Hurtful Moment
Diane Sawyer on cruel mockery:
“You know, I wanted to sit on a jury once and I was taken off the jury. And the judge said to me, ‘Can, you know, can you tell the truth and be fair?’ And I said, ‘That’s what journalists do.’ And everybody in the courtroom laughed. It was the most hurtful moment I think I’ve ever had.”
In fairness to Sawyer and my wretched ink-stained colleagues everywhere, we’ve seen that judges, lawyers, cops, potential jurors and humans in general often struggle with the same issues. Truth and fairness, that is, humiliation aside.
Appropos of nothing, my good friend Duffy reminded me the other day of a telling anecdote about our profession. This is a true* story:
A reporter and an editor are crawling through the desert, dying of thirst. The editor tells the reporter to drag himself up a particularly high sand dune to scout out the desert for any sign of salvation. The reporter dutifully does so, and from the crest, delivers the headline news of the day:
“Water! I’ve found water! We’re saved!”
The editor and the reporter tumble down the slope to a small oasis. The reporter throws himself down and sticks his face in the water for a long grateful drink. Then he looks up to see the editor pissing in it.
“What are you doing?” says the reporter, incredulous.
“I’m making it better,” says the editor.
* This really happened. Trust me.
Topics: media
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:17 am Comments (7) on Friday, July 13, 2007
7 Responses to “Hurtful Moment”
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July 13th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Journalism gets what it deserves. It is what comes from the belief that ones audience is not just ignorant, but stupid.
July 13th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
I believe that story.
July 13th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
‘And the judge said to me, ‘Can, you know, can you tell the truth and be fair?’ And I said, ‘That’s what journalists do.’ And everybody in the courtroom laughed.’
Sounds like a normal reaction to me.
July 13th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Diane doesn’t sound really wounded when you watch her making that comment.
More like a haha” “in” joke moment with some, uh, colleagues.
However, these days “journalists” of all stripes seem to be driven by either a personal agenda or their publication’s agenda.
And that, Diane, is really hurtful.
July 14th, 2007 at 4:07 am
“However, these days “journalists” of all stripes seem to be driven by either a personal agenda or their publication’s agenda.”
Always has been that way…always will.
July 14th, 2007 at 4:14 am
You know why the Roosevelt administration imposed total press censorship in WWII?
Because they knew damned well they couldn’t rely on the press to serve the interest of the country if they were left to their own devices.
The media has a few stand-up guys (like the author of this blog), but most of the people in the media are jackals, they’d sell their mother’s soul if it would increase circulation…and that’s nothing new.
July 14th, 2007 at 11:22 am
“Always has been that way…always will.”
Perhaps, to some extent.
But even ole Walter Cronkite in the olden days strove for objectivity in his reportage.
And newspapers in general seemed more committed to the principle of keeping out personal opinion & agendas in their news sections.
As a (related) aside, I have heard more than one college professor today state that it is practically an obligation to use the lectern as pulpit to promulgate (i.e., hammer into the heads of a captive audience) the virtues of his or her own political position.
In the olden days (3 or 4 decades ago) it was an unwritten law of college professorship to avoid doing that.
Some newspapers today (not mentioning any names ;-)) I like to call…
“The fifth column of the fourth estate”.