George W Bush vs Kanye West

On September 2, 2005 the Red-Cross had a fund raiser in order to help raise funds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The fund raiser was aired live on the East Coast and had celebrities go on air to talk about and ask for help and support for the victims of the Hurricane that destroyed New Orleans. While everybody who was involved gave their condolences to the victims and asked the people of America to rally together in an attempt to give New Orleans assistance one person stood out…Kanye West. Once on air with Michael Myers a visibly distraught Kanye West delivered a minute long rant criticizing George Bush and his attempt to respond to the natural disaster stating that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” This caused a major uproar from the media mostly bashing the celebrity for speaking his mind and undermining the Bush Administration. Mr. West appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres unapologetic saying “People have lost their lives and their families. It’s the least I could do to go up there and say something from my heart.” I believe the media was wrong for the portrayal of the incident and how they treat Kanye for it. I think this is one of those events where individual ethics come into play. Because if we look at the majority’s opinion it will be negative but the fact is Kanye was speaking for the minority so the majority can’t have a fair opinion on the matter. When dealing with the Code of Ethics we must “give voice to the voiceless: official and unofficial sources of information can be equally valid.” And also, “support the open exchange of views, even views they find repundant” and lastly “tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.” With all that said why did Kanye get portrayed as the bad guy for stating what a lot of people already thought? Would the reaction be different if he weren’t himself black or if he hadn’t already been portrayed as a cry baby by the media? What about George Bush himself and his comment? George Bush is quoted as saying that the Kanye West Katrina outburst was “One of the most disgusting moments in my presidency.” He later goes on to call Kanye West a “racist”. What do these quotes say about George Bush? Isn’t it odd for a President who had to deal with 9/11, national wiretapping, the cancellation of the Teach for America program for inner city children, and two wars to say that Kanye West was the cause for the most disgusting moments in his presidency? At that point why didn’t the media direct their attention to George Bush? I believe it’s because, at the time, it was more popular to hate Kanye West then to undermine the Bush Administration. This is one example of why we need individual ethics within journalism. There must be a point of view from both sides of an argument otherwise we face propaganda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIUzLpO1kxI