Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Accolades for Knight Ridder!
One (and unfortunately, it seems, only one) major U.S. newspaper company remembered its mission after September 11! Joshua Micah Marshall says "do not miss" this important article in American Journalism Review, which points out that while even the New York Times was printing headlines like,
Meanwhile, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other mainstream rags who continue to comfort the comfortable. "Toothless dog gums Bushy-boy," is not news.
UPDATE: Scatt Oddams writes in to say:
"Yo, Davey baby, Matt Wuerker is all over the toothless press story.
He told me to lay this toon on you:"
[Scatt Oddams is the cartoon critic in residence at isen.blog. He gets hot under the collar if I don't tell you this every time he contributes something! You can reach Scatt at oddams at isen dot com -- David I]
- "U.S. Says Hussein Intensified Quest for A-Bomb Parts,"
- "Lack of hard evidence of Iraqi weapons worries top U.S. officials."
- "Troubling questions over justification for war in Iraq" and
- "Failure to find weapons in Iraq leads to intelligence scrutiny"
- "Troubling questions over justification for war in Iraq" and
People at the Times were mainly talking to senior administration officials, who were mostly pushing the administration line. We were mostly talking to the lower-level people or dissidents, who didn't necessarily repeat the party line.Knight Ridder paid a price for this independence.
. . . The White House turned up the pressure, Strobel says, and "tried to freeze us out of briefings." [The other Knight Ridder reporter on the case, Jonathan] Landay adds: "I think this administration may have a fairly punitive policy when it comes to journalists who get in their face. And if you talk to some White House reporters, there is a fear of losing access."Landay and Strobel won a Raymond Clapper Memorial Award for their courage -- but what's that? A Pulitzer wouldn't be a bad idea. But maybe we need a Nobel Prize for Journalism! Or maybe Landay and Strobel should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Meanwhile, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other mainstream rags who continue to comfort the comfortable. "Toothless dog gums Bushy-boy," is not news.
UPDATE: Scatt Oddams writes in to say:
"Yo, Davey baby, Matt Wuerker is all over the toothless press story.
He told me to lay this toon on you:"
[Scatt Oddams is the cartoon critic in residence at isen.blog. He gets hot under the collar if I don't tell you this every time he contributes something! You can reach Scatt at oddams at isen dot com -- David I]
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