat.
I can only hope that such delay was caused by the Governor’s ego or incompetence and not because there was a partisan political motivation behind it. Naturally the George W hating Biased-BBC conveniently overlook that small detail which totally blocked any immediate action by Bush to send any Federal Aid.
There were problems with Louisiana and New Orleans doling out federal aid both before and after Katrina.
However the MSM – and especially the beeb – didn’t like to admit this, as these corrupt administrations were run by blacks.
It was safer to blame Dubya – and to ignore the many crimes committed in the cities that gave refuge to the flood “victims”.
I read Mardell’s report today. The man is so blatantly biased and unprofessional. Any organisation that took impartiality seriously would have him out on his ear. But then we know that despite their protestations to the contrary, that is not what drives the overwhelmingly left-wing BBC.
Seeing as how the Beeboids are slaves to Twitter these days, seeing as an excellent source for news stories, I wonder why they’re not reporting that Gov. Jindal of Louisiana has been tweeting his criticism of the President over His poor response to storm prep?
All you know from the BBC is that He’s said He’s got it under control. In other words, the White House version of events and nothing else.
You know Beeboids in the US like Danzico and Zoe Conway and Katty Kay and Matthew Davis are aware of it. And they’ve decided it isn’t worth mentioning.
When Republican Governors criticise a Democrat President it’s partisanship best ignored, when Democrat Governors criticise Republican Presidents its RIGHTEOUS ANGER to be shouted from the rooftops by the MSM.
All in the interests of due diligence of course.
Anything else happen that year for the BBC to be enraged about? Something a little closer to home and more man-made perhaps? Or did the BBC spend its time post-July 7 wagging its collective finger at anyone who said it was anything other than just one of them things, worse things happen at sea, forget it Jake, it’s Islamtown?
Strange how he couldn’t bring himself to mention the fact that huge pockets remain unfixed under Obama’s reign and how the White House resisted the residents legal challenge for compensation.
No. No mention of that. Probably because you can’t pin it on Bush.
Returning to Mardell’s ‘Ghosts of Katrina’ post, I’ve been listening to 5Live most of the morning, and not even a hint of any ‘ghosts’ or haunting ‘gulf undertows’. In fact in one interview I heard, the guy in the US reported something like the strength of Hurricane Isaac was about a fifth of that of Katrina. Mention was also made of the flood defences put in place since Katrina.
So far it appears those ‘ghosts’ & ‘undertows’ are just a figment of Mardell’s wishful, unprofessional thinking.
Obama’s re-election campaign promises to be really dirty – it already is – but no matter how dirty, it gets, one gets the impression it will never be dirty enough for Mardell.
I think the ineradicable stink left in Mardell’s rented Brusell’s home might not have been the animals he kept, but the stench of his lack of professional integrity.
Yeah, Isaac is going to be pretty much a non-story. But like I said the other day, Mardell was forced to come up with something to write about off the top of his head once the convention was delayed. It was an easy metaphor for giving the impression that trouble was looming for Romney, and a no-brainer for a political junkie like him to dig up old anger against Republicans. Plus the bonus race-baiting. How could Mardell resist such temptation when he’s got copy to file and no story?
“MITT ROMNEY AT RNC:
‘PRESIDENT OBAMA PROMISED TO SLOW THE RISE OF THE OCEANS…
MY PROMISE IS TO HELP YOU AND YOUR FAMILY’”
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/mitt-romney-at-rnc-president-obama-has-promised-to-slow-the-rise-of-the-oceans-my-promise-is-to-help-you-and-your-family/