After 1 week Media 180s on Elizabeth Edwards--Why?

Question

What happened? Last week the media showed numerous pundits blasting Elizabeth Edwards as a big phony.Citing her for first garnering public support and sympathy in her support of her hubby in spite of familial tragedies. (teenage son killed, suffering incurable cancer-though possibly related to hormones taken to get pregnant at 50 after son's death)

Now after skewering her in the press for a week, they are showing pundits who are placing Elizabeth in the "Angel" category or maybe even "Archangel" or "Holy Mother" categor for being more concerned about the impact of her impending death on her children than her husband's transgressions on their marriage.

Now they claim, because she is dying of cancer, she had to make a difficult choice. Put the children through a painful divorce --add to their childhood which will soon be marred by her impending death. And, pull the campaign to a stop under the worst of public circumstances. (A lot for a woman going through chemo to handle.)

Or, forgive her life partner and help him as best she can so he can be in a relatively stable condition to take care of their children after she's gone. Actually, as I'm writing this, I feel like crying...it's all so very tragic.

Like Greek Tragedy, or Grand Opera--so very Grand Scheme...the change in media response though... It all happened so quickly...too quickly...I feel emotionally manipulated ad have to ask-why the media flip-flop?

From the media standpoint, is it just a new twist to the numbing multitude of cheating politican headlines? Is this just an original slant to sell papers? Or have we grown to see this circumstance isn't the same old, same old. What do you think?

Answer 1

  Funny I thought it was the other way around, but no matter. The change in perspective is merely a device to keep the story alive. It is such an unimportant story that the sensational aspect has to be heightened to keep it alive.

Answer 2

It's the wind changing direction. It always blows toward sensationalism and money, no matter the bias.

Answer 3

I think there are a couple of factors at work here. One, a couple of commentators don't represent the full breath of opinion. You may have seen some people who jumped to some early conclusions, and were wrong.

Second, we've been getting more background information about the situation in the family. That seems to have put Elizabeth's actions in better perspective.

Just remember -- the people on television often have opinions that are just as good as yours. You have to pick the ones you like and respect sometimes after considering the facts.