*In our continuous-loop, blogosphered, Twitterized communications universe, we have been reminded by the Boston bombings that there remains a vital role for serious journalism. CNN, of course, has become Exhibit A for all that’s wrong with a get-it-first, hope-it’s right modus operandi. And the New York Post remains a tabloid sham. This is more than a teachable moment for J-Schools. It’s a societal reminder that speculation is not a synonym for news and retraction is not an acceptable backup plan–unless, or course, misinformation and libel scenarios no longer matter.
But let’s do give it up for serious newspapers doing what they do best: real journalism. As in assigning a team, chasing leads, cross-checking sources, exercising judgment, unearthing details, providing fact-checkers and then editing responsibly. Most notably: The Boston Globe and The New York Times. The Tampa Bay Times liberally used their copy and was the better for it. As were its readers.
* Here’s the good news. The Tribune Company, whose newspaper ownership includes The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Hartford Courant, The Baltimore Sun, The Orlando Sun and The Sun Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, has a viable buyer prospect, someone capable of the kind of capital infusion necessary for these prime-time dailies to stay competitive.
Here’s the bad news. That prospective buyer is Koch Industries, the domain of the billionaire Koch Brothers, Charles and David, the hard-core, Rick Scott-befriending libertarians who underwrite the right-wing Cato Institute and Tea Party-supporting PACS.
* So much for that plaintive plea of Jill Kelley for the media to please back off and respect her privacy. Tampa’s most notorious “socialite” made the rounds–publicist in tow–at last weekend’s media-embedded, pre-White House Correspondents’ Dinner cocktail party at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington.
* Speaking of the Correspondents’ Dinner, isn’t President Barack Obama, who has more important things on his agenda than quipping for A-Listers and practicing his comedic-timing skills, the best one on the dais at this event? As for the various professional-comic hosts, I’ll take Seth Myers who worked last year’s. All too often the host is both topically funny and wince-ably offensive. Stephen Colbert, although he was lionized by many Democrats, was the worst. At some point you show respect for the office of the presidency even if it’s inhabited by the unlikely likes of “W.”
By the way, the president’s best line–after “Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?”–was his response to the Republican Party’s ostensible minority-outreach plans. “Think of me as a trial run.” Good stuff.
* Ironically, the social media flurry that followed the Boston bombings underscored a factor not unrelated to issues, including threats, involving America. A number of social-media-commenting Americans had confused Chechnya, a part of the Russian Federation, with the Czech Republic, a Central European country. Understandably, it didn’t go over well with the Czech ambassador to the United States, who found it necessary to differentiate the two on his embassy’s website. He was diplomatic by calling it “a most unfortunate misunderstanding.” Most Czechs weighing in on Twitter were far more critical.
Actually, the geographic faux pas is symptomatic. By and large, Americans don’t know history and geography–including their own, much less others’. And the embarrassing deficit only grows worse, which is scary. We live in a world that, like it or not, is increasingly a global village. The less we know of religious-ethnic zealots and geopolitical sovereigns–from the generically repressive and ideologically driven to comfort-zone democracies–the more we disadvantage ourselves. Whether it’s Chechnya and the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Swaziland or Sierra Leone and Mama Leone’s, we risk imperiling ourselves–from trade to foreign policy–with what we don’t know about the rest of the world.