Helene Cooper calls out bad media reporting on Syrian refugees
Meet the Press this week sometimes had substantive dialogue. Chuck Todd gave a primer on the refugee process. Ron Fournier justifiable called out the leadership on the Right. And Helene Cooper called out the media at large.
“There is also responsibility in the news media to make sure we are covering these events, we are covering this stuff the way it is happening,” said New York Times journalist Helene Cooper. For instance, there is still no link between Syrian refugees and the attack in Paris. These guys are Belgian and French nationals. They are not Syrian refugees. We don’t have a link to that yet. Yet all of this rhetoric. I would love to see the press and I would like to see the media…” Chuck Todd interrupted stating there was rumor of a Syrian passport but nothing else. Helene Cooper responded that is was simply that, a rumor.
Tom Brokaw felt the need to interject himself by stating that when Donald Trump or Ben Carson talks about security, they are talking about three year old orphans. He then said they are orphans or refugees because of American policy. Was he trying to atone for his previous statement that Americans must come to the realization that we are at war? Irrespective, that statement is in fact an important one. Our policies, American policies have disrupted the entire region. We are still paying in treasure and with the lives of many Americans for George W. Bush’s irresponsible war of choice.
The reality is while it is true that Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio and the other Republican candidates are a bastion of dangerous lies and misinformation, it is the media giving them a platform that allow the dangerous statements to gain a modicum of credibility.