Just a quick note about an earlier post. I was very disappointed to see politics hold up a bill to support 9/11 first responders who are now dying because of their willingness to help when it was critical. Jon Stewart went after this issue on the Daily Show, and now it looks like it might turn around. That’s the role of the media—to bring attention to injustice. It’s sad there are three 24 hour news networks, but it took a comedian to address this specific case. But luckily someone in the media was there to speak up against this blatant miscarriage. Thank you Jon Stewart.

Last night I watched this:

It was a fantastic movie. It raises all sorts of questions about race, rights, justice and oppression. But it also raises questions about truth and perspective. The camera captures what it captures, but it also leaves out so much. I watched the entire film  conflicted and confused about what role race plays in the interaction of the main characters. Are the relationships equitable? Do the white Africans really have the best interests of their black countrymen in mind? It is a complex dynamic, and the filmmaker keeps such tight reigns on the film that it’s never clear if what is shown is real or “real.”

It’s an interesting study in the power of the maker of media. I’m not accusing the filmmaker of doing anything wrong, of slanting the argument, but as a viewer I wasn’t shown enough to make up my own mind. The curtain stayed down. Whether it was the truth as most reasonable people would see it, or whether it was the perspective of a white African fighting majority black rule doesn’t become clear until the final scenes. Until then it’s just a pitched battle only viewed from one side.

But the ending does make it pretty clear who is right an who is wrong. And as so often happens, the bad guy wins. Not legally, but literally.

I watched the movie over dinner, just looking for something to keep me entertained while I ate. I sat for the next hour and a half riveted. There is more information here, and the whole movie is available on Netflix streaming. It is rough to watch but worth it.

This is why reporting is so exciting to me. Stories have power. Especially ones like this.

I don’t go into politics often, or national issues for that matter, but this has a connection to journalism.

Ever watch The Daily Show? I do, all the time. Jon Stewart has become the most trusted newsman on television by young American’s, and his sharp commentary is usually fantastic.

Tonight I watched this, the last Daily Show of the year. Start to finish it is a critique of the failure of the U.S. Government to provide for the 9/11 first responders. Stewart has been harping on this issue for days now, but this was the culmination of that criticism.

First, it makes me sad. I expect reporters to be pointing out injustices like this, and as Stewart points out, the media has been largely silent on this. That is a failure.

Second, it makes me angry. It’s had me thinking about going to New York and interviewing dying first responders to get their stories out. It is unconscionable that they are left hanging, and I find it hard to imagine people would let their representatives keep putting off action if they knew what was going on.

Third, it motivates me. Reporters have the bully pulpit. Even is the fractious media environment of today a powerful story can cut through and change things. These men and women deserve that kind of story right about now.

When Stewart tells former Governor Mike Huckabee it enrages him so much he muddles his words, I understand how he feels. There is no excuse for partisanship in this instance. Unfortunately that’s where America is right now. I only hope someone can tell this story well enough that the American people will not accept further delay. In my eyes, Stewart already has.