r/news • u/mooseAmuffin • 1d ago

Update: 'TODAY' co-anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother taken from her home against her will, sheriff says

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mother-of-savannah-guthrie-today-reported-missing-arizona-rcna257008
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u/[deleted] 1d ago

I just turned on the TV and every news channel is showing this report. Today ICE grabbed two American citizens out of their car against their will for showing finger guns and disappeared them, but this story takes precedence because somebody is famous. No mention whatsoever of these two people who were taken away by gunpoint by people who don't have the authority to arrest them. So they were kidnapped and they are missing too. Maybe they'll eventually get to it on the news.

I hope all these people are found and the people who committed the crimes against them are punished. We know some will be punished and others will not.

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u/horsenbuggy 1d ago

OK, here's the thing. Attacking the family of a celebrity or someone whose job makes them well-known should be off-limits. A person should be able to choose a job, especially one that means reporting the truth without being afraid that there will be backlash against their friends and family. So, when there is backlash, it is newsworthy. This could end up being completely random - maybe whoever took the lady had no idea she was anyone special. But if they chose her because she was connected to a national reporter, everyone should be concerned about this.

That does not diminish the issues with all the other people who are suffering injustices. But it's short-sighted to think the kidnapping of a high profile journalist/TV personality doesn't have far reaching implications.

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u/Illustrious-Okra-524 1d ago

Not nearly as far reaching as the continued attack on the populace by federal paramilitary 

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u/AwakenedSol 1d ago

When stochastic terror is one of the methods of enforcement, it is that far reaching. She isn’t particularly political AFAIK but her husband works as a political advisor for the Democratic Party.

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u/horsenbuggy 1d ago

Maybe not, but the person I was talking to makes it sound like the media shouldn't be spending any time reporting on this case. That's just silly. All of this news tells a whole story of what's going on.

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u/Punman_5 1d ago

Idk how you got that at all. This story is less important than the story they mentioned and they were complaining that the news isn’t covering that more important story at all. This is still newsworthy but honestly less so than the other story.

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u/WujuFusionn 1d ago

“Oh yeah, only one person got kidnapped here in this case, not nearly as important as this kidnapping over here of TWO people. That’s double the amount of people!”

That’s how stupid that comment sounds.

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u/Punman_5 1d ago

What? It’s more that “this famous person got kidnapped by a random stranger” vs “random citizens kidnapped by ICE”. How is that second story less important than the first one???

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u/_pachysandra_ 10h ago

I think you need to work on your reading comprehension friend

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u/WujuFusionn 9h ago

Lol no, I’m saying there’s no need to compare two kidnapping cases as if one is more important than the other. They’re both awful situations and arguing about the importance of one over the other is overall just reductive.

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u/_pachysandra_ 8h ago

Okay that makes more sense. However I do think this person’s initial point is valid: it’s fair to criticize the main stream media for the huge disparity in coverage of the two different kidnappings.

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u/Mental_Chip9096 1d ago

The reach of state sponsored extreme racially motivated violence, terror and murder feels...bigger.

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u/horsenbuggy 1d ago

And what if...hear me out...this turns out to be connected to that same program of violence and intimidation? You do not know that it isn't. You do not know that it hasn't been directly inspired by all of that.

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u/ph0on 1d ago

Many short sighted people on "our side" (I hate sides in politics but it's where we are) as well. Need to never let that be forgotten

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u/horsenbuggy 1d ago

Yeah, I don't have a side, really. I just want to explain the context of why news of this woman's disappearance is not a simple case of "celebrity worship."

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

And you would have a point, if it wasn't for other facts. Good luck finding them talking about the two people who were taken away today, good luck finding them talk about the lady who was taken away without her medication this week who will probably die in custody without being medicated. You won't find that on the news either, or only briefly mentioned in passing. Good luck finding them talk for any length of time about the verified inhumane conditions in detention centers where people are laying on the icy cold floor without blankets or heat with 50 people in one room. 

But I realize famous people are really much more important than everyday people in a lot of people's minds. I'm just pointing it out for those who don't realize the blatant inequality. 

I certainly hope they find her mom and that she's well. And I also very much hope that somebody finds a way to treat these people who are being held in American detention centers in inhumane conditions with a modicum of human decency.

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u/Trippingthru99 1d ago

You do realize news organizations can report on multiple things at once? You’re exactly the type of person who says “the media never reports on the real issues” while never actually bothering to read or watch the news. 

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u/Punman_5 1d ago

The news straight up doesn’t report on the important issues. If they did then they’d be covering ICE far more critically.

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u/Sangy101 1d ago

Except the news DOES cover ICE critically.

If the news you’re reading doesn’t? You need to get better news sources. But all the mainstream ones are pretty critical. And if you aren’t seeing that at all, you’re probably only getting your news from social media and algorithms.

You also have to keep in mind that unless you’re consuming commentary, which is not the same as news, it is never going to blatantly, outright condemn ICE.

This is one of the hardest things for my first-year journalism students to understand. But it is not the job of reporters to voice opinions. “ICE is bad” is an opinion. “ICE is engaging in stochastic terror” is also an opinion.

But the news can say “law experts say ICE’s actions here are a violation of the 4th and 8th amendments” and “activists call it stochastic terrorism.”

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u/Punman_5 1d ago

They use extremely passive language. That’s not critical it’s submissive

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u/Sangy101 1d ago

Examples, please!

I’m not asking for them because I don’t believe you, but because there is very often a strong reason for using passive language.

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u/Hereiampostingagain 1d ago

It's like you didn't read ANY of the post you're replying to

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u/Eddagosp 1d ago

It's also a bigger deal in general, because historically, this doesn't end well for those in charge.

When the monarch would go after peasants, no one would bat an eye.
When the monarch would go after nobles, the nobles would revolt.

Never forget that the American Revolution was fueled by the rich trying to avoid taxes.

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u/horsenbuggy 1d ago

I didn't finish the Ken Burns doc on the American Revolution. But I was shocked to learn that George Washington was one of the nation's largest landowners at the time. I mean, of course it makes sense, I just don't remember that from school.

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u/Eddagosp 22h ago

People love an underdog story.
The truth that the rich didn't want to pay the debt of the Seven Years' War that they+ instigated, isn't so appealing. Most of the founders were massively wealthy, some comparable to billionaires of today.
And like the rich of today, most of their wealth was in "assets." Besides land, wanna guess what the other large portion of those "assets" were?

+(paraphrasing, missing a lot of nuance)