Comments on: One Day Tom Brokaw Will Seem Like Walter Lippmann and Then I’ll Really Have Something to Complain About http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:02:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: abb1 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/comment-page-1/#comment-218313 abb1 Sun, 18 Nov 2007 14:41:54 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/#comment-218313 It's not elitism, it's much simpler than that. It's just like this: <blockquote> You see, we're going to put you on Easy Street. Promote you to Major. Give you another medal. Send you home a hero. You'll have parades in your honor. You can make speeches, raise money for war bonds. All you have to do is be our pal. Say nice things about us. </blockquote> It’s not elitism, it’s much simpler than that. It’s just like this:

You see, we’re going to put you on Easy Street.
Promote you to Major. Give you another medal.
Send you home a hero. You’ll have parades in your honor.
You can make speeches, raise money for war bonds.

All you have to do is be our pal.
Say nice things about us.

]]> By: vivian http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/comment-page-1/#comment-218274 vivian Sat, 17 Nov 2007 01:59:03 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/#comment-218274 A brilliant, professor and former newsman/editor said back in the 1980's that the problem was increasingly "too many journalism school graduates, and not enough reporters." He also forecast the too-many-B-school-grads problem, but so did lots of people, even then. Edwin Diamond, the world is a poorer place without you. A brilliant, professor and former newsman/editor said back in the 1980’s that the problem was increasingly “too many journalism school graduates, and not enough reporters.” He also forecast the too-many-B-school-grads problem, but so did lots of people, even then. Edwin Diamond, the world is a poorer place without you.

]]> By: spot1019 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/comment-page-1/#comment-218267 spot1019 Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:04:57 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/#comment-218267 The great irony here is that the blogs at ArtsJournal are populated exclusively by print journalists, some of whom (music critic Norman Lebrecht) have been publicly very critical of bloggers without a print background. (Here's <i>On an Overgrown Path</i>'s <a href="http://theovergrownpath.blogspot.com/2007/10/norman-lebrecht-and-unchecked-trivia.html" title="takedown of Lebrecht." rel="nofollow"></a> The great irony here is that the blogs at ArtsJournal are populated exclusively by print journalists, some of whom (music critic Norman Lebrecht) have been publicly very critical of bloggers without a print background. (Here’s On an Overgrown Path’s

]]> By: Henry (not the famous one) http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/comment-page-1/#comment-218263 Henry (not the famous one) Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:21:32 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/#comment-218263 Gratuitous Myles na gCopaleen citation: when describing the sufferings of someone who was used to reading the paper as part of his morning ritual, he referred to his employer, The Irish Times, as "that gray tablet of lies." Always seemed appropriate; might not apply as well to USA Today. Gratuitous Myles na gCopaleen citation: when describing the sufferings of someone who was used to reading the paper as part of his morning ritual, he referred to his employer, The Irish Times, as “that gray tablet of lies.” Always seemed appropriate; might not apply as well to USA Today.

]]> By: gmoke http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/comment-page-1/#comment-218244 gmoke Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:05:51 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/#comment-218244 The current punditocracy is the culmination of the explicit elitism of Walter Lippmann. The current punditocracy is the culmination of the explicit elitism of Walter Lippmann.

]]> By: Doug http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/comment-page-1/#comment-218227 Doug Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:55:08 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/#comment-218227 "Backwards ran the sentences until reeled the mind..." “Backwards ran the sentences until reeled the mind…”

]]> By: Ben Alpers http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/comment-page-1/#comment-218183 Ben Alpers Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:38:31 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/#comment-218183 <blockquote>Tom Brokaw, who is famous for … uh, reading stuff on <i>NBC Nightly News</i>? </blockquote> Brokaw also wrote an <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Generation-Tom-Brokaw/dp/0385334621/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1195202111&sr=11-1" rel="nofollow">incredibly popular hagiography (hagioprosopography?) of U.S. Americans in the Second World War</a>. I'm not sure that's cause for celebration, but his fame is not based simply on reading the news.
Tom Brokaw, who is famous for … uh, reading stuff on NBC Nightly News?

Brokaw also wrote an incredibly popular hagiography (hagioprosopography?) of U.S. Americans in the Second World War.

I’m not sure that’s cause for celebration, but his fame is not based simply on reading the news.

