Posted on 12/09/2004 9:24:19 PM PST by SierraWasp
Here are the 2004 Media Web awards
Commentary: Media failed to rise to the occasion -- again
By Jon Friedman, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 12:01 AM ET Dec. 10, 2004
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - After the furor over former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair marred the media industry in 2003, it seemed unlikely that my profession's image could look even worse this year.
But never underestimate us.
When the reporting sins of USA Today's Jack Kelley (GCI: news, chart, profile) surfaced several months ago, he had clearly topped Blair and another miscreant named Stephen Glass.
The bean counters had their moments, too. Many newspapers 'fessed up to exaggerating circulation figures, a scandal which cast a cloud over the entire media business.
No excuses
But the most disappointing aspect of the media's performance in 2004 was our coverage of the presidential election. We generally displayed all of the good judgment of, say, Jason Giambi.
But unlike the disgraced baseball player, journalists couldn't blame their shortcomings on steroid binging. We blithely played right into the hands of President Bush's shrewd campaign strategist Karl Rove.
We wrote and talked obsessively about such 2004-centric campaign "issues" as Swift Boat Veterans, flu vaccines and the sexual orientation of Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter.
We should have taken a collective deep breath and sensibly recognized that those talking points, however provocative, didn't mean a damn thing to the American people. They cared about the prospects for peace and prosperity.
Meanwhile, the justifiably smug Rove beamed from the sidelines, as Bush impressively, and improbably, overcame a failed foreign policy and a shaky economic record to achieve a solid re-election victory.
I wonder what a newspaper would look like with Rove as its editor. Nobody can manipulate the news and massage public opinion quite like him. He should get the Laughing All the Way to the Inauguration award.
Speaking of awards I'd like to see, in no particular order:
KEEPING THE FAITH: To Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker. His reporting about the Iraqi prison-abuse scandal at Abu Gharib represented the best work by any journalist this year.
WHAT'D I SAY: To the New York Post (NWS: news, chart, profile). In an embarrassment of Everest proportions, the tabloid desperately tried to make news by proclaiming on the front page that John Kerry would pick Dick Gephardt as his running mate. What the Post did, instead, was to make history by producing the biggest newspaper gaffe since the Chicago Daily Tribune declared, "Dewey Defeats Truman" in 1948.
RIDING HIGH IN APRIL -- SHOT DOWN IN MAY: To CBS News and the Los Angeles Times. CBS (VIAB: news, chart, profile) distinguished itself with coverage of Abu Gharib. Then, it overreached disastrously on a story about President Bush's National Guard record. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times (TRB: news, chart, profile) was flush this year from winning five Pulitzers - then it announced layoffs. (Viacom is the parent of CBS and a significant investor in MarketWatch, the publisher of this report).
BEST MEDIA BOOK - To New Yorker writer Ken Auletta. His "Media Man" was an illuminating look at CNN founder Ted Turner.
SAY IT AIN'T SO: To "Booknotes." Sadly, Brian Lamb's show on C-Span has ended as a first-run series. It was a rarity. It had integrity.
MY GUILTY PLEASURE: To New York Post reporter Keith Kelly. Every year, I smile when I read his story about Conde Nast's Christmas lunch. Kelly beautifully conveys the comical high anxiety of image-conscious millionaires fretting about what the seating chart says about their status.
THE 'CIRCUS NEWS NETWORK' STRIKES AGAIN: What the heck was CNN (TWX: news, chart, profile) thinking on Dec. 8 when it devoted so much air time to re-re-re-showing the footage of the melee during the Detroit Pistons-Indiana Pacers basketball game? Yeah, I know the story had news value because charges were filed. And I admit that an old-fashioned donnybrook is "good TV." But this wasn't exactly the Zapruder film.
TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM: No media company tried harder than Sinclair Broadcasting (SBGI: news, chart, profile) to help President Bush look good during the campaign (nope, not even Fox News (FOX: news, chart, profile).
MS. MUST-READ: To Nikki Finke, the scourge of the Hollywood journalism scene.
PLEASE SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER