Shep Smith of Fox takes a stand on Ferguson

I was watching the spectacle of events going down in Ferguson, Mo. the other night and I was appalled at the carnival that this tragedy has become. I have seen plenty of public tragedies turn into circuses before but this one seems to carry with it a special tint of sadness. That’s because the Press has turned out in droves, in numbers we haven’t seen before, to cover...what exactly?

A group of angry protesters, incensed at the shooting of a black man by white cops, all flanked by a coterie of reporters that would seem more appropriate at a major war scene.

And into the fray has stepped the estimable talking head, Shep Smith of Fox News, who surprised everyone last night by asking the unaskable question: are the reporters and their presence doing more harm than good at this event?

At one point Smith pointed out that those with a vested interest in the riots had mostly gone home. Who was left? The police, National Guard, a few protesters and very many reporters, whose sole function seemed to be fanning the flames of an event that required their presence in the same way a flame requires the presence of a moth.

It was refreshing to hear the brave Smith opine such a thing on national television. On Fox News, no less.