Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Saturday, February 27, 1999, Dan wrote: > I will never forget those scenes of journalists by the score parked outside > of Richard Jewel's home day after day. Most of them were the CNNers and > other TV types, but I'm sure there were representatives of the print media > as well. What were they expecting to happen? Did they honestly think that > some FBI agent would come waltzing out of the home with a handfull of pipe > bombs? I can't imagine a single news worthy thing that could have come out > of that, even if the guy WAS guilty. Ok, this has gotten way off topic, but since I worked in Atlanta up till right before this happened I want to comment on this. Jewell was found innocent. The FBI dropped charges. The press ruined his reputation. The media in their hysteria to try and convict him before he was even arrested helped ruin him. If you are ever accused of anything like this remember you are guilty until proven innocent no matter what the constitution says...The media has a first amendment right to say what they want as long as it is phrased as "Suspect Richard Jewell" ect. They will run stories front page 72 point headers saying how you have been plotting evil since being a security guard at Kennesaw College while the investigation is going on, then when charges are never brought and are dropped it will make page 8A lower left column 18 point header and 1 graph saying how you are not guilty. I have spent 13 years working in the print media. I know there are major problems with credibility, IMHO the profession has lost a lot of the respect and honor it used to have. Reasons for this are many...poor/incompetent journalists who screw up quotes...TV media pandering to masses...my apologies to the few of you in the broadcast media who are actually trained to be journalists...I have seen way too many talking heads who think they are celebrities and could not interview their way out of a hall open at both ends. And also this trying people before they are even brought to trial, hell before charges are even brought as in the case of Richard Jewell. Also the obsession with the "celebrity" as news Another thing causing this decline is something I was touching on a few months ago...the competition in the marketplace has pretty much dried up. Used to be competing newspapers an AM and a PM in most cities, usually locally owned. Now just an AM. Chances of this single paper being owned by NYTRNG, Scripps Howard, Gannett, Morris, Knight-Ridder or some of the other big chains are great. Kill the competition and the need for accuracy dries up...AP is the largest wire service and it is pitiful...Eric what do ya think...from what I hear nothing like the old days when they had UPI and Reuter and AFP making a dent in their market keeping them on their toes. Add to this many people don't bother to read any more and the informed among the populace is rapidly dropping...I know some of you are going to scream "I read 2-3 papers a day" Just by the fact you use the internet, and subscribe to a mailing list like this makes you the exception rather than the rule. BTW I saw a quote from Carl Bernstein saying he hates American Journalism today. "It's disfigured by celebrity, gossip and sensationalism...I believe it's the role of journalists to challenge people, not just mindlessly amuse them...In this culture of journalistic titillation, we teach our readers and our viewers that the trivial is important."..Bernstein speaking at a Jewish Federation gathering in Florida Thursday, quoted from the Nashville Tennessean. Sounded sorta like what BD wrote the other day. Guess those Pulitzer winning writers all think alike. ;) Sorry to ramble so long...I can see where Jim Brick was coming from and often feel some of the same things...but I realize a large part of the problem is what sells and pays the bills for the media outlets, not with most of the average Joe's out there working a beat 7 days a week. Best regards, Harrison mailto:mcclary@iname.com http://people.delphi.com/hmphoto preview my book: http://www.volmania.com