Charles Kaiser and David Nicholson
David,
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StumbleUponThe fact that plenty of journalists make plenty of stupid pronouncements may explain our current ranking with the general public; but it certainly doesn't diminish the importance of what the good ones continue to do. Of course it's not our job to make the rules, but if we all stopped bothering to chase after our public officials, we would be in a much worse mess than the one we already find ourselves in.
I could make as long a list as anyone of "journalists" I would like to banish from television; Chris Matthews would be at the very top of that list. On the other hand, every time I read anything by Frank Clines, Molly Ivins, Joan Didion, David Dunlap, Bill Grieder, Rob Boynton, Paul Goldberger, or Renata Adler (who managed to scoop the entire Washington press corps on the real significance of the Starr report), I know that ours is still a profession very much worth practicing.
Yours,
Charles
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Reader Response from The Fray--to be read after the most recent entry:
I have to confess I never understood why people care whether prejudice is learned or innate [Wednesday's entry]. At some point I learned how to speak English but nothing short of brain damage is going to ever make me unlearn it. Socially speaking, something that you learned is just as hard to get rid of as an innate disposition.
--Otis
(To reply, click here.)
Why shouldn't the protesters complain about the treatment they received in jail [Wednesday]? Sure, it's not supposed to be like summer camp but we all know Dostoevsky's old adage that you can judge a country by the quality of its prisons. Besides, the protesters were taking the only available avenue of self-expression in this case, since the IMF certainly didn't allow an anti-globalist delegation of labor activists and environmentalists into the meeting.
--Michael Maiello
(To reply, click here.)
(4/20)