After a year of sifting through the most confused ballots of the most confused voters in Florida, the major media have a major announcement to make. Ahem. Bush won. If this weren't so silly, it might look arrogant. After wasting millions of dollars to document for the -nth time what we already knew, is the Bush victory "news" because the major media have decided that they've now made it official? Damn the Supreme Court, damn the Electoral College. This election isn't over until we decide it is. To be precise, the media's consortium of clarity paid the National Opinion Research... continue reading
Some major television figures admirably continue to declare their support for war on the terrorists who attacked our homeland. Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Tim Russert, and even a suddenly gung-ho Geraldo Rivera can be found in those ranks. Predictably, however, some of their colleagues are aghast. These leftist complainers without a country are currently steamed at CNN boss Walter Isaacson, who declared his network would balance Taliban-manipulated reports from Afghanistan with the unsubtle reminder that these forces use civilians as shields and their support for Al-Qaeda terrorists helped kill more than 5,000 Americans. "It's ill-advised," said Peter Arnett, the man... continue reading
The current abundance of unsettling information about war in our newscasts seems to have brought about an increased need for a certain balm, a more soothing tonic from the world of entertainment. Bernard Weinraub's October 31 New York Times article explored the ratings growth this season for several comedy series - most notably NBC's "Friends," whose viewership is up more than 20 percent - concluding that it's probably a consequence of September 11. The consensus among the sitcom producers quoted in the story is that they should steer clear of war and terror and simply seek to amuse. Kevin Bright... continue reading
Journalism schools might proclaim in public that their mission is to mold young reporters into finding and dishing out the largest and most accurate amount of information they can uncover. But in modern times, maximum disclosure and descriptiveness are taking a back seat to the goal of ... sensitivity. In October, the Society of Professional Journalists responded to the intensity of coverage after the terrorist attacks with a set of "Guidelines for Countering Racial, Ethnic, and Religious Profiling." It's to laugh or cry. For example, the SPJ instructs its members to "Avoid using word combinations such as 'Islamic terrorist' or... continue reading
Much has changed in our world since September 11, but one thing hasn't. There are still some awfully politically confused people in Hollywood. What in the world was Richard Gere thinking that has made him now a national laughingstock? He was a featured star at the October 20 Concert for New York City, an emotional, patriotic event which raised more than $14 million for post-terrorist-attack relief funds. When he took the stage, the actor proclaimed, to escalating boos from the Madison Square Garden crowd, that "the horrendous energy that we're all feeling, and the possibility of turning it into more... continue reading
Most members of our media elite today have little use for religion, but there is one thing they do claim to worship: piles and piles of information, as much information as anyone can stand. Limiting the landslide in any way with any kind of judgment is to sell the news-consuming public short. You can see this argument in the staunch defense of CNN's awful idea of sending six pre-fabricated questions to Osama bin Laden, the suspected architect of the death of more than 5,000 innocent American non-combatants. In a self-serving segment on CNN's "Reliable Sources," CBS's Bob Schieffer declared, "I... continue reading
Rick Dunham is a journalist who knows all about being thrust into impossible situations. Now a steady hand at Business Week, eleven years ago Dunham was a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald when hostilities broke out with Iraq and he was sent to Washington, DC to report from the Pentagon. Dunham had been on this beat for several weeks when I invited him out for a drink one evening to give him a break from his endless days covering the growing Allied military build-up. He looked harried. I asked how he was holding up and he smiled bemusedly. "One... continue reading
In their most idealistic moments, journalists must wish for peace and prosperity in the world, just like anyone else. But that dream doesn't sell newspapers or newscasts, and it doesn't leave much of an opportunity for reporters to prove their societal worth. We've had almost ten years of relative peace and prosperity, and journalists grew restless and self-loathing. In the last few weeks, in the shadow of an unthinkable set of terrorist attacks, an entirely new world has emerged, along with a lot of reassessing of our lives. As most Americans have rediscovered a love for their country, journalists have... continue reading
Life at Penn State University is in sad shape, most noticeably the fabled Joe Paterno's team's attempt at playing the game of football. But off the field, matters are even worse. Take a look at this educational institution's sense of sexual morality, assuming it can even be said to have one. In the fall of 2000, Penn State hosted a gathering with two names - one being Womyn's Concerns, the other being unprintable because it contains a vulgar synonym for the vagina. The event received more than $9,500 in PSU funding. Thus far in 2001, the campus has hosted two... continue reading
The war on the terrorists in Afghanistan has begun, and so have the first examples of a journalistic neutrality fetish. But those occasional outbursts are easy to find. Less obvious, almost to the point of obscurity, are the examples of the media going out of their way to do things right. Seventeen news organizations knew of Sunday's first Afghanistan air attacks on Friday, when their staffers were called to join the military media pool, but none divulged the secret. When pressed, bureau chiefs naturally said they'd like greater access to the troops, but still the silence held. With lives on... continue reading