]]> By: Dan Goodman http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/comment-page-1/#comment-218179 Dan Goodman Fri, 16 Nov 2007 07:42:20 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/#comment-218179 'Isn’t the answer (to why it is being missed) quite obviously “USA Today”?' My view: In most newspapers, the stories divide into those in which I see mistakes, and the ones whose subjects I don't know enough about to spot the mistakes. Sometimes it's very easy; I think it was in the late 1980s that the New York Times ran an article on how New York City's dialect was dying out, but every expert the article quoted said quite plainly that it was changing -- not that it was dying. But I can usually depend on USA Today to get it right. ‘Isn’t the answer (to why it is being missed) quite obviously “USA Today”?’

My view: In most newspapers, the stories divide into those in which I see mistakes, and the ones whose subjects I don’t know enough about to spot the mistakes. Sometimes it’s very easy; I think it was in the late 1980s that the New York Times ran an article on how New York City’s dialect was dying out, but every expert the article quoted said quite plainly that it was changing—not that it was dying.

But I can usually depend on USA Today to get it right.

]]> By: acb http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/comment-page-1/#comment-218175 acb Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:07:21 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/#comment-218175 Newspapers, even in the States, are devices for delivering readers to advertisers. So long as you analyse them as devices from bringing words to readers they will make no sense. Newspapers which want mass advertising must present it in a context familiar to the consumers of mass advertising, which means something like television. It's perfectly possible to have a grown-up newspaper. You just pitch it at people who can afford luxury goods and who must make decisions that matter. Then you call it the Financial Times. But, otherwise, people won't pay a premium for truth and good judgement because these things neither profit nor entertain them. Newspapers, even in the States, are devices for delivering readers to advertisers. So long as you analyse them as devices from bringing words to readers they will make no sense. Newspapers which want mass advertising must present it in a context familiar to the consumers of mass advertising, which means something like television. It’s perfectly possible to have a grown-up newspaper. You just pitch it at people who can afford luxury goods and who must make decisions that matter. Then you call it the Financial Times. But, otherwise, people won’t pay a premium for truth and good judgement because these things neither profit nor entertain them.

]]> By: Rich B. http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/comment-page-1/#comment-218173 Rich B. Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:37:23 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/#comment-218173 <i>The more general, the more broad, the more “mass culture” a newspaper tries to become, the faster its readers look elsewhere. This point seems perfectly obvious—until you stop to ask why, if it’s so obvious, the point is so obviously being missed.</i> Isn't the answer (to why it is being missed) quite obviously "USA Today"? The more general, the more broad, the more “mass culture” a newspaper tries to become, the faster its readers look elsewhere.

This point seems perfectly obvious—until you stop to ask why, if it’s so obvious, the point is so obviously being missed.

Isn’t the answer (to why it is being missed) quite obviously “USA Today”?

]]> By: John Emerson http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/comment-page-1/#comment-218170 John Emerson Fri, 16 Nov 2007 02:13:50 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/#comment-218170 I've noticed that people like Dana Milbank from Newsweek and the Washington Post (MSNBC's fraternal organizations) seem significantly less shitty than usual when they're on Olbermann. (Not good, but less shitty.) This is evidence that TV is the straw that stirs the drink, and that all those lame motherfuckers would probably be willing to be OK journalists, or even good journalists, if TV wanted them to be. Also, if you don't like Olbermann, shame on you. I’ve noticed that people like Dana Milbank from Newsweek and the Washington Post (MSNBC’s fraternal organizations) seem significantly less shitty than usual when they’re on Olbermann. (Not good, but less shitty.) This is evidence that TV is the straw that stirs the drink, and that all those lame motherfuckers would probably be willing to be OK journalists, or even good journalists, if TV wanted them to be.

Also, if you don’t like Olbermann, shame on you.

]]> By: Stuart http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/comment-page-1/#comment-218168 Stuart Fri, 16 Nov 2007 01:32:41 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2007/11/16/one-day-tom-brokaw-will-seem-like-walter-lippmann-and-then-ill-really-have-something-to-complain-about/#comment-218168 <i>He indicates that the next item at the blog will discuss just how big the audience for celebrity effluvia really is. It’s certainly not the kind of thing that builds up a steady following, a public.</i> Aren't the Ok! and Hello! type magazines among the biggest sellers in the UK (mostly just behind the TV guides, most of which also contain large parts celebrity gossip type content). He indicates that the next item at the blog will discuss just how big the audience for celebrity effluvia really is. It’s certainly not the kind of thing that builds up a steady following, a public.

Aren’t the Ok! and Hello! type magazines among the biggest sellers in the UK (mostly just behind the TV guides, most of which also contain large parts celebrity gossip type content).

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