Wesley Pruden at the Washington Times makes an astute observation regarding the Cheney accidental shooting story, and how it relates to media coverage:
"...there is certainly a very, very serious crime here, and Mr. Gregory nails it. Telling the Corpus Christi Caller-Times the news first is capital crime writ large."
The point is the national media resents being scooped by some "local-yokel" Texas newspaper. Don't they know we must always genuflect at the altar of the national media???
...Which reminds me of a story I read about the late Lee Atwater.
During one of his campaigns in South Carolina, Atwater allegedly swiped press badges from the secret service as they were doing advance work for Bob Dole's visit to the state. Atwater earned points by giving the badges to the local media. This meant that during Dole's speech the local press got the best seats.
Predictably, the national reporters felt snubbed and, according to the story, when one of them gave Atwater a dirty look, he said (paraphrasing here): "Darlin' we need votes in South Carolina, not New York City..."
Of course, in Atwater's case, he was right. He didn't need the national media to win his race. Unfortunately, in Cheney's case, the national media is more important than the local media. Still, it appears obvious that reporters like David Gregory are more upset about being scooped than they are about some guy being shot. "Dissing" the national media is the unpardonable sin here.
