September 24, 2005
Impressed with Geraldo Rivera
I have been somewhat transfixed by news coverage of Hurricane Rita and of Hurricane Katrina. I've been mostly dedicated to Fox News and their on-scene reporters like Rick Leventhal, Shephard Smith, Adam Housely and in particular Geraldo Rivera.
Last night Geraldo chose to stay in Port Arthor where he knew the storm was tracking instead of high-tailing it to safer ground in Beaumont 25 miles away. His reporting from a Holiday Inn hotel lobby was the last thing I heard before I went to bed at midnight in California. I awakened at 5 am and tuned in to see if Geraldo made it through the night unharmed. He did, why did I have a doubt?
I have followed this man's career but he really impressed me for the first time with his war coverage in Afghanistan and later as he joined the troops as an embed in Iraq. As most embeds do he always showed the ultimate respect for the soldier or Marine.
His Hurricane Katrina coverage was worthy of journalism's highest award. Like most I watched with horror as the poor of New Orleans waited under intolerable conditions for someone to come to their assistance. No heroes emerged, not the inept mayor or the even more inept governor..... no one.
I kept commenting to my wife that a hero was needed, someone to take the case of these poor folks to the masses. Enter Geraldo, TV journalist. I watched Geraldo take his microphone and camera crew inside the New Orleans Convention Center where no camera's had bothered to enter for almost a week. Inside he found how desperate the plight of the people inside was.
I guess the sight of innocent children caught up in the danger and squalor short circuited his emotional button. The moment he shed tears for the kids the New Orleans hero was found. He pleaded for help for the kids. His plea was so forceful and emotional Fox News did not replay the tape when the show was replayed. The chicken sh-t producers must have decided it was too real. It was real and that is what was needed at that time in that situation. Geraldo knew it, viewers knew it.
The next day I tuned in to see Geraldo yelling into the microphone that the 82nd Airborne had arrived. He told us that this was a unit he ran with in Iraq. He assured the viewers that help had finally arrived. It had arrived.
A part of me wants to believe Geraldo knew his buddies were enroute and he pre-positioned himself just to do what he did. I don't care if that was the case. No matter how he got there or if there was a ratings scheme behind the scenes it got the job done.
In Port Arthur Texas today Geraldo praised the firefighters and police in the city. I love to see firefighters get their due and these guys deserve recognition. One guy they talked to is on duty and confessed he doesn't know if his home is OK. I pray it is.
Geraldo can ride shotgun on my (metaphoric) rig into any disaster. Some guys you know would have your back in any situation. Maybe that is the basis of a hero.
Last night Geraldo chose to stay in Port Arthor where he knew the storm was tracking instead of high-tailing it to safer ground in Beaumont 25 miles away. His reporting from a Holiday Inn hotel lobby was the last thing I heard before I went to bed at midnight in California. I awakened at 5 am and tuned in to see if Geraldo made it through the night unharmed. He did, why did I have a doubt?
I have followed this man's career but he really impressed me for the first time with his war coverage in Afghanistan and later as he joined the troops as an embed in Iraq. As most embeds do he always showed the ultimate respect for the soldier or Marine.
His Hurricane Katrina coverage was worthy of journalism's highest award. Like most I watched with horror as the poor of New Orleans waited under intolerable conditions for someone to come to their assistance. No heroes emerged, not the inept mayor or the even more inept governor..... no one.
I kept commenting to my wife that a hero was needed, someone to take the case of these poor folks to the masses. Enter Geraldo, TV journalist. I watched Geraldo take his microphone and camera crew inside the New Orleans Convention Center where no camera's had bothered to enter for almost a week. Inside he found how desperate the plight of the people inside was.
I guess the sight of innocent children caught up in the danger and squalor short circuited his emotional button. The moment he shed tears for the kids the New Orleans hero was found. He pleaded for help for the kids. His plea was so forceful and emotional Fox News did not replay the tape when the show was replayed. The chicken sh-t producers must have decided it was too real. It was real and that is what was needed at that time in that situation. Geraldo knew it, viewers knew it.
The next day I tuned in to see Geraldo yelling into the microphone that the 82nd Airborne had arrived. He told us that this was a unit he ran with in Iraq. He assured the viewers that help had finally arrived. It had arrived.
A part of me wants to believe Geraldo knew his buddies were enroute and he pre-positioned himself just to do what he did. I don't care if that was the case. No matter how he got there or if there was a ratings scheme behind the scenes it got the job done.
In Port Arthur Texas today Geraldo praised the firefighters and police in the city. I love to see firefighters get their due and these guys deserve recognition. One guy they talked to is on duty and confessed he doesn't know if his home is OK. I pray it is.
Geraldo can ride shotgun on my (metaphoric) rig into any disaster. Some guys you know would have your back in any situation. Maybe that is the basis of a hero.
