Press vs. The Media
Maybe I'm just missing my dad, a veteran of crusty, blue-collar New York newsrooms, but this article really struck home.
I wonder, are there small-town newsrooms any more? Or is every reporter now also a blogger and twitterer and Facebooker? Would anyone bother to chase down a cat hanging?
Long before journalists became "the media," we were "the press." It seemed more approachable, a bit blue-collar, more trade than profession. The media sounds corporate, unapproachable, of the boardroom, not the pool room. "The press" is a forgiving title that conjures up the expectation of flaws more charming than scandalous.
The media are hypocrites, the press are scamps. The media are arrogant, the press are big talkers. The media serves white wine and flavorless cheese at receptions. The press? When our favorite bartender dies we write an obituary employing the sanctified prose "the media" would waste on a dead prime minister.
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Re: Press vs. The Media
I agree! I miss the old reporters, from the movies. Cynical, smart, wiseguy drunks. You never heard them opining on Sunday talk shows, or talking loftily about (always left wing) ideas. They just tried to get the story, the exclusive, the first quote from the widow or the killer or the scandal-plagued senator. The news was news back then, not some form of re-education, not something the elites edited and curated for the edification and improvement of the proles.
Maybe that's what back then people actually wanted to read the paper.
Oct '10
Re: Press vs. The Media
The media are pasta. The press are spaghetti.
Dec '10
Re: Press vs. The Media
After reading the article, I noticed that this writer, a "professional" of 37 years, was a Staff Writer. Compare that with all of the juvenile "Senior Editors" in many publications we peruse.
My dad started out as a sports writer and I looked up some of his stories in the "morgue", when I was in Dallas on business. One sports story jumped out at me, from a car race, because it was accompanied by a photo of the underbelly of a car soaring in the air. The winner had been identified and congratulated, as that was the main story, I suppose. Or at least the story assigned by his editor. Next time I saw my dad, I asked him about that story and he laughed to the point of tears. It turns out, it was a small track and the big, powerfull V-8 cars were faster, but they had two disadvantages. The powerfull cars kept having to pull off to take on fuel, plus they then tried to make up time by going too fast for the track. So Dad asked his photographer to go outside the track and set up at a certain tight corner.
Continued
Dec '10
Re: Press vs. The Media
Sure enough, eventually one of those big V-8s soared right off the track into surrounding lot, thus explaining the photo. The real story, he explained, was that the winner was not popular with the crowd, but he couldn't write that. The winner was driving a Henry J and drove the whole race at about 50 mph, being lapped by other cars the whole time.
The crowd booed the Henry J, every time it completed a lap, but it never had to stop for gas and won the race. It was a cat assasination story that was made into an epic battle between a tortoise and the hares. With a great photo!
Re: Press vs. The Media
My mentor at the Wall Street Journal, the fabled Seth Lipsky, said he would have me fired on the spot if ever I used the word "journalist" again. The proper word was newspaperman. I have never forgotten it.
"All the President's Men" and Journalism School ruined everything.
Sep '10
Re: Press vs. The Media
"I wonder, are there small-town newsrooms any more? Or is every reporter now also a blogger and twitterer and Facebooker? Would anyone bother to chase down a cat hanging?"
I would suggest that the rise in citizen jourrnalism is a good thing and is more likely to lead to a return to the journalism whose passing is lamented by all the above. You are more likely to find out the details on a cat hanging from someone who has an interest in knowing what is going on in their community as compared to someone who is busy persuing openings in the next upmarket locale.
Re: Press vs. The Media
Metzger: "I wonder, are there small-town newsrooms any more? Or is every reporter now also a blogger and twitterer and Facebooker? Would anyone bother to chase down a cat hanging?"
I would suggest that the rise in citizen jourrnalism is a good thing and is more likely to lead to a return to the journalism whose passing is lamented by all the above. You are more likely to find out the details on a cat hanging from someone who has an interest in knowing what is going on in their community as compared to someone who is busy persuing openings in the next upmarket locale. · Feb 8 at 4:05am
I hope you are correct, Metzger. I'm not so sure. I think the constant monitoring of the various "feeds" (twitter, Facebook, etc.) means reporters are spending less time wandering the neighborhood, going to cop houses, walking over to the hospital, etc. The stories today are different, more detached, more analytical rather than the reporting of the events of and by the people on the street. I hope I'm wrong, and you are correct, that things will move back in that direction.