Dear NBC news editors...
I am writing to express my displeasure at your coverage of Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident. Is it a story? Sure. And I recognize "if it bleeds, it leads."
But top story two nights in a row? That was ridiculous, especially when today (Tuesday) saw two Olympic athletes have horrible crashes.
I am no particular fan of the Bush administration or the extreme right wing folks, but but your histrionic coverage is lending them ammunition (so to speak) for their beliefs that there is a liberal media that's out to crucify the Bush administration.
Your coverage made it sound like Cheney had snapped, stripped naked and ran down the hallway to the Rose Garden with an Uzi in his hand. He had a hunting accident - and a relatively harmless one at that.
Have any of you ever actually seen a gun? Have you pulled a trigger? Do you even know what the ammunition in a shotgun looks like? It is a small plastic cartridge with a metal top, filled with tiny pellets that basically look like BBs.
Getting shot by a shotgun (barring close range) would definitely be painful, but rarely fatal. Your own coverage said the shooting victim was awake and talking on scene. I know of folks who've been shot with shotgun pellets, squeezed them out of the wounds, sort of like zits, and never filed a report.
Then when you say Cheney was the last VP to shoot anybody since Aaron Burr (which has its own implications), you are drastically overestimating the drama of the situation.
Was Cheney to blame for the accident? I would argue he and the victim share blame. One of the elementary rules of gun safety is to make sure of your target and shooting lane before you fire. Cheney obviously didn't do that, and deserves the blame for that.
But the victim also behaved badly by walking back toward the group that was hunting. He should have known that could put him in the line of fire. So he did not behave properly either.
And as far as the timeline of releasing the information, David Gregory's histrionics at the Tuesday press conference disgraced him and the journalistic profession as a whole.
Cheney did not hide the fact that he had an accident. Your own coverage said President Bush was made aware of the incident by 8 p.m. Saturday. Here's a novel thought - it probably took a few hours to call the White House because they wanted to make sure the shooting victim was getting the proper medical care.
So it took till Sunday for it to hit the local paper. And? There's this novel thing that I'm assuming took place - filing a police report and the ensuing investigation. And as far as the ranch owner being the one to speak to the media, that makes sense as well. She was an eyewitness, so why shouldn't she speak, especially if Cheney gave her permission? Why is there a question about this?
I see nothing wrong with the timeline of events. It comes across like further Bush-bashing and you guys being pissed off because you didn't get the scoop yourselves.
I've generally appreciated your professionalism over the years, but this veers towards bias. Believe me, as a former journalist, I don't appreciate that.
So lay off the dramatics and try having an objective newscast again, mmmkay?
But top story two nights in a row? That was ridiculous, especially when today (Tuesday) saw two Olympic athletes have horrible crashes.
I am no particular fan of the Bush administration or the extreme right wing folks, but but your histrionic coverage is lending them ammunition (so to speak) for their beliefs that there is a liberal media that's out to crucify the Bush administration.
Your coverage made it sound like Cheney had snapped, stripped naked and ran down the hallway to the Rose Garden with an Uzi in his hand. He had a hunting accident - and a relatively harmless one at that.
Have any of you ever actually seen a gun? Have you pulled a trigger? Do you even know what the ammunition in a shotgun looks like? It is a small plastic cartridge with a metal top, filled with tiny pellets that basically look like BBs.
Getting shot by a shotgun (barring close range) would definitely be painful, but rarely fatal. Your own coverage said the shooting victim was awake and talking on scene. I know of folks who've been shot with shotgun pellets, squeezed them out of the wounds, sort of like zits, and never filed a report.
Then when you say Cheney was the last VP to shoot anybody since Aaron Burr (which has its own implications), you are drastically overestimating the drama of the situation.
Was Cheney to blame for the accident? I would argue he and the victim share blame. One of the elementary rules of gun safety is to make sure of your target and shooting lane before you fire. Cheney obviously didn't do that, and deserves the blame for that.
But the victim also behaved badly by walking back toward the group that was hunting. He should have known that could put him in the line of fire. So he did not behave properly either.
And as far as the timeline of releasing the information, David Gregory's histrionics at the Tuesday press conference disgraced him and the journalistic profession as a whole.
Cheney did not hide the fact that he had an accident. Your own coverage said President Bush was made aware of the incident by 8 p.m. Saturday. Here's a novel thought - it probably took a few hours to call the White House because they wanted to make sure the shooting victim was getting the proper medical care.
So it took till Sunday for it to hit the local paper. And? There's this novel thing that I'm assuming took place - filing a police report and the ensuing investigation. And as far as the ranch owner being the one to speak to the media, that makes sense as well. She was an eyewitness, so why shouldn't she speak, especially if Cheney gave her permission? Why is there a question about this?
I see nothing wrong with the timeline of events. It comes across like further Bush-bashing and you guys being pissed off because you didn't get the scoop yourselves.
I've generally appreciated your professionalism over the years, but this veers towards bias. Believe me, as a former journalist, I don't appreciate that.
So lay off the dramatics and try having an objective newscast again, mmmkay?