Media crossing the line in coverage of Barbara Bush/portraying her as racially insensitive?

[enhanced_deficit]

Are some parts of Media crossing the line in coverage of Barbara Bush and portraying her as racially insensitive at this time?

This is latest example from a publically funded outlet:


5. On Trump

"I don't think about him at all."

— When asked what she thinks about Donald Trump, CNN interview Feb 5 2016 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I1GISC5Buk)


6. On Geraldine Ferraro, Democratic vice-presidential candidate in 1984
"I can't say it, but it rhymes with 'rich.'"
— Oct. 15, 1984


7. On not watching coverage leading up to the Iraq war

"But why should we hear about body bags, and deaths, and how many, what day it's going to happen, and how many this and what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it's, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? And watch him suffer."

—To Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America, March 18, 2003


8. On Katrina refugees staying in the Houston Astrodome
"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."
— Sept. 5, 2005


https://www.npr.org/2018/04/21/604326245/barbara-bush-remembered-in-her-own-never-minced-words




Related

Trump will skip Barbara Bush's funeral, sends Melania
Apr 20, 2018

[osan]

And what line would they be crossing, exactly?

[enhanced_deficit]

Line of political correctness/common courtesy considering the timing.



Granted it is tame and just republishing old quotes is not overtly offensive. Other parts of media like NYT were defending CSU Prof who made far less sublte assertions/direct offensive attacks on legacy of BB:

The Politically Incorrect Randa Jarrar

https://static01.********/images/2018/04/02/opinion/michelle-goldberg/michelle-goldberg-thumbLarge.png

By Michelle Goldberg


April 20, 2018

On Tuesday evening, Randa Jarrar, a creative-writing professor at California State University at Fresno, wrote a series of insensitive and politically incorrect tweets. The next day, amid national outrage, the school’s provost gave a news conference denouncing Jarrar’s “deeply disrespectful statements,” and telling journalists that the “incident is under review.” The Fresno Bee quoted the school’s president (http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/education/article209227364.html), Joseph Castro: “A professor with tenure does not have blanket protection to say and do what they wish.”

This case shows that threats to free speech on campus are very real. It also shows that, contrary to a great deal of hype, these threats don’t come only, or even primarily, from the left.

I’m not going to defend Jarrar’s tweets. It’s true that, as people celebrate Bush’s extraordinary life, her Marie Antoinette side (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/barbara-bush-astrodome-quote/) has gotten lost. (Shortly before her son ordered the invasion of Iraq, she said she didn’t want to waste her “beautiful mind” (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/barbara-bush-beautiful-mind/) worrying about “body bags and deaths.”) But it’s indecent to let politics erase everything admirable about a person, especially at the moment of her death. And wishing for the demise of a family — even a family that includes politicians who have done terrible things — is grotesque.

There is, however, no “grotesque” exception to the First Amendment. “Randa Jarrar’s speech is constitutionally protected, and Fresno State cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, discipline her for it,” Ari Cohn of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education told me. “On top of that, the public announcement of an investigation, with clear statements from the university president indicating that he would like to take some kind of serious action against Jarrar, itself can violate the First Amendment.”

Jarrar is far from the first left-wing professor recently to find her career endangered after sparking public indignation. Last year, Lisa Durden, an adjunct professor at Essex County College, was fired following an appearance (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/06/26/professor-fired-after-defending-blacks-only-event-on-fox-news-i-was-publicly-lynched-she-says/?utm_term=.4a0ed138e9ec) on Fox News’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in which she mocked white objections to a blacks-only Memorial Day event. “Boo-hoo-hoo,” she said. “You white people are angry because you couldn’t use your ‘white privilege’ card to get invited to the Black Lives Matter’s all-black Memorial Day celebration.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/opinion/the-politically-incorrect-randa-jarrar.html




https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/rj-tweet-2.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=510&strip=all




http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/kfsn/images/cms/automation/images/3359228_1280x720.jpg

[enhanced_deficit]

This is getting bit out of hand:

Professor who slammed late Barbara Bush as 'amazing racist' applauded at literary festival

BY Ariel Scotti
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, April 23, 2018, 1:10 PM

A Fresno State University professor who blasted former First Lady Barbara Bush (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/university-professor-slams-barbara-bush-amazing-racist-article-1.3940838) as an "amazing racist" following her death was applauded at a weekend literary festival.
Randa Jarrar was scheduled to headline Fresno City College's LitHop on Saturday, but she declined to attend amid the uproar following her controversial tweets.
Mention of her name in various LitHop speeches garnered heavy applause from the 100-person audience, according to the Fresno Bee (http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article209550904.html).
"I support Randa Jarrar's free speech and I also denounce any violence against her or threats of violence against anyone else," LitHop founder Lee Herrick said (http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article209550904.html) to the crowd.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/prof-slammed-barbara-bush-racist-cheered-festival-article-1.3950068



Related

WaPo attacks Trump
Trump golfed instead of going to Barbara Bush’s funeralhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-golfed-instead-of-going-to-barbara-bushs-funeral-that-was-a-good-thing/2018/04/23/a5930974-4731-11e8-8b5a-3b1697adcc2a_story.html

[pcosmar]

There is no forgiveness without repentance..

I got nothin else.

[jmdrake]

This belongs here:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZvrIiqLv7M

[enhanced_deficit]

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQYBHAD3yGC4QC2LfYWQp7PKe_S7s7OL Ke68S-kh_K7mpho_slQr7VQb1Ftvb46Eed0NSog9_1ErBI


Fresno State says it can’t discipline the professor who called Barbara Bush an ‘amazing racist’

by Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Susan Svrluga April 25
Fresno State provost responds after professor calls Barbara Bush ‘amazing racist’

In a late-night tweetstorm, Randa Jarrar taunted the chorus of people demanding that she be fired from her tenured position at California State University at Fresno after she called the recently deceased Barbara Bush “an amazing racist” and exulted, “I’m happy the witch is dead.”

“Professor Jarrar’s conduct was insensitive, inappropriate and an embarrassment to the university,” he wrote in a five-paragraph statement (http://www.fresnostatenews.com/2018/04/24/president-joseph-i-castro-letter-on-conclusion-of-review-regarding-professor/). “I know her comments have angered many in our community and impacted our students.”
The university, Castro said, “carefully reviewed the facts and consulted with [lawyers] to determine whether we could take disciplinary action. … We have concluded that Professor Jarrar did not violate any CSU or university policies and that she was acting in a private capacity and speaking about a public matter on her personal Twitter account. Her comments, although disgraceful, are protected free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/04/25/fresno-state-says-it-cant-discipline-the-professor-who-called-barbara-bush-an-amazing-racist/



On a side note, it is encouraging that Trump, a champion late night tweet stormer himelf, stayed out of this and behaved very Presidentially.