And the Ron Burgundy Award goes to ...
UPDATE (1:30 pm)
News anchor Curt Autry embarrasses himself again, and Kaci Hickox triumphs:
In an update on his Facebook page Autry now crows that a court order has just been issued that requires Hickox to follow the quarantine rules Gov. Paul LePag laid down for her, "as I told you last night it would be." He goes on to chortle, "But if she violates again - she goes to jail...no ifs ands or buts."
He even provides a link, so we can all see how right he was.
There's just one problem: the story he linked to doesn't say what it used to say. That's because, while Autry wasn't looking, the judge who issued the restraining order reversed himself, and now has ordered that all restrictions on Hickox's movements be lifted.
Congratulations to Hickox and to medical science. And a raspberry to third-rate "journalists."
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ORIGINAL DIARY:
It's been bad enough watching cynical governors and rightwing pundits scramble to score political points at the expense of decent people who, at great personal sacrifice, have worked to save the lives of Ebola victims.
But I wasn't prepared to see my very own, seemingly benign local news anchor, Curt Autry, take to Facebook to rail to his fans that Kaci Hickox had placed herself "above the law" by going for a bicycle ride.
Perhaps taking a page from Chuck Todd, Autry also passed sentence on her career, saying Hickox's actions made her henceforth "unemployable." The entire rant is below. It's short but it packs a lot of meanness and falsehood into a tiny space:
"SO, THAT DEFIANT NURSE...in Maine broke quarantine again today, opting to go on a bike ride in direct violation of orders from the Governor there. Kaci Hickcox [sic] has now thumbed her nose at three Governors. I hope she realizes she's now unemployable. No hospital will hire someone who ignores medical protocol. Does she have Ebola? Probably not - but does that make her above the law? It's called civic responsibility lady - google it! #BYEfelicia"
How dare that woman be
defiant. Does she think she has rights? Does she believe her medical knowledge, and that of the Centers for Disease Control, can be allowed to trump gut feeling?
Autry didn't post this garbage on his personal account. No. It's on the official Facebook account for central Virgina's NBC affiliate, WWBT-12. WWBT is reputed to serve the largest area of any station in the state (although I can't find confirmation one way of the other), and proudly bills itself as the Number One News Station in Virginia.
Pity Virginia.
More than 1200 people "Liked" Autry's appeal to hysteria and judgment. But a few folks downthread challenged his claims. They noted Hickox wasn't acting as if she were above the law, because she wasn't actually breaking any. Nor was she ignoring medical protocol; she was following CDC guidelines to the letter.
But Autry persisted, posting links to one article after the next, and lying about what each contained. He suggested that Ebola is THIS CLOSE to becoming airborne (false), he claimed the CDC had changed its protocol to include isolation (yes, but ONLY for special circumstances, such as sticking oneself with a needle while treating a patient), and continued to insist a law that doesn't exist had been violated.
He did finally make one edit. He changed "No hospital will hire someone who ignores medial protocol" to "No hospital will hire someone who ignores direct orders." But that still leaves the impression that Hickox was ignoring a medical superior, when in reality she was ignoring a blowhard politician with no authority over her.
Autry's Facebook bio boasts he's a "pot stirrer on Facebook," and warns "If you like your news sugar-coated and you're easily offended - this page isn't for you." After I'd corrected him half-a-dozen times, he deleted all my comments and blocked me from posting further.
Apparently, Autry is easily offended and that page isn't for him.
(I don't know how to post images, but here's a photo of panic-stricken reporters running for cover as Hickox unleashes Ebola on the formerly great state of Maine.)
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EDIT: Kudos to elenacarlena for spotting another factual error by Autry. (How many can a journalist make in just one paragraph?)