Posted on 03/31/2007 9:06:22 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob
Who are these people? Katie Couric used to be on the Today Show, then she fell off the map. You’ve never heard of Becky Johnson? Allow me to help.
Becky Johnson is a Staff Reporter for the Smoky Mountain News. I know both Becky and her editor, Scott McLeod, and respect their work. If you’re not familiar with the SMN, it covers Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain Counties in western North Carolina. Becky could teach Katie a thing or two about reporting. Case in point:
Becky wrote a story in the February 21 issue of SMN, which is a near perfect example of the craft of reporting. It paints a picture. It tells a story. But most of all, it presents facts from which an astute reader can draw some interesting conclusions. Most of all, Becky does not preach to the reader. She doesn’t present a pre-chewed conclusion which the reader/listener is expected to accept.
Are you listening, Katie? Reporting is about facts. Editorials are about opinions.
Becky’s lede on her article has the flavor of an O’Henry short story. “When Commissioner Glenn Jones pulled into the Stillhouse Branch trailer park in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Swain County last October, he’d strayed far from the campaign path of most candidates.”
As the article recounts, Jones won his reelection bid by just 200 votes. He obtained at least 130 absentee votes in these trailer parks, etc., where he was “helpful” to the residents in filling out their ballots. But was there any illegality in the efforts of Jones and his friends?
Katie Couric, reporting on Bush administration officials, uses language to make clear her belief (and that of her network) that they have violated the law, in the scandal du jour. Becky Johnson, on the other hand, raises the question whether laws might have been violated, and then gets and reports actual facts, from which readers can reach conclusions.
Are we moving to swiftly for you, Katie?
Becky writes, “One discrepancy that emerged ... involved the signatures of witnesses on absentee ballots. Every voter must have two witnesses sign their absentee ballot envelope, verifying its legitimacy.” The candidate cannot sign as a witness. According to residents interviewed, the candidate came by with just Willard Smith in tow, Willard being “an 82-year-old kingpin of the Democratic Party.” Smith’s wife Genevieve, signed as a witness, but she wasn’t there.
Another witness whose signature appeared was George Arvey, a resident of a targeted apartment complex. Some voters whose absentee ballot were witnessed by Arvey say he was never there. Two other types of potentially illegal activity are factually presented in the article.
It seems to me that CBS is belatedly reaching the same conclusion about Katie Couric and the Evening News, that Coca-Cola reached about New Coke long ago, and Ford reached about the Edsel, even longer. New Coke was abandoned for Classic Coke. The Edsel was just plain abandoned.
There are only two options for CBS. Abandon Katie Couric. Or, teach Katie how to report competently. If they choose the latter route, they should start by having her read Becky Johnson’s story about Commissioner Jones’ election tactics..
If Katie does learn to be a real reporter and hangs onto her job, I’d say she owes Becky a bonus. A year’s pay for Becky, which would be a few hour’s pay for Katie, sounds about right.
To read Becky’s fine story, go to www.SmokyMountainNews.com Click on Search Archives on the lower left. Then, at the top choose 2007 and then February. It’s the first article on 2/21/07, “Election Controversy Plagues Swain.” Anyone, not just Katie, can get from this a primer on how to report a story with style, accuracy, and competence.
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About the Author: John Armor practiced in the US Supreme Court for 33 years. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu He lives in the 11th District of North Carolina.
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You know, I would be happy if they would just try to be good reporters and stop trying to "do good". I think they should just try to keep to the "who, what, when, where and how" and be done with it. It is possible to do that and sound important I believe.
The refusal of any organ of Big Journalism to point out these facts and conclude that the "Killian memos" were fraudulent partisan hit by CBS News is a mark not of the "objectivity" but of the solidarity of Big Journalism.The biggest smoking gun I've ever seen... and the fact that no prosecutor took it upon himself to delve further is mind-boggling.
There is no occasion for a prosecutor to involve himself. After all, the First Amendment does not say that the press has to be objective or fair - it says that the government cannot impose its version of "fairness" on the press.That doesn't apply to the licensees of the FCC - but then, the FCC is (theoretically) in charge of requiring its licensees to be objective. Which is why it is my opinion that the FCC and its licensees should have their socks sued off in civil court. IMHO that is the only conceivable remedy - and given that all but one justice of SCOTUS listens to broadcast journalism, it is a slender reed to have to rely on.
In suing broadcast journalism, you would have to request as part of the remedy specific protections against broadcast criticism of SCOTUS in order to give the members of the court the freedom to judge without fear or favor. That is not dangerous because it would not reach the press - printed journalism and printed books and, I would certainly argue, the Internet and FreeRepublic.
The Internet differs fundamentally from broadcasting in that the requirements for entry into blogging, FReeping, or podcasting are entirely negligible in comparison to the barriers to entry into broadcasting.
I believe Katie Couric peaked out on the NBC Today Show - her role there was her acme. She lacks intellect, honest inquiry without personal bias, and she just isn't curious enough to present the story right without a skew.
Is that journalism? No Way!
She is a personality - a lightweight personality.
Nothing more.
I actually think that the "cardboard villian" is fixed. The "villain" is anyone who raises his profile by actually accomplishing something. Accomplishment threatens the primacy of the criticizing class - reporters most especially, Democrat politicians, unionists, plaintiff lawyers, and (all too often) teachers. People who actually accomplish things set themselves up for second guessing; it is always possible to see in retrospect "where," as Teddy Roosevelt put it, "the doer of deeds could have done them better."So in that sense the "political decision" of who gets mercilessly criticized by journalism is not so much driven by the desire of the reporter for a particular outcome as by who makes the juciest target for being knocked down a peg or two. And that is always the businessman or the doctor - or the cop or the soldier. Hence, "objective" journalism and its running dog, "liberalism," attack those targets.
Nothing more.
. . . but then, what else are journalists? Celebrities "don't exist" apart from PR, and neither do journalists. A journalist who breaks the cardinal rule of solidarity with the herd of "objective" journalists loses his standing in the guild and becomes "not objective, not a journalist."Therefore journalists are creatures of PR, and the individual journalist is not powerful, the individual journalist is merely a celebrity. And I'm not merely speaking of anonymous journalists - I'm talking Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather when I say that.
Agreed. If there were however only intellectual journalists and diarists, the public would pay scant attention.
The lightweight celebrities in the media only feed the need - the great maw of gossip.
ROFL OH MONK and Dr Raoul LOL!
But note that that the fraudulent votes cast from the trailer park (bad/faked witness signatures from people bot witnessing!) were FOR a democrat. Implied of course, since the 82-year old who signed was a democrat, but not explicitly stated.
Now, where is the Justice Dept investigation of this?
Where is Gonzales when there IS a crime?
Katy Cholic is functioning just as See BS wants her to ... she’s an extension of the dnc propaganda machine. She need not be faithful to any norms or talent of a specific kind so long as she reads what they feed her and follows the talking points accurately.
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