Media Watch
I'd become so used to Nicholas Kristof's January visits to prostitutes in Cambodia that it was a something of a shock to find him this January in Calcutta's red light district instead.
As readers of his New York Times columns across the past three years will know, around this time -- a smart choice, weatherwise -- Kristof heads into Southeast Asia to write about the scourge of child prostitution. One can hardly fault him for that, even though Kristof's bluff busybody prose is irksome, as he takes his pet peeve out for an annual saunter, the way A.M. Rosenthal did for years with female circumcision in Africa.
So far as I know, Rosenthal never actually bought a young African woman to save her from circumcision. Maybe they aren't for sale. In 2004, Kristof did buy two young Cambodian women -- Srey Neth for $150 and Srey Mom for $203 -- to get them out of brothels in Poipet. There was something very nineteenth-century about the whole thing, both in moral endeavor and journalistic boosterism.
As readers of his New York Times columns across the past three years will know, around this time -- a smart choice, weatherwise -- Kristof heads into Southeast Asia to write about the scourge of child prostitution. One can hardly fault him for that, even though Kristof's bluff busybody prose is irksome, as he takes his pet peeve out for an annual saunter, the way A.M. Rosenthal did for years with female circumcision in Africa.
So far as I know, Rosenthal never actually bought a young African woman to save her from circumcision. Maybe they aren't for sale. In 2004, Kristof did buy two young Cambodian women -- Srey Neth for $150 and Srey Mom for $203 -- to get them out of brothels in Poipet. There was something very nineteenth-century about the whole thing, both in moral endeavor and journalistic boosterism.
No doubt many people are glad that Ted Koppel will become a regular
voice on National Public Radio. He recently ended 25 years with ABC’s
“Nightline” show amid profuse media accolades. But what kind of
journalist goes out of his way to voice fervent admiration for Henry
Kissinger?
NPR has announced that Koppel will do several commentaries per month on “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” The Associated Press reported that “he also will serve as an analyst during breaking news and special events.”
There’s some grim irony in the statement issued by NPR’s senior vice president for programming: “Ted and NPR are a natural fit, with curiosity about the world and commitment to getting to the heart of the story. The role of news analyst has been a tradition on NPR newsmagazines and there is no one better qualified to uphold and grow that tradition than Ted.”
But “the heart of the story” about U.S. foreign policy has often involved deceptions from Washington. And since Koppel became a prominent journalist, he has been a fervent booster of one of the most prodigious and murderous deceivers in U.S. history.
NPR has announced that Koppel will do several commentaries per month on “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” The Associated Press reported that “he also will serve as an analyst during breaking news and special events.”
There’s some grim irony in the statement issued by NPR’s senior vice president for programming: “Ted and NPR are a natural fit, with curiosity about the world and commitment to getting to the heart of the story. The role of news analyst has been a tradition on NPR newsmagazines and there is no one better qualified to uphold and grow that tradition than Ted.”
But “the heart of the story” about U.S. foreign policy has often involved deceptions from Washington. And since Koppel became a prominent journalist, he has been a fervent booster of one of the most prodigious and murderous deceivers in U.S. history.
More than a dozen years ago, I joined with Jeff Cohen (founder of the
media watch group FAIR) to establish the P.U.-litzer Prizes. Ever
since then, the annual awards have given recognition to the stinkiest
media performances of the year.
It is regrettable that only a few journalists can win a P.U.-litzer. In 2005, a large volume of strong competitors made the selection process very difficult.
And now, the fourteenth annual P.U.-litzer Prizes, for the foulest media performances of 2005:
“FIRST DO SOME HARM” AWARD -- Radio reporter Michael Linder
Linder, a correspondent for KNX Radio in Los Angeles, was a media observer at the Dec. 13 execution of Stanley Tookie Williams by lethal injection. In a report that aired on a national NPR newscast, Linder said: “The first hint that it would be a difficult medical procedure came as they tried to insert the needle into his right arm.” Medical procedure? During his brief report, Linder used the phrase twice as he described the execution. George Orwell’s ears must have been burning.
SELF-PRAISE STEALTH PRIZE -- William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer
It is regrettable that only a few journalists can win a P.U.-litzer. In 2005, a large volume of strong competitors made the selection process very difficult.
And now, the fourteenth annual P.U.-litzer Prizes, for the foulest media performances of 2005:
“FIRST DO SOME HARM” AWARD -- Radio reporter Michael Linder
Linder, a correspondent for KNX Radio in Los Angeles, was a media observer at the Dec. 13 execution of Stanley Tookie Williams by lethal injection. In a report that aired on a national NPR newscast, Linder said: “The first hint that it would be a difficult medical procedure came as they tried to insert the needle into his right arm.” Medical procedure? During his brief report, Linder used the phrase twice as he described the execution. George Orwell’s ears must have been burning.
