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Katha Pollitt and Andrew Sullivan

Hi Katha,

Designer Duds? This isn't New York, you know. I'm afraid I can't really agree with you about the news. I don't think it's the role of television news journalists to tell the viewing public about labor troubles in Denmark, if those viewers might slip into a coma within seconds. And there are plenty of outlets which do provide such uplifting news for the dedicated, patriotic citizen. Like NPR; or the Pacifica News Service; or other liberal media outlets. What, after all, is Margaret Warner for? (And, actually, I do think there's been coverage of continental Europe's resistance to the global economy. Except that it's often put in the context of rising unemployment and economic stagnation. Which, to my mind, is the correct one.) So I have no problem with crime dominating the news. Why is crime not news? In fact, I think the emphasis on the horrors of crime in the mass media may have played a part in turning the tide in the culture against tolerating violence, especially in the cities. And crime, after all, is the most important political issue there is. In my book, the government's first task is to uphold the law. Crime is the most pressing example of government's failure to do even its most basic job adequately. You should live in DC. God, do we crave a Giuliani.

My problem is that there are riveting crime stories that do not make it in the news. Domestic violence seems to me to be the most important (although Fox's wonderful real-life cop shows have helped rectify that a little). I also think we should have far more coverage of prisons, given that we now have a record number of people living in them. But apart from that, I take the heretical view that we have rarely had such a diverse, multi-faceted, and largely eye- opening media than we have right now. For every dumbed down network news, there's a C-SPAN or AOL. We even are beginning belatedly to give gossip a place in the firmament.

yours pollyannaishly,
Andrew

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