Letters to the Editor
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Where to start?
I feel like I need to read Weingarten's column a few more times to figure out just what it is that he's saying.
Obviously most of it is tongue-in-cheek, as the best commencement speeches (indeed, the best anything speeches) are. Would that the President's were.
Interesting Points:
- "...the public appears more and more willing to receive its "news" online from nincompoops ranting in their underpants." I presume he means bloggers, and while he's clearly right about some, I suggest he get out into the online world more. From where I'm sitting, the internet is just about the only place to get real news today. And it's truly interactive; right here in War Room yesterday Michael Scherer was able to read a reader's comment about his "May's honor roll of dead soldiers" post and respond to it on the same day. Call me crazy, but in my opinion that's a great advance in journalism. If Weingarten is reading "nincompoops ranting in their underpants," I'd suggest he select his blogs with more care.
- "Vitally important accountability journalism is still being practiced by fearless men and women who question authority and speak truth to power, right up until the time power incarcerates them. The public doesn't seem to care." I don't think I even need to characterize this one. Has Weingarten been to the White House press briefing lately? Is the behavior of the press corps there what he considers "question[ing] authority" and "speak[ing] truth to power? The public may not seem to care, Gene, but it's the press corps' worthless "reporting" they don't care about. They (we) care plenty about the news, which is why they're turning more and more to the "nincompoops ranting in their underpants". They're the ones questioning authority and speaking truth to power, Gene. And they confirm their news with real sources, not the White House press office.
- "We columnists should know better, inasmuch as we are the only people in America intelligent and principled enough to tell people what to think and how to behave." What?!! Okay, you're right. Journalists are the only people in America who can tell us how to believe the lies of this administration and how to grovel before it. Left to our own devices, we might think crazy things like we were conned into going to war in Iraq, or do crazy things like demand that our Constitutional rights be protected from the ravening wolves in the NSA.
Maybe I should just relax. Maybe Weingarten's whole speech was meant as satire and I'm just too humorless to pick up on it. I doubt it, though. The attitudes Weingarten displays are exactly what you'd expect from the toadies in the mainstream press. If Weingarten is really interested in the reasons for the waning relevancy of print journalism he might want to spend some time reflecting on how completely it has abandoned its mission. Not doing what you're supposed to do, what you're paid to do, is just about the quickest path to irrelevancy I can think of.