 |
| Dr. Nancy Snyderman |
As we watch US electronic media fizzle-down to the level of junior college Journalism and Broadcast Media 101, the episodes of ratings induced arrogance continues to manifest. The last sentence was an effort to be political correct. A better characterization of violation of protocol is as as follows: "Elitist Media darling and crew ignore safeguards while placing others at EBOLA risks."
Dr. Nancy Snyderman and crew's quarantine violation after returning to the US from West Africa is a classic example of how infectious chronic diseases slip through safety and regulator cracks. While Right-wing media is actively blaming President Obama for EBOLA in America, no US based network is adequately probing or exploring callousness from the Snyderman crew. As a matter of balance, MSNBC has also run segments that left me wondering about the newsworthiness of the broadcast.
The Snyderman crew will probably never developed even a trace of the disease. Yet, only CNN, has aired detailed broadcast related to the journalist, or her crew's callousness.
Talking Points Memo continues to explore the Snyderman 'episode' and the publication does so while others have moved on to EBOLA "blame, entertainment and fear" broadcast.
“Used with permission from the TPM websites, a service of TPM Media LLC.”
AP Photo / Peter Kramer
ByDAVID BAUDERPublishedOCTOBER 20, 2014, 1:37 PM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — The quarantine against possible Ebola exposure ends this week for Dr. Nancy Snyderman, but the troubles clearly aren't over for NBC News' chief medical editor.
An admitted lapse in the quarantine, combined with a curiously imprecise explanation, unleashed a furious response. NBC must now decide whether Snyderman's credibility is too damaged for her to continue reporting on Ebola or other medical issues and, if so, for how long. The network would not comment.
Snyderman, a surgeon who spent 17 years as a medical correspondent for ABC News and has been at NBC since 2006, covered the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and worked briefly with Ashoka Mukpo, the cameraman who caught the virus and is now being treated in Nebraska. Upon returning to the United States, Snyderman and her crew voluntarily agreed to quarantine themselves for 21 days, the longest known incubation period for the disease. They have shown no symptoms.
Yet New Jersey health officials ruled that her quarantine should be mandatory after Snyderman and her crew were spotted getting takeout food from a New Jersey restaurant.
NBC won't give details about who actually went into the restaurant, or even how many of its employees are being quarantined. Snyderman issued a statement saying "members of our group" violated their pledge.
More than 1,100 people have subsequently written on Snyderman's Facebook page, many expressing anger. There were suggestions she should be fired or lose her medical license, and some viewers said they wouldn't trust her again. Snyderman's failure to be more specific about the lapse or take greater responsibility was another flashpoint.
Snyderman's "arrogance and dismissiveness" create a huge PR and credibility problem for NBC, said Kelly McBride, an expert on ethics for the journalism think tank the Poynter Institute.
As we immerse in EBOLA hysteria, and we have members of America's Top 10% media elite who step outside of protocol, we fail to pay attention to elitist safety violations.
And, your GOP wants to ban all travel from West Africa.
