Media 'spin' on New Orleans

Just having a stray thought moment.

When a media outlet softens the coverage of an event, as in this story, what impact can it have on the public perception and reaction to the events.

"The sanitation was unbelievable. The stench in there ... was unbelievable. Dead people around the walls of the convention center, laying in the middle of the street in their dying chairs where they died, right there on their lawn chair. They were just covered up in their wheelchair, covered up, laying there for dead. Babies, two babies dehydrated and died. I'm telling you, I couldn't take it."

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Stewart mentioned that many of the images Zumbado had shot of the dead and dying "couldn't" be run on the air. Zumbado added that there was much more footage that he could have shot but did not, precisely because he knew it would never make it on the air.

It was clear that the footage that we did see was whatever material had made it through the network's own filter of self-censorship. As horrifying as the images shown were, they didn't come close to Zumbado's own stunned and graphic descriptions of what he had seen.

Most of us understand that what has happened in New Orleans was horrific, but with out the total unvarnished truth, can we clearly define how horrific. Like the debate over the Abu Grabe photos that the Bush administration is trying to hide, is it vital that the total truth be exposed in full. Should outside forces (governmental or media) take it upon themselves to 'soften' the truth?

The arguments on both sides are viable and compelling, and while I do understand the desire to 'not offend' and avoid expanding the pain of an event, I think that a full understanding is more important, and this type of action by a government or a corporation, is not proper.

All it does is allow the official voices to spin a fantasy, that just deceives the people to the true nature of an event.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Diverging views of a crumbling New Orleans emerged Thursday. The sanitized view came from federal officials at news conferences and television appearances. But the official line was contradicted by grittier, more desperate views from the shelters and the streets.

These conflicting views came within hours, sometimes minutes of each of each other, as reflected in CNN's transcripts. The speakers include Michael Brown, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, evacuee Raymond Cooper, CNN correspondents and others. Here's what they had to say:

You can follow the link to see real examples in action.

If the people saw the unvarnished truth, not the MSNBC (or CNN or CBS or governmental) sanitized truth, our leaders might be more interested in discovering the real facts, and far less likely to engage in spin to make their failure sound like success.