The Art of the Non-Story
The recent “revelation” of video footage from a pre-Katrina meeting with President Bush has stirred up controversy regarding when he knew about the severity of the storm. But the fact is, the best thing we’ll get out of the situation is an example of the power of media to “re-manufacture” a non-story.
There has never been any question the meeting took place with President Bush and FEMA officials, including Michael Brown. That’s always been public. In fact, in the investigation after the story, an actual transcript of the meeting has always been available. So we have no new information, content, or insight. All we have is video.
But video makes for much better news stories, so “when you’ve got it, flaunt it,” seems to be the mantra at the networks. By contrast, even George Stephanopoulos remarked this morning on Good Morning America that the video revealed a very “engaged” President Bush, who understood the situation and was highly involved in the meeting.
Yet most media outlets are portraying the footage as if it was somehow “a new revelation” that once again shows the Bush administration to have failed the American people.
No new content, no new information. Just new video of people sitting around desks. Clear visual evidence of the power of “perception” over “reality.”
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