Media Love Ignoring Bad News About Al Sharpton

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Al Sharpton has certainly become one of the media's sacred cows of late, so much so that when bad news crosses his path, America is unlikely to hear about it.

Take for example a rather embarrassing incident that happened to the former Democrat presidential candidate on Friday which went almost completely ignored by journalists from coast to coast. 

As Fox4KC.com reported, Sharpton's National Action Network organized a rally in Washington, D.C., Saturday to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education. 

Unfortunately, things didn't go so smoothly (video embedded right, available here if embed doesn't work):

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More than 100 parents and students in Kansas City were planning to head to Washington D.C. Friday to join in a rally for education. But, instead they were left standing around waiting for buses that never came.

Now, Rev. Al Sharpton said he is suspending the Kansas City leaders until they find out who "dropped the ball." [...]

Friday morning more than 100 students lined up at Arrowhead Middle School. Some parents people took off work, packed a lunch and gathered as well. They all waited at 6 a.m. for their bus to arrive. But, after several hours of sitting in a gym with luggage at their feat. It never did.

Can you imagine the media frenzy this would have caused if the same thing happened to folks waiting for buses to bring them to one of last month's Tea Parties?

MSNBC probably would have devoted a whole day's coverage to the mistake including vitriolic comments by Janeane Garofalo.

Yet, according to Google and LexisNexis searches, with the exception of two brief mentions by CNN Saturday, newsrooms couldn't care less.

This followed similar bias by omission when it was announced in April that Sharpton was fined $285,000 by the Federal Election Commission for violating a number of laws during his 2004 presidential campaign.

Google and LexisNexis searches found little print coverage of that announcement, and absolutely no television reports. 

Clearly, bad news being ignored by the press certainly has to help one's image, especially for someone that wasn't always such a media darling.

As the National Legal and Policy Center reported this month:

His image refurbishment campaign, by any reasonable measure, has been a success. During the Eighties and much of the Nineties, he was the enfant terrible of the civil-rights movement, a public-relations agent’s nightmare. But he’s evolved into a media celebrity.

Apparently so, for now it seems only good news is reported about the former enfant terrible.

Must be nice.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.


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What kind of moron would

What kind of moron would subject their children to an 18-hour (one way) bus ride to DC for this dumbass non-event? Don't these kids have school? They'd be better off fabricating a hate crime in KC and then waiting for Sharpton to show up.

Sharpton: resign, Sir. 

Ever hear of...?

Does the name Imus mean anything to you?

Sharpton's birth and rebirth.

FoxNEWS is complicit, too

Bill O'Reilly is another TV personality who's helped elevate Sharpton's media legitmacy. 

But for those of us who remember the Tawana Brawley case (and will never forget it), this race-baiter can never be a legitmate spokesman for anybody but criminals.

Let us not forget Sean Hannity...

....who for whatever reason also continues to lend legitimacy to the Reverend Al by having him on his shows over and over and over again.

Hannity and O'Reilly

Hannity and O'Reilly can trot out this tired racist all they want, the one that sickens me is Bill Beckle with his snide, elitist comments. The guy makes me ill. I'd rather listen to Nancy Pelosi.

I agree that Sharpton gets

I agree that Sharpton gets a mostly a free ride from the media at large (NY Post excluded) and cowardly politicians. Chris Mathews used to have him on Hardball all the time. But this is nothing but a local story that wasn't picked up by the national media IMHO... also Rebecca at fox4kc needs to learn to use a spell checker ....

But, after several hours of sitting in a gym with luggage at their feat.

feat??

True. And going to D.C. to

True. And going to D.C. to commemorate Brown v. Board of Education isn't exactly a hot, new movement sweeping the nation.

Al's Taxes?

What happened to all of Al's income tax problems? Have they been dispensed of under the Bamster?

As if Brown v Board of Ed

As if Brown v Board of Education has improved black america's education.

Show me where busing children into other school districts has helped improve the education of blacks. I'm not a betting man but if I were I would bet blacks had a higher graduation rate and test scores than they do now.

Must of been Katrina

Must of been Katrina buses...

They are afraid of him

Anybody who brings these problems with Sharpton up will be labled a racist. Who needs that. Jesse Jackson got the same passes year in and year out because they feared what he would do to them.

This is what happens when

This is what happens when you hire Mayor Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin to take care of transportation for your event.

Garofolo

Garofolo Al Sharpton!!!

 

Garofolo Jsse Jackson!!!

 

Garofalo Garofolo!!!

Sharpton partially exonnerated

I watched the clip and the local coverage on this story was misleading.

There were TWO buses chartered: the 'provisions' bus that was stuffed with 80,000 BK Whoppers DID arrive on time. It was the passenger bus that was a no-show.

Al Sharpton remains a thug irrespective of how the press...

Al Sharpton remains a thug irrespective of how the press treat him. He's been involved in irresponsible situations forever. The press will always give him a pass, but we won't--not that it matters.

Glad it was FOX not the school...

But, after several hours of sitting in a gym with luggage at their feat. It never did.

 

Grammar and spelling errors in a report are really a big disappointment to me. 

 

spelling

But, after several hours of sitting in a gym with luggage at their feat. It never did.

 

Did any one aks Al Sharpton wazzup with the buses?

Ditto...

'Some parents people took off work, packed a lunch and gathered as well.'

Parents people?

Hannity is right...if this is what passes for journalism these days, it really is dead.

Can't Stop Laughing. Makes Me a Bad Person, I Hope.

Slacker is as slacker does....

The important question is, since this will obviously be Bush's fault, how did he do it?

Maybe Al had chartered Obama's bus...

...which has now been rendered immobile due to the size of the pile of bodies now under it.

-Dave

If this guy were white....

 ...he'd  be serving multiple prison terms. The fact that he actually makes speeches at DNC conventions proves how morally and intellectually bankrupt that party is, and the fact that the gelded media continuously kisses this fat demagogues's ass is proof of how rapidly we are descending into Third World status.

 

Some ideas are so preposterous that only an intellectual can believe in them.

                                            George Orwell

 

Pallin' with Al

Al makes for good TV, since he gets people's blood riled (which is why Bill and Sean have him on - ratings)

For the most part I think most in the MSM are afraid of getting the FREDDY'S MART treatment themselves: like Jesse, Al can issue a "racial fatwa" against anyone. Better to keep feeding the crocodile...