A Reporter Reflects on His Own Reaction to the Election

Another reporter who is unbiased???

Anyone remember Walter Cronkite's voice cracking on REPORTING the news of JFK's assassination or when Apollo 11 landed on the moon?
How about Peter Jennings choking up on air on 9/11 when he commented about talking to his children?
Robin Roberts visiting her family who survived the devastating eye of Hurricane Katrina during GMA?
CNN's Jeannie Moss reflecting on the cries she heard during the night from stranded, desparate, and helpless Katrina victims being flooded out of their homes?
The Hindenburg disaster?

Anyone who thinks reporters can't express raw emotions while reporting has no heart and worse yet, no soul. It's these kind of events that show us that reporters, no matter how objective they are (except those on FauxNoise...err...News), they are also only human. Bias has nothing to do with it. Steve O's tears were mirrored on the faces of 10's of thousands of people around the US--and the WORLD--who were witnessing and celebrating a unique and grand historic moment for this country.

It was an emotional event that touched me deeply as well, the fulfillment of Dr. King's dream.

All the great reporters show their humanity. If we wanted an inhuman view of the news, we could make an artificial voice report the events. But whether it's "Oh, the humanity" or "My father told us America would never elect a black president" - reporters exist to present the full experience of being there. More than you can see from just watching camera feeds.

I have listened, since 1991, at the un- relenting so called 'unbiased, unemotional and objective reporting' of those at Fox and from the likes Limbaugh and his ilk so, from at least one soul we get to hear honest, human and, yes, humane, reporting for a change. I for one can live (better)with it!

I cried. My whole family (I was with them) cried. It was a moment worthy of a few tears. It was beautiful. And in case it matters to anyone--I'm white.

I would like to take this opportunity to comment on the story I saw filed by Steve on the night of the election. I have never seen any better use of air time in the expression of sincere thoughts in my life. Having said that, this had nothing to do with a political story it was a human event that I had once thought that I would never live to see; but thank the Lord above, I did. Further, I would like to express my thoughts on the consistent comment that we have elected an African-American President. I know to a degree this is true but it is not the story. After all, this man is all of the people's President and the man is half white. Not that either point matters. I would like to see people move away from the racially descriptive phrases and start referring to him as Mr. President-Elect or some other reference that is more telling of what we all expect of this man in the next four years. I am a southern white man and am proud to have been a staunch supporter of Barack Obama. I was elated to have had the distinct pleasure of casting this ballot for more than one reason none more important than the fact that I did not know if I would live long enough to do so or not this time last year. I was diagnosed with Cancer October the 4th of 2007 and prayed all year long that I would live long enough to vote for this man and hopefully see him installed in the Presidency for the sake of my children and grandchildren; so that I would not have to leave this world with the worries that have continued to mount up over the last eight years. Let no one doubt we have set this country and the world in which we live on a different course. I believe it to be the best course in a long time. STEVE, keep up the good work!

Steve was not being biased, he was being human. I am sure if the first black president was a Republican, he would have felt the same way.

Kari: A very good point!

So this must be the second time in her adult lifetime Michelle Obama has been proud of her country

If we want reporters, completely void of emotion, then we should use text to speech computers to provide the best monotone report they can.

Maybe someday I will not have to qualify my testimonial by saying, "I'm a 38yo white man," but for now I do. I'm a 38yo white man, registered Republican, father of two boys under the age of 10, who grew up in a lily white middle class community, which has since become only slightly more diversified. I have lived the charmed life. Yet, on election night I wept as I watched Mr. Obama walk on to the stage with his wife and two daughters. Tears ebbed and flowed throughout Mr. Obama's speech, during the celebration after, when Mr. Biden's mother was brought to the front of the stage and until I shut off the television to finally get some sleep.

I can only speak for myself when I say that as an American who whole heartedly believes in the ideals of our forefathers, that there is a tangible feeling that we are closer today to those ideals than we have ever been. And, it is important to note that Barack Obama, by the very nature of his heritage, is no more a "black" man than he is a "white" man. We can all take pride that he is "our" President.

we need to unite and stop letting the media try to bring us apart.muslims4 obama i believe you voted for the wrong person.My best friend in mass,boston who is Muslim and is married with 4 children and guess what she's jewish,and they voted for obama UNITED WE STAND DIVIED WE FALL

Disney/ABC = Osunsami would be a nice
male addition to the "VIEW." He stopped
being a reporter the instant he made the news. Showing emotions while reporting is fine, so long as the reporter doesn't become part of the story. There must be something in the ABC culture that so many (Gibson, Walters, GS, and now Osunsami)showed biased in their reporting. Save it for Oprah, the View, etc. and not the news.

