Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, we turned on the TV or the radio (and a really long time ago we went to the movies and watched the newsreels). The announcers read the news and as Walter Cronkite used to say “That’s the way it is.”<\/p>\n
Those were the days legal scholars refer to as the one to many model. Basically, the media talks and end-users (viewers, listeners, movie-goers) would listen. Sometimes they’d write a letter to the editor of a newspaper, but it didn’t always get printed and the chances of being heard were uncertain.<\/p>\n
Which brings us to 2006, the anniversary of Katrina and one Rockey Vaccarella.<\/p>\n
Frank Rich’s column<\/a>\u00a0 takes a shot at the Vaccerella story in today’s Sunday New York Times. ($$ and registration required so here’s a brief summary):<\/p>\n This is the story of one Rockey Vaccarella, a Katrina survivor who drove a repilica of a FEMA trailer from New Orleans to Washington, allegedly to make a point about the work still needed to be done in the Gulf. He went with a lot of Internet and mainstream media coverage, mostly positive from the his friends and neighbors in Louisiana who were glad “a little guy” was going to D.C. to talk to President Bush about the continued need for aid to survivors one year after the devastation. Instead of being pushed aside, the White House couldn’t get enough of Rockey the Survivor from New Orleans. Warmed by the bright lights of Our Nation’s Capital, Rockey forgot all about\u00a0 his mission and began to lavish the President with praise tMr. Vaccarella is quoted saying “You know, I wish you had another four years, man,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we had this president for another four years, I think we\u2019d be great.”<\/p>\n “President Bush, you’re doing a heckuva job.”<\/p>\n This tableau was apparently enough for CNN. Media Matters <\/a>helpfully provides a transcript of one of Vaccarella’s on-air interviews with a lead-in by Washington correspondent Ed Henry:<\/p>\n “I asked Rockey, though, about the fact that he lost his job and his home. But he has his praise for the president. Others down in New Orleans don’t have that same praise. And he basically said he thinks it’s because he sees the glass half-full …”<\/p>\n However, CNN didn’t ask how Vaccarella, a manager of several fast food locations, who lost everything a year ago, and whose tribulations were recorded on film last August, financed this mission and so effortlessly pulled it off.<\/p>\n A few pundits and TV crtics snickered at the story, but it was the blogger-pundits who would not accept this story at face value. Shortly after the much publicized meeting, bloggers began questioning the entire incident and eventually reporing that Vaccarella had run as a Republican candidate for the St. Bernard Parish commission in 1999.(The Carpetbagger’s Report,<\/a> Daily Kos.<\/a>) and Vaccarella was so confident he’d get a meeting witht he president, he already posted (on his wierdly candidate-like My Space page,<\/a> no less) when exactly this “little guy” would be dining with the President.<\/p>\n Vaccerella has both supporters and detractors posting comments on the Times-Picayune blog of his travels<\/a>. Some see him as a hero, others see him as a shill for the President and the GOP. But isn’t that what good journalism in a democratic society is supposed to do? Present both sides and allow readers to make up their own minds? Everyone reports. You decide.<\/p>\n