I remember this incident vividly. The first time I had heard of the Wawa convenience store chain was during my first trip to Pennsylvania to participate in a wrestling seminar and compete on a few shows in the Philadelphia area. I got lost around Upper Darby, PA and went into a Wawa store to ask for directions. Cool place, awesome sandwiches. Mitt made a solid choice.
So when I first heard about this in passing, it piqued my interest because of the mention of the Wawa store. I remember shaking my head once the full details came out. I've always been one to want to hear the most accurate story. Not some biased jibberish, twisted to help one's own cause despite being completely inaccurate. They broke the cardinal rule. Never lie. This fiasco caused me to place MSNBC right alongside CNN in my personal "don't bother watching this garbage for any legitimate news" list. Might be harsh, but...well, fool me once.
If I'm Andre Mitchell, I report what is actually there. I don't bother trying to paint Romney as some wide-eyed child seeing a color wheel for the first time. I don't bother being ignorant enough to think that the truth can't easily come out about a situation in 2012. I don't bother putting my political beliefs into my piece. If I'm Andrea Mitchell, I use the opportunity to report facts and I use the opportunity to make a genuinely interesting piece about Romney's larger point about "government waste and the more efficient methods of private sector industry." If I'm Andrea Mitchell, I'm more concerned with my own personal code of ethics and journalistic accuracy than worrying about whether or not my piece will help the campaign of my political party's opponent. But I'm not Andrea Mitchell...
But, hey. It helped Wawa a lot, and that's pretty cool. Wawa deserved the good press.
No comments:
Post a Comment