Certain matters once handled discreetly now are part of our ongoing cultural conversation. The extent to which that's good or bad depends on context. The obituary for Eppie Lederer - a.k.a. Ann Landers - in her home newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, notes that in the 1980s, a professor at Cornell published an analysis of how Landers' advice column had changed since its inception in 1955. According to the Tribune, the professor found that sexual issues were "virtually non-existent in the columns when [Landers] started," but they "came to dominate her letters, along with frank advice about masturbation, penile implants, and... continue reading
It was another classic Clintonite whopper. ABC proudly announced that its five-year long march to package George Stephanopoulos was complete. He's now the sole host of its Sunday morning show "This Week," the long-time home of TV eminence David Brinkley. The Disney network's new lead interrogator claimed: "If I were biased, I don't believe I would have gotten the job." Really, you just have to start laughing here. If ABC had been looking for a host with a just-the-facts record and demeanor, George Stephanopoulos is the last person they'd hire. If they valued decades of experience behind the microphone, they... continue reading
And now, a few words in memory of thirty-four-and-a-half-year-old Rolling Stone magazine. Don't get me wrong. Jann Wenner's brainchild hasn't folded, but it is going to be revamped with an eye toward attracting short-attention-span-afflicted readers. That's bad news. You may wish to charge Rolling Stone with being no more than a countercultural rag, a pied piper leading teens into drug-taking and radical-left politics. You may wish to joke that its readers have always had short attention spans. You may have a partial point in each regard. Nonetheless, there's good reason to lament RS's coming dumbing-down: It apparently will end the... continue reading
Given the reaction from some in the media over the recent arrests of suspected terrorists, a question arises. This question should be unthinkable it is so preposterous, but it is very real: Had the 9/11 terrorists somehow not died, would the national media be demanding civil liberties for Mohammed Atta? On June 10, the government announced it was holding Abdullah Al Mujahir, a former Chicago street gang member once known as Jose Padilla, for plotting to explode a conventional bomb loaded with radiation on a major American city like Washington. Incredibly, several anchors sounded more like defense lawyers than journalists... continue reading
A new book called "The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Effect on Our Children" is written by a liberal professor and features an afterword by a member of the Clinton family. So should conservatives consider it radioactive? At times it's wrongheaded - even to the point of shrillness - but it does have some superb moments. In the final analysis, it's a provocative read. First, let's dispense with the Clinton angle. Young Chelsea took classes at Stanford from "The Other Parent" author James Steyer, helped research the book, and now contributes a two-page afterword to it. Clearly... continue reading
At almost this time in his presidency - in June of his second year - President George H.W. Bush announced he would put tax increases on the table in budget negotiations with House and Senate Democrats. His conservative supporters were shocked, but the TV news anchormen were well pleased. On the night of June 26, 1990, NBC anchor Tom Brokaw reported: "President Bush today conceded that new taxes will be necessary to get the federal budget deficit under control." The key word in that sentence is "conceded," a verb that packed a wallop. It said that the president's conservative position... continue reading
An anti-corporate lynch mob showed up in Dallas for the ExxonMobil shareholders meeting. Their language was intemperate, their historical comparisons absurd, and their demands on a major oil company could be reduced to one word: surrender. Ever since radical mobs with a violent and thoroughly anti-capitalist agenda stormed Seattle, many in our media have treated the parade of anti-corporate hooligans with kid gloves, awarding them instant idealism on the front pages, giving their spokesmen precious airtime for their soundbites, and presenting them without any notice of an ideological bone in their bodies. At best they are dreamers; at worst, confused... continue reading
Last week, Dick Cheney, Robert Mueller, Donald Rumsfeld, and, for all I know, Willard Scott once again warned of modern-day threats to America. Meanwhile, a piece by the Washington Post's David Segal inadvertently reminded us of a time when our primary foe was communism and not a few journalists were oblivious to the wretched nature of this movement. Segal, who covers pop music and really oughtn't wander far from that genre, earned his Useful Idiot Award with a May 22 article that dealt cluelessly and flippantly with Oakland-based communist rapper Raymond (Boots) Riley, who leads an outfit called the Coup... continue reading
"Personnel is policy" is an old axiom in politics. It also applies to the world of journalism, as evidenced by recent developments at The New York Times, which has been trending even further left with recent appointments. First, the Times promoted crusading liberal editorial page editor Howell Raines, who once publicly mourned that "the Reagan years oppressed me," to editor-in-chief. Now, Richard Berke, the paper's national political correspondent since 1993, is being promoted to Washington editor, the number-two job in a bureau of more than 50 people. On one level this is to be expected. After all, the paper's number-one... continue reading
When Bill Clinton announced he was taking a swing at Osama bin Laden with cruise-missile attacks on targets in Sudan and Afghanistan just three days after admitting an affair with Monica Lewinsky, some within the Republican camp questioned the timing. An ABC poll found 30 percent of the public guessed it was a "Wag the Dog" strategy, a cynical military ploy to divert attention from all the presidential pawing and parsing. Others refused to believe it. "I have to assume there is a sense of embarrassment among all of us," Ted Koppel announced from his "Nightline" perch. "I have a... continue reading