A couple of Sundays ago, while waiting at the car wash, I picked up the "Viewpoints" section of the Dallas Morning News. Generally, I don't read local newspapers as the national and international coverage is often lacking. I rather read the NY Times or the Washington Post for comprehensive coverage of the news. But since I had some time to kill, I decided to have a look. My favorite part of any newspaper is the editorial section, so naturally I went to that section first. There were some interesting opinion pieces/commentaries on local Dallas issues but what really caught my eye was a full ten paragraph article on the merits of sweet tea. The writer of this article explains the South's hankering for this sweet substance through a myriad of historical and anthropological reasons. Although I can appreciate this cultural exploration, I found myself downright annoyed that the Dallas Morning News printed this fluff piece in the Sunday paper. Of course I realize that this paper will likely print anything that will increase their readership, but in the age when newspapers are laying-off reporters and physically scaling down the size of their papers, I was stunned that so much space was given to this article.
Besides being annoyed that the paper couldn't seem to find a more substantive opinion piece to print, I was annoyed by the actual content of the article. I mean are we still so stuck in the past that a writer would use sweet tea (of all things) to show the subtle differences in the north and the south- does anyone really think sweet tea is an institution of which Dixie can be proud of? And yes the author actually uses the word "Dixie". Sigh
And then there was this. Karen Hughes, the State Department's Undersecretary for Public Affairs and Diplomacy, spoke for our organization. She is certainly impressive and you quickly realize why she is a close advisor to Lil Bush. Her speech centered around the Middle East's perception of the United States. In her speech, Ambassador Hughes emphasized the importance of working with Arab media groups to promote a more positive view of America's role as a world leader. In her opinion, one of the greatest challenges in accomplishing this, is the Arab media themselves. In her opinion, the Arab media, like Al-Jazeera, reports the news in a very biased one-sided, graphic manner. For instance, she said the Arab media rarely covers any news that would be sympathetic to the Israeli cause.
Maybe Karen Hughes is right about the Arab media (I happen to disagree), but what about our media? Doesn't the Belo Corporation, Time Warner, and other media conglomerates have a social responsibility to provide accurate, in-depth news coverage of critical national and international events? I hardly think covering the personal lives of Britney and Lindsay as news-worthy and even a harmless story on the merits of sweet tea seems irresponsible when famines, war and economic collapse dot the world map (maybe we need more maps). But maybe there is a silver lining to all of this. With Rupert Murdoch's recent purchase of the Wall Street Journal, I'm sure the FOX empire will only reverse the tide of sensational journalism bringing the country back to its fair and balanced journalistic standards.
3 comments:
um....i dunno if it's a cultural thing...but I do not know how anyone can go on for 10 paragraphs about...tea? And I'm from India, we love our tea.
The demise of good news coverage has been mourned for almost a decade now. Journalistic integrity now involves "what sells more papers” Can you really blame the news agencies for trying to turn a profit by covering what most of the population loves to watch i.e. fluff. We as people need to demand that we see a clearer picture of the world we live in. When the world's problems become those of the average American, people will demand a change. The rest of us will just have to live by reading smart blogs:)
On the note about Karen Hughes,I found her talk very generic and simplistic. As you can tell I was not impressed by the content of her speech. I would not let her set standards for anything; let alone journalism (I'm sure FOX is her favored news station). Al-Jazeera in English is actually a very reputed and well-respected news agency. They have very high standards of reporting and cover world news (unlike most American news channels). hmmmm i feel like some tea
I agree with Averyl. Ms. Hughes' approach to her job tends to be both generic and simplistic, so it's fitting that her speech was too. When it comes to criticizing other regions' news outlets, we have a giant beam in our own eye that needs to be addressed.
When you first mentioned the story on sweet tea, I immediately thought of Mark Kurlansky's book, "Salt," in which he discusses the pivotal role that such a common spice has had throughout history. (His newest book attempts to do the same thing with cod. yes, the fish. no, I'm not making it up) Obviously this DMN story missed the mark by a large margin and came off as fluff.
I think that part of what consumers of quality news must do is begin voting with our feet. Once the DMN notices that their subscription roles are dwindling while those of the NYT are growing, they'll start to take notice. The other (and more immediately feasible) part of the equation is to keep them accountable in the meantime. Jim Schutze did (another) good job of it in last week's Observer, calling out THE ENTIRE DMN STAFF for falling right in line with Belo's position on the Trinity Toll Road.
Anyway, it's too bad that such a diverse cosmopolitan city can't have a paper that reports the news fairly (complemented by a broad range of editorial opinions).
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