How exactly is Reverend Wright hate-filled? I heard him make reasonable assertions about America being racist and imperialist - to a degree. Doesn't mean he doesn't love our country and hopes to make it better. He's been preaching for decades, and all I've seen are a few quotes which in no way indicate "hate" for anybody.

Steve didn't do anything more than put into words what many of us were feeling. If that's being unprofessional, I wish a few more reporters would be unprofessional. For those of us who grew up in lily white parts of America, Steve gave us a hint of what this election meant to millions of people that took it personally when told that this wasn't possible. Nobody ever told me as a child that I couldn't be President of the United States.

For other to chide this reporter for sharing personal history on such a significant occasion is petty. This is an important event in the history of our country. I'm not black, but it brought tears to my eyes, too. It should bring tears to everyone's eyes who loves freedom and equality and wants to believe that we really are the greatest nation on Earth.

Why is the Press referring to Obama as “A Black President” instead of “A President”?
This offends me.
It shows how the press is racist.

It reminds me of the police when they describe an Afro-American male. It is always, “A Black Male”. The guy could be a 7 foot tall male or a short 3 foot tall male, but the police would still describe the male as a “Black Male”. The police would always use race as the first and primary adjective to describe Afro-American Males. This has offended me for years.

Now the American Press is doing the same. They are exploiting the fact that Obama skin is dark. Just listen to the news and count how many times the press referrers to Obama as “A Black President”.

Does the American Press think that by exploiting the fact that Obama has dark skin, they can get a larger audience making their ratings go up?

What next? Will white business start selling kids lunch boxes with Obama’s picture on them?

Just how much money is going to be made by exploiting the fact that Obama has dark skin and who is going to be making all that money?

To me, our President should be just that, “Our President” and not be continuously described by his/her gender, race, religion, color of her/his sin or any other descriptive adjective.

This just shows how unprofessional and racist our American Press really is.

Neither Obama nor McCain has mentioned the race issue during this campaign. It has and still is the American Press who has turned this campaign into a racist issue. I’m sure the American Press will still continue to make this campaign and Obama’s Presidency a Race issue because they want news and if their isn’t any news to report, they will make some news so they will have something to report.

The U. S. Constitution grants “Freedom of the Press”, which allows the American Press to criticize our government but does it’s citizens have a right to criticize it’s Press? Apparently ABC doesn’t think we have a right to be able to criticize the American Press.

Don't you love how the liberal Dem media has no qualms about even showing their bias? I watched MSNBC today and that Rachel lady while mentioning Palin for an upcoming blurb on her commented on if she could hold back her shopping spree spending adn maybe now she'd know more about Africa! Sure, no bias--make facts out of gossip and hearsay and cruel insinuations that would never fly with the Dems if against them. Not even commenting correctly how Biden didn't even know about Hamas and Lebanon with his rediculous comment in tVP debate.

I was born and raised in San Diego.I went to school at san miguel as a youth and it was a mixed race school.I had many black friends who I still think about till this day.After school I went home to my street which was white and hispanic and my black friends went home to the all black area behind the school.That is just the way it was and it worked both ways. I couldn't visit my friends in the all black area nor could they visit me.We used to catch up on neutral ground down near college grove or elsewhere and go raise a bit of hell or see a movie.Nothing could stop us from being friends but there were unwritten rules we had to follow to keep our families happy.
I am 49 years old now and at the age of 24 I immigrated to Australia.I left my family and country of birth and started a new life in a foreign land.When I first came to Australia there were very few African people here and the only black people I ever saw and interacted with were Australian Aboriginals.So strange to explain but I really missed walking down the street and seeing people of African decent.I am happy to say in the last 5 years or so very many African blacks have been allowed to immigrate here to escape oppression in their homelands.They come from sUDAN as well as sierra leone and zimbabwe.I have struck up friendship with 2 from zimbabwe and 1 from Sierra leone. They remind me of the American blacks I grew up with as their english is so good it is hard to pick UP the African accent.It is so good to see back in America that times are changing and so many black Americans finally proud to call themselves Americans. This is major history here and the pride it is giving the people and the pulling together of the races is so wonderful to see.Sad but many hate filled troll the blogs but as the election proves they are just a minority so please my black brothers don't let it bother you as they are a dying breed.

A wonderful human moment seen through the eyes of one man. This is the kind of reporter i can trust.

You're white and you cried huh Charlotte?? Please!! Give it a few years and you'll really be crying .. and for different reasons!