Posted on 02/07/2002 4:06:12 PM PST by PJ-Comix
One more story about whether Paula Zahn is sexy, or how the bags under Greta Van Sustren's eyes vanished, or the size of the pistol in Geraldo Rivera's pocket, and Peter Jennings might scream.
''I find it a bit tedious,'' the longtime ABC News anchor said Wednesday of the burst of journalists-as-celebrities news coverage touched off over the past few months as Fox News and CNN raid one another's talent barns.
''I recognize that those of you who write about TV have to write something every day,'' Jennings said. (Observe the endless chain: Viewers blame everything on TV, which in turn blames TV critics, who in turn beat their dogs savagely.) ``But I'm always amazed at how much heat the cable [networks] are able to generate in the daily press.
``We as a nation are inclined too much to personality. And personality can get in the way of the news, though I think often the public is able to separate the two.''
Jennings will be in Miami on Friday to host a ''town meeting'' before an invited audience at Miami-Dade Community College's Wolfson Campus on the news media's coverage of Sept. 11 and its aftermath. WPLG-ABC 10, which is sponsoring the meeting, will broadcast it live from 8 to 9 p.m, and will show it again Sunday at 11:30 a.m. The panel will include Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie, Cuban activist Ninoska Pérez Castellón, local radio commentator the Rev. Victor Curry, WPLG reporter Michael Putney and Herald Publisher Alberto Ibargüen.
CARRYING A GUN
The taint of celebrity journalism reached all the way to Afghanistan, Jennings said, where the much-traveled pioneer of TV hot-doggery Rivera, newly arrived at Fox News, announced he was not only carrying a gun on assignment but would kill accused terrorist Osama bin Laden with it if he got the chance.
''I had a number of questions about why he felt the need to carry a gun,'' Jennings said. ''It is contrary to the general ethics of journalism. But, it's true, there were some reporters who did it in Vietnam.'' (There's even a famous photo of Peter Arnett, then with The Associated Press and later a star correspondent at CNN, carrying an automatic weapon on a patrol with American soldiers.)
''But the fact he felt the need to tell us he was carrying a gun got him larger-than-life treatment and perhaps obscured his ability to tell us the story he was there to cover,'' Jennings continued. ``Geraldo Rivera has often seemed to be, or wanted to be, larger than life, and it hasn't helped his reporting.''
Rivera's problems aside -- he was also caught offering an ''eyewitness account'' from a battlefield he never visited -- Jennings believes one of the biggest obstacles to news coverage of the war in Afghanistan was lack of access for reporters.
''There was pretty much freedom of access across the board in Vietnam, you could work wherever you wanted,'' said Jennings, who served two short tours covering that war.
``The military came to resent the consequences of that. Now the press is always having to fight for access to military operations. In this war and the Gulf War, the military was determined to keep reporters at arm's length.
``Actually, this war was easier than the Gulf War. That was limited to a very defined area where it was simply impossible to go without U.S. military cooperation. But reporters could and did go to Afghanistan under their own steam.
``There are no rules about the relationship between the military and journalists. But the country would be better served if journalists had had greater access to the military effort.''
HEARING CITIZENS
Not all Americans agree with that, Jennings concedes. He's hosting town meetings in Detroit and Atlanta this week as well as Miami to hear what ordinary people think, and answer some questions about the media that were raised by the war.
''The relationship between the public and media has been a bigger issue since Sept. 11,'' Jennings said. ``There is a lot on their mind about our behavior -- a lot of questions about our behavior. Our relationship to national security. Our relationship to patriotism. Our relationship with the government. What we have done, or not done, in terms of explaining [the U.S.] relationship with the rest of the world.''
Do you have any suggestions for questions to be asked by Freepers tomorrow night? Here a few that I would suggest:
1. Why did you act so angry when in December 2000 when Katherine Harris followed the law and certified that George Bush had won Florida in the Presidential election?
2. Do you feel foolish for paraphrasing Bush's call in September, "Let's Roll," as "Let Us Roll"?
3. Are you going to get a G.E.D.?
4. What are the titles of the last 5 books that you have read?
5. Do you think you will interview Robert Higgins again?
1) Where'd you get that silly, left-lurching brain?
2) Where'd you get that silly, phony-@$$ accent?
So if we go should we submit something like, "Why isn't Bush criticized more for his unprogressive tax policies?" Is this some sort of hoop we have to jump through before we can ask our REAL question?
"Good evening. In Miami today immigration officials met with the Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez again and once again the government has failed to get the kind of cooperation from the relatives that might allow the case of this young boy to end in a civilized manner that is best for him."
Ummmm, is this like Hillary's listening tour of NY? Is Jennings really interested in what the little people think? Seems to me he's trying to show the rabble the error of their ways. Reminds me of countless Human Resources meetings I've been to at work. They ask you for your opinions and then spend the rest of the time explaining why you are wrong to feel the way you do about how you're being treated. My brain always feels so fresh and new after those sessions.
He's of Canadian origin, I think.
No. This is just a desperate PR attempt to keep ABC News ratings from hemorraging even more over to Fox News.
Maybe this is how ABC punishes those who lose viewers.
They should all bring copies of "Bias" and ask Peter Jennings to sign them.
"Mr. Jennings, after all these years of living and working as a well-documented alien, do you ever intend to rise to the level of American Citizen?"
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.