Originally Posted by
studentff
We must not forget that it was the reporter's (or maybe the editor's) choice to include this quote. And this type of quote seems to occur in most if not all articles about TSA shenanigans. Imagine how much the media could shift the conversation if instead of this they ended these articles with a quote about security theater.
IMO media coverage of TSA is a very straightforward (and generally a-political) example of media bias and its impact.
I'm not so sure I agree with that. I think it's more a case of societal bias; the media seems to have the same percentage of Anything For Security folks as society at large.
Incidents like this generally don't incur any real backlash from the public, because as farcical as they are, the public sees them as examples of TSA legitimately keeping us 'safe' from terrorism. The media simply seem to buy into TSA's hogwash right along with the public.
Ms. Mei posted about the ridiculous nature of individually swabbing each of her twenty bags of Cheetos, but like most Americans, she seems to be completely oblivious to the fact that the more time and energy TSA spends on the ridiculous, the less they have to spend on the truly effective. And that shouldn't make her feel safer, it should have the opposite effect.
But she's certainly not in the minority on that one.