SELF-PRAISE STEALTH PRIZE -- William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer
The introduction and first volume (1970-71) of GOATS IN PRISON: FROM HIPPIES TO HEADLINERS (Being Book One of the Columbus Free Press Papers) is now available as a free Adobe .PDF download at
http://stevenconliff.com
The teaser includes rarely seen documentation of the 1970 Ohio State University riots, like yearbook photos and the incredibly sophisticated proto-simulation (OK, it's a boardgame) "Keep on Trashin'!" which gives the first volume its distinctive title.
Conliff, official spokesman for project editor Zorba the Freak, stated that a prize will be given to whoever spots the most typographical errors before the spring thaw. When asked to specify, he became surly and unresponsive.
For further information:
http://www.freepress.org/dispatches/2005/display/197
http://stevenconliff.com
The teaser includes rarely seen documentation of the 1970 Ohio State University riots, like yearbook photos and the incredibly sophisticated proto-simulation (OK, it's a boardgame) "Keep on Trashin'!" which gives the first volume its distinctive title.
Conliff, official spokesman for project editor Zorba the Freak, stated that a prize will be given to whoever spots the most typographical errors before the spring thaw. When asked to specify, he became surly and unresponsive.
For further information:
http://www.freepress.org/dispatches/2005/display/197
The Bush era has brought a robust simplicity to the business of news management: Where possible, buy journalists to turn out favorable stories. And, as far as hostiles are concerned, if you think you can get away with it, shoot them or blow them up.
As with much else in the Bush era, the novelty lies in the openness with which these strategies have been conducted. Regarding the strategies themselves, there's nothing fundamentally new, both in terms of paid coverage and murder, as the killing in 1948 of CBS reporter George Polk suggests. Polk, found floating in the bay of Salonika after being shot in the head, had become a serious inconvenience to a prime concern of U.S. covert operations at the time, namely the onslaught on Communists in Greece.
Today we have the comical saga of the Pentagon turning to a Washington, D.C.-based subcontractor, the Lincoln Group, to write and translate for distribution to Iraqi news outlets booster stories about the U.S. military's successes in Iraq.
As with much else in the Bush era, the novelty lies in the openness with which these strategies have been conducted. Regarding the strategies themselves, there's nothing fundamentally new, both in terms of paid coverage and murder, as the killing in 1948 of CBS reporter George Polk suggests. Polk, found floating in the bay of Salonika after being shot in the head, had become a serious inconvenience to a prime concern of U.S. covert operations at the time, namely the onslaught on Communists in Greece.
Today we have the comical saga of the Pentagon turning to a Washington, D.C.-based subcontractor, the Lincoln Group, to write and translate for distribution to Iraqi news outlets booster stories about the U.S. military's successes in Iraq.
"Our goal . . . is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way."
Dig up an old lie from one of George Bush's forgotten speeches and the stench is asphyxiating, as though it's coming from the rotting corpse of democracy itself. The words quoted above are from the president's inaugural address in January - the odor intensified by recent news that the president allegedly wanted to bomb the headquarters of al-Jazeera, the Arab-language TV station with 50 million viewers, during our first bloody assault on Fallujah a year and a half ago.
If you aren't familiar with this outrageous little glimpse inside the war effort (and if you expose yourself only to mainstream American media, you probably aren't), here's a quick summation of the controversy, which is currently wreaking havoc on freedom of the press in Great Britain:
In April 2004, the president told Prime Minister Tony Blair he was concerned about the reporting that al-Jazeera, known for its graphic, uncensored footage of the Iraq war, was doing from the city then being leveled.
Dig up an old lie from one of George Bush's forgotten speeches and the stench is asphyxiating, as though it's coming from the rotting corpse of democracy itself. The words quoted above are from the president's inaugural address in January - the odor intensified by recent news that the president allegedly wanted to bomb the headquarters of al-Jazeera, the Arab-language TV station with 50 million viewers, during our first bloody assault on Fallujah a year and a half ago.
If you aren't familiar with this outrageous little glimpse inside the war effort (and if you expose yourself only to mainstream American media, you probably aren't), here's a quick summation of the controversy, which is currently wreaking havoc on freedom of the press in Great Britain:
In April 2004, the president told Prime Minister Tony Blair he was concerned about the reporting that al-Jazeera, known for its graphic, uncensored footage of the Iraq war, was doing from the city then being leveled.
Bob Woodward probably hoped that the long holiday weekend would break
the momentum of an uproar that suddenly confronted him midway through
November. But three days after Thanksgiving, on NBC’s “Meet the
Press,” a question about the famed Washington Post reporter provoked
anything but the customary adulation.
“I think none of us can really understand Bob’s silence for two years about his own role in the case,” longtime Post journalist David Broder told viewers. “He’s explained it by saying he did not want to become involved and did not want to face a subpoena, but he left his editor, our editor, blind-sided for two years and he went out and talked disparagingly about the significance of the investigation without disclosing his role in it. Those are hard things to reconcile.”
