NAB President andCEO Gordon Smith calls the Capitol attack “a new day of infamy” in an op-ed piece for The Hill. Smith, a former two-term senator from Oregon, said it’s hard to fathom what took place January 6.
“On Jan. 6, I joined with millions of Americans who watched in shock, dismay and profound sadness as a demonstration objecting to the certification of the 2020 presidential election turned into a deadly riot in the halls of the United States Capitol Building,” writes smith. “Yet, I take solace in the work of another pillar of American democracy during this dark period — our free and open press.”
During demonstrations at the Capitol and elsewhere across the country, members of the media were bullied, verbally harassed and physically intimidated. Some were assaulted as they tried to do their jobs or left in the face of violent threats. Others had equipment stolen and destroyed. “Murder the media” was even scratched into a door of the Capitol. Amidst all of this, America’s journalists showed incredible resolve to inform the public, report the facts and uphold the First Amendment’s enduring principle guaranteeing the freedom of the press.
You can read the entire op-ed piece Here.
GET RID OF THIS GUY….HE’S ONE OF THE SORRY PEOPLE THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR INDUSTRY.
THE NEXT THING YOU’LL TELL ME IS THAT HE’S TEACHING AT HARVARD. !
Actually, he’d fit in perfectly at Harvard, these days…and that’s no compliment.
For those of us on the radio side of the ledger, Smith and the NAB are hardly carrying the banner…
And this shows just how out of touch politicians and NY/DC based media are with the average American. An afternoon attack on one building is a “day of infamy” and is basically being described as the worst thing that’s ever happened. Meanwhile, cities across the nation burned all summer and all they seemed to care about was optics. Dozens died, houses and businesses burned to the ground (unlike the capitol). My own city was under curfews for over a week.
So, spare me the editorializing about how horrible of a day January 6th was. Yes, it was wrong. But it was child’s play when compared with some of the other violence that has impacted hundreds of thousands of people.
It’s one thing to protest in the streets. It’s another thing to attempt to take over the federal government. Those are two very different things. When you listen to the president’s speech, it’s clear that they intended to stop the vote count. That’s what he told them to do. He said that unless they stopped the count, we would have an illegal president. They were successful. They stopped the vote count for five hours. They did what he wanted and he was happy about it. That’s why he was impeached. And it was all done on live TV. That’s why the head of the NAB is writing about it. Not because of the politics, but because of the broadcasting.
Our nation is suffering from what is simply Honesty and Integrity … which the news media has totally abandoned!
While my reputation in the industry is tied to music programming, I have enough insight and knowledge, plus have written and edited enough newscasts to recognize truth when I see/hear it.
Yes, media reporters/networks, report what you report now … but be honest and truthful with your listeners by reporting the entire story every day, regardless of who it helps or hurts.
Just like programming a musical format … it serves everyone best when what you offer is based not only on what you play, but what is left out as well.
I don’t believe you can generalize when you talk about “the media.” There are some who are honest and some who aren’t. Just like in any line of work.
The main thing about this story is it didn’t require interpretation by a reporter. The pictures along told the entire story. If you watch the visuals with the sound off, you can come to your own conclusions. Those pictures were provided by the media.
stogieguy7 wrote: “An afternoon attack on one building is a “day of infamy” and is basically being described as the worst thing that’s ever happened.”
History will remember 12/6/2021 as “a day in infamy”.
The violent events of last summer, associated with Antifa and BLM, would not have happened if government had shown it had the resolve to tackle the continuing problem of police killing unharmed citizens (a disproportionate number of which happen to be African American). As such those events are a continuation of civil rights actions that have occurred over the last several decades. The violence is regrettable, but to some extent understandable, since nobody ever does anything to solve the problem.
In contrast, the objective of the events of 12/6/2021 was to derail the process of installing a democratically elected government and to do so on the basis of claims that have zero evidence to support them. It wasn’t a riot, it was an insurrection.
Banana Republics will normally go to the trouble of fabricating evidence to support their claims, but Trump insults our intelligence with, “I won because I say so”.
What does Smith’s personal opinion have to do with advancing the broadcasting industry?
Absolutely nothing.
It’s like a “state of the news radio industry” report.
Of course it would be helpful if anyone has a link to his report, which must exist, discussing the “shock, dismay, and profound sadness…yadda, yadda” of the riots in Portland.
Congrats on today’s first Whataboutism Award. #focus