A May 24 CNSNews.com article by Susan Jones noting that President Obama “as sent his “deepest condolences” to the people in tornado-devastated Joplin, Mo.” while he “heading to London for a visit with the British royals” begins with a curious editor’s note:
According to the White House Web site, President and Mrs. Obama will take part in an arrival ceremony at Buckingham Palace Tuesday at 7:20 a.m. Washington time. They will then have lunch with Her Majesty the Queen. At the same time, the morning news shows in the U.S. will continue their live coverage of the devastation in Joplin, Mo., which could make for jarring side-by-side images of royal pomp in London and dreadful circumstance in Joplin.
It’s as if CNS was sending marching orders to Fox News and other right-wing media to start creating those “jarring side-by-side images.” There’s no reason for CNS to point that out other than to prompt its ideological allies to make Obama look bad.
CNS was only slightly less obvious in its marching orders in a May 25 article by Jones in which she actually complains that the media isn’t portraying Obama as a ” blundering fool” over a couple minor gaffes during his visit to Britain:
Imagine the newspaper headlines if President George W. Bush had written the wrong date in the Westminster Abbey guest book; or if he had continued toasting the Queen of England after the British national anthem started playing.
Obama did both of those things on Tuesday, and while media outlets reported the incidents, there was no suggestion that he is a blundering fool.
Is this sort of thing really the job of a “news” organization? Not that we’re aware of.