An icon of the media establishment, Broder is accustomed to making excuses for deceptive machinations by the White House and other centers of power in Washington. His televised rebuke of Woodward on Nov. 27 does not augur well for current efforts to salvage Woodward’s reputation as a trustworthy journalist.
“I think none of us can really understand Bob’s silence for two years about his own role in the case,” longtime Post journalist David Broder told viewers. “He’s explained it by saying he did not want to become involved and did not want to face a subpoena, but he left his editor, our editor, blind-sided for two years and he went out and talked disparagingly about the significance of the investigation without disclosing his role in it. Those are hard things to reconcile.”
An icon of the media establishment, Broder is accustomed to making excuses for deceptive machinations by the White House and other centers of power in Washington. His televised rebuke of Woodward on Nov. 27 does not augur well for current efforts to salvage Woodward’s reputation as a trustworthy journalist.
While indictment fever gripped the Washington press corps,
the president’s spin doctor was incapacitated. An ailing Karl Rove could
not help the Republican search for a media cure. With
temperature rising, the political physician was in no position to
cure himself or anyone else.
Now, a media siege is underway at the White House. A dramatic convergence of legal proceedings and presidential politics has forced the Bush administration into a fundamentally defensive crouch.
A year ago, when President Bush hailed him as the political strategist who made a second term possible, Rove was the toast of Washington. Now -- even though he hasn’t been indicted -- it seems he’s toast.
In Washington, where nothing succeeds like political success, an election victory is widely seen as proof of justification. Strip away the razzle-dazzle, and you’re left with a rather simple precept: Whatever works.
Now, a media siege is underway at the White House. A dramatic convergence of legal proceedings and presidential politics has forced the Bush administration into a fundamentally defensive crouch.
A year ago, when President Bush hailed him as the political strategist who made a second term possible, Rove was the toast of Washington. Now -- even though he hasn’t been indicted -- it seems he’s toast.
In Washington, where nothing succeeds like political success, an election victory is widely seen as proof of justification. Strip away the razzle-dazzle, and you’re left with a rather simple precept: Whatever works.
Would you pay $49.95 to watch women wrestling in mud? I did last week, and it was well worth the expense. I get the New York Times Online, and until a couple of weeks ago, all the features were free. Then, as some of you have no doubt discovered, the NYT's columnists started to have only their opening sentences on free display. To get the full columns of Paul Krugman, Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd and the others you have to pony up $49.95 for a 14-day free trial, and then a year's subscription to Times Select.
I held off until Saturday, when the Times nailed the sale with Dowd's column title, "Woman of Mass Destruction," and her ominous opening sentence, "I've always liked Judy Miller."
Miller has been the sport of a million stories, and there was nothing much by way of startling revelations in what Dowd wrote, but in operatic terms it was as though Maria Callas had suddenly rushed onto the stage and slugged Elizabeth Schwartzkopf.
I held off until Saturday, when the Times nailed the sale with Dowd's column title, "Woman of Mass Destruction," and her ominous opening sentence, "I've always liked Judy Miller."
Miller has been the sport of a million stories, and there was nothing much by way of startling revelations in what Dowd wrote, but in operatic terms it was as though Maria Callas had suddenly rushed onto the stage and slugged Elizabeth Schwartzkopf.
These are triumphant hours for Pat Robertson. His standing as America's senior ayatollah is becoming firmer as Billy Graham and even Jerry Falwell yield the prime-time pulpit to the smooth-tongued maestro of the Christian Coalition.
A decade ago, CNN would sooner have given half an hour's air time to the leader of North Korea, but last week, Wolf Blitzer poked a stick through the bars and nodded respectfully as Robertson raved on about the End Time:
BLITZER: "Welcome to 'LATE EDITION,' Reverend ... "
REV. PAT ROBERTSON: "Thanks, Wolf."
BLITZER: " ... thanks very much for joining us.
"I want to get to Harriet Miers in a moment, but you're a minister. You see what's going on in the world today in Pakistan, in India, Afghanistan, an earthquake, maybe 20,000 people dead, maybe twice that number; we don't have a count. Hurricanes in the United States and around the world, a tsunami a little bit less than a year or so ago in Southeast Asia. What's happening?"
Robertson rose gracefully to the challenge:
A decade ago, CNN would sooner have given half an hour's air time to the leader of North Korea, but last week, Wolf Blitzer poked a stick through the bars and nodded respectfully as Robertson raved on about the End Time:
BLITZER: "Welcome to 'LATE EDITION,' Reverend ... "
REV. PAT ROBERTSON: "Thanks, Wolf."
BLITZER: " ... thanks very much for joining us.
"I want to get to Harriet Miers in a moment, but you're a minister. You see what's going on in the world today in Pakistan, in India, Afghanistan, an earthquake, maybe 20,000 people dead, maybe twice that number; we don't have a count. Hurricanes in the United States and around the world, a tsunami a little bit less than a year or so ago in Southeast Asia. What's happening?"
Robertson rose gracefully to the challenge: