Media Elitism

This is just an incredible story. It showcases the bias, the elitism, the bigotry and the stupidity of the liberal media.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - NASCAR officials criticized an NBC news magazine program Friday, saying it tried "to manufacture the news" by bringing a group of Muslim men to one of its car races to see if they would be mistreated by NASCAR fans. "Dateline NBC" countered by saying it was not doing a story on NASCAR when it sent cameras to gauge reaction to the Muslims brought to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, but was exploring a possible story based on a poll indicating an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the group walked around outside the Martinsville track without incident, but said the car racing organization objected to the staged nature of the TV shoot.

"It's outrageous that a news organization like NBC would seek to manufacture the news instead of reporting the news," Poston told Reuters Friday.

"Dateline NBC" defended its reporting in a statement. "Dateline is not planning a story about NASCAR," it said. "We are following up on a recent poll and other articles indicating an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.

In other words, Dateline was looking for bigotry against Muslims. Where do you find bigotry? Among rednecks, of course. Where do you find rednecks? At NASCAR races, of course.

Dateline is the program that determined in 1993, without a doubt, that GM trucks blow up if you attach explosive rockets to their gas tanks. I guess they didn't learn their lesson from the anti-defamation lawsuit GM filed and NBC quickly settled.

In this case, Dateline dressed up a bunch of "Muslim-looking" men in Arab Halloween costumes and set them loose among NASCAR rednecks. Response? None. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Dateline has backed off NASCAR, not because they're getting zero results from their "investigation," but because Fox News, NASCAR and bloggers have gotten hold of the story.

I'd like to have been at the production meeting where someone came up with this stupid idea. It must have been like watching a group of chimps grooming each other.

If they want to do a story on bigotry, why doesn't Dateline send some "Christian-looking" people to a Planned Parenthood clinic to ask advice on how to plan a family? Why don't they send some "white-looking" people to ask Cynthia McKinney for a job? Why don't they send President Bush to my newsroom? THEN they'll see some hostility.

But Dateline did prove one thing. Where do you find bigotry against average Americans? In elitist newsrooms, of course.

Sometimes I think being a journalist just isn't worth the humiliation. Then, I get another paycheck......