Is it asking too much?

Is it asking too much to expect the media to get the facts straight? Take that infamous "fan suit" for example. There never was a suit--just a few pranksters who released a press release saying they were thinking of suing RCA for misrepresenting Clay's image. Not a single news outlet checked to see if the press release had any merit. They just reported it. Oh, one music writer for the Delaware County Times did question whether or not it was a hoax. A couple of prestigious writers for foreign papers analyzed the suit's deeper meaning as it reflects on American culture--but without checking the basic facts. So much for the "news" media's dedication to accuracy in reporting.

So today, the media is starting to pick up the story of the Presidential appointment. This morning Clay's hometown paper, the News & Observer, published the following short news item on their website:

The White House has announced that President Bush intends to appoint Clay Aiken -- or Clayton Aiken, as he is listed in the press release -- to the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

Aiken is a Raleigh native who rose to fame as a runner-up in the "American Idol" competition. Before his singing career took off, Aiken worked as a counselor at a YMCA.

The committee advises the president and the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on issues relating to programs and services for people with intellectual disabilities, according to the committee's web site. The committee was first established, as the President's Panel on Mental Retardation, in 1961 by President Kennedy.

He worked as a counselor at the Y? He received this prestigious appointment because he was a counselor at the Y? What about his degree in special education? The very successful foundation he started three years ago to foster inclusion for children with disabilities? Ambassador for the US Fund for UNICEF? These are not difficult facts to find. Three minutes with google would do it.

But the craziness doesn't stop there. This evening the AP wire service picked up the story directly from the News & Observer. A close paraphrase. Oh wait, no, something was added to later releases: the fact that Clay has a CD coming out later this month. That's nice. So he was chosen for his experience as a camp counselor and because he has a CD coming out soon.

I know there are more important things in the world to worry about, and, sadly, the media isn't getting a lot of those more important things right either. Celebrity gossip--that's the name of the game these days. Suri Cruise's first picture--now that's news. If Clay were to be seen out partying with Paris Hilton or Lindsey Lohan, that would be a story worth investigating.

OK, reporters, my Clack House mate Berkeley has saved you some trouble. Here's a news item for ya with some substance to it:

Aiken brings considerable experience to the President's Council.

He received his BA in Special Education from The University of North Carolina, Charlotte, in December 2003.

Five months earlier, in July of 2003, Clay Aiken and Diane Bubel, an advocate for children with disabilities who is herself the mother of a child with autism, co-founded the Bubel/Aiken Foundation. BAF's mission is to integrate children with disabilities into the same life environment as their typical peers. In just three years, BAF has presented hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to advance its mission and has sponsored an inclusive summer day camp for three years. The foundation has received multimillion dollar grants from State Farm Insurance and from the U.S. Department of Education to develop an inclusion curriculum for elementary schools.

In addition to appearing at benefits in support of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving and America's Promise / The Alliance for Youth, Aiken has been a keynote speaker at the Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities and the Fearless Caregiver Conference.

In 2004, Aiken was appointed to be a National Ambassador for UNICEF (the United Nations Childrens Fund), with a focus on education. Following the tsunami in December 2004, he made field trips to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, to observe the rebuilding process. He also visited camps for people displaced by rebel violence in Northen Uganda, helped raise funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina and served as the spokesperson for the 2005 Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign.

Here's the link to Clay's page at UNICEF: UNICEF - Clay Aiken. The other links you need are in my last blog. In case any media types reading this wanted to do some research, this is a start for ya. Knock yourself out. Or you could just take my word for it. Oh wait, maybe I should just issue a press release.

Other blogs about this news: The Conclayve - Berkeley's blog
Webweaver's World - Clay's Presidential Appointment


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