Morning Shows Battle for Sensitivity Crown
In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Americans are reaching out with their hearts, hands, and wallets to help those displaced by the disaster. No one's quite as generous, however, as the folks behind competing morning shows Today and Good Morning America, which are both furiously tailoring their programming to display their charitable efforts, which include building homes and adopting towns:
Bob Steele, a senior journalism ethics faculty member at the Poynter Institute, said that while corporate owners of news organizations are often active in the community, it gets tricky when the journalists themselves are involved.
Viewers may wonder if stories are going uncovered because of the attention paid to these efforts, or whether it affects objectivity, he said.
"No matter how noble the cause may be, it may undermine that unique and essential journalistic role, which is dependent on the principle of independence," Steele said.
Um, excuse us? Listen up, Steele: We're not sure what your problem is, but it certainly doesn't involve dealing with that Sawyer bitch and her perfect skin nipping at your heels every damn day while your co-host just blithely stands there mulling over the possibility of hair plugs as you try and hold everything together and keep everything perfect all by yourself because Jesus Christ no one else is going to keep this thing afloat so pick up a goddamned hammer and get to work because we've got ratings to maintain and houses to build and guests to interview you'redoingthebestyoucansojustlayoff.
