I'm not the world's biggest fan of sportscaster/talkmaster Bob Costas, who for my money is a little too well-dressed, too silky smooth, and far too self-satisfied. (His saving grace is his devotion to Mickey Mantle
Number 7 who was also my childhood idol.)
But now that Larry King's backup host on CNN refused to do a show on missing teenager Natalee Holloway
Costas opts out, he's earned some serious respect. The story of the blonde teen who went missing in Aruba nearly three months ago is fuelling the often nonsensical cable news prime time universe and generating disturbing but deserved criticism that the media obsess about pretty young white women who vanish, but seem far less interested when the victim is poor, a minority or not particularly telegenic.
Damsels in DistressHere's a trivia question: What was the biggest ongoing story in America, one again driven by the cable news networks, when the terrorists attacked on 9/11? (Answer: Did Gary Condit kill Chandra Levy?)
Chung grills ConditLast night, while surfing the cable news offerings I came across the Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and CNN Headline News's Nancy Grace (she scares me) all flogging the sad but largely stagnant Holloway story. Obviously, it must be good for ratings, but the relentless focus on this case sure looks and smells like the ghoulish exploitation of a tragedy -- that happened to occur to a pretty blonde white girl. Whatever his reasons, good for Costas,