So Osama bin Laden now sleeps with the fishes. I wish there was an Obama mini-me working in the White House Press Office. As soon as the news broke about bin Laden’s death, I would have called in all the heads of all the world’s major news outlets. Not that there should have been a news black-out, but if ever there was a story that needed to be correctly and sensitively reported, this was it.
Without a doubt, this is the biggest news story of the year, if not the decade, and watching the wall-to-wall coverage filled me with increasing concern. Bin Laden’s death is the sort of story most journalists would kill to cover, and it was unnerving to watch so many gleefully take hold of the wrong end of the stick and run with it. There was so much misinformation, so much misinterpretation, it was disturbing. You could almost see the journalists planning the relevant chapter in their memoirs, writing the book proposal in their heads as the story spun out of control.
And then there was White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. As soon as he took to the lectern after an admirable briefing by John Brennan, I found myself wondering, “Who is this guy?” Then “How did he get his job?”. It was when Carney used the word “narrative” in a room full of journalists that had me reaching for the remote. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion.
A “narrative”? Is Bin Laden’s death a Grimm Brother’s fairy tale for adults? I hope you are sitting comfortably. Now, listen carefully…
