Posted on 08/31/2008 8:51:23 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
There's no cheering in the press box, Jerome Holtzman, the recently deceased dean of Chicago sportswriters, famously, and wisely, decreed in his classic oral history.
He needn't have bothered, though. Reporters are hard-wired to sit, arms crossed and poker-faced, while the rest of the room cheers a politician or a pitcher. If we rise with the crowd's standing ovation, it's only to crane around the necks of the people in front for fear of missing something.
On those all-too-frequent occasions when we meet to bestow upon each other the parchments and gee-gaws that guarantee no American journalist will ever go to his grave without the adjective "award-winning" appearing in his obituary, reporters and editors never look so socially clumsy -- knowing that this moment it's OK to applaud in public, but still feeling we're doing something untoward.
But there are one or two important exceptions to this rule, I think, and the mainstream press especially now -- with its reputation so low and its agenda-setting power noticeably ebbing -- ignores them at their peril.
One exception occurs every four years at the political conventions -- and every four years the too-cool-for-the-room press corps embarrasses itself by ignoring it.
I'm talking about the press corps' irritating habit of remaining seated during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the start of each night's session.
I've only covered a couple of conventions from the inside of the hall, but inevitably, the vast majority of reporters in the press boxes remained seated as the national anthem is played. I cringed every time I saw this dopey tradition followed. I can't be sure, but it seemed to me the few journalists standing were not Americans, but visitors showing respect to their host's anthem.
Meanwhile, the U.S. reporters busily wail away at their keyboard as if they are reporting real news. Or they check messages or leaf through the local daily. The national anthem might just as well be Muzak in a Safeway supermarket.
I'm not entirely sure what accounts for this rude behavior, this pretense that being a journalist somehow exempts us from acting as Americans when for this brief ritual.
I don't believe for a minute that it reflects any lack of patriotism in the press. Instead, it's likely yet another manifestation of pack journalism, the herd instinct that can transform otherwise independent, even prickly, reporters into lemmings. They seem to be obedient to some unspoken, and wholly unexamined, code of conduct.
What they may not realize is that slouching in their seats and texting during the national anthem is not some demonstration of singular devotion to dispassionate reporting -- but just plain boorishness.
And it's not like the press does not at the same time scrupulously observe other patriotic rituals.
Journalists, after all, dutifully rise to their feet when the president strides into a room.
If we can rise for the likes of the past three Occupants in Chief, who each in his way sorely tested the respect due the presidency, then surely we can stand for the flag of our fathers and "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Surprise America, ye mainstream media. Stand up with your fellow citizens in Denver and St. Paul.
Do they put their hands on their privates when the National Anthem is playing, just like the Object of their adoration does?
Play “The Internationale’. They’ll stand.
They are CUBAN patriots.
Boors, disagreeable ingrates, snobs... take your pick. These people who graduate from Columbia school of journalism like to see themselves as the elites among us. Really people have figured them out for what they are, as evidenced by their respectability ratings.
Communists never have respected our National Anthem.
Great post. I would point out that the last poster should say “The enemy IS the New York Times”.
They won’t stand for the anthem, but they’ll stand and cheer for the Obambi. “Journalists” are scum, and it’s too bad, because our nation needs a free and vigorous press.
But I also noticed something on The O'Reilly Factor the other night. Bill was interviewing Brit Hume who was at the Democrat National Convention. In the background was something that looked like an American flag hanging from the ceiling. I sensed something was wrong with that flag. When I examined it closely, the bottom section of the field of stars was composed of five squares that each looked like the five on a die. The correct number of stars along the top and bottom rows is 9 and in the next rows into the field is 8. There are supposed to be four rows of nine stars (36 stars) and three rows of eight stars (24 stars, with 36 and 24 summing to 50.) No wonder Obummer and the Democrats think there are 58 states!
Now for the question for How-weird Dean: Howie, how difficult is it to purchase an American flag for one of the many companies that sell them in all sizes? Oh, yeah, that's right, you never bothered to learn to count. It's not required in prep school.
“They won’t stand for the anthem, but they’ll stand and cheer for the Obambi.”
Way back in the ‘80’s when Geraldine Ferraro was holding some (as I recall THEY cast it)’make or break’ presser they burst into WILD and very vocal applause at the end when she answered their “tough” questions ‘sucessfully’. I recall watching it and being stunned.
That old WW-II poster might have been correct in its day, but these days:
Great update!
If I knew how, I would photoshop the poster with that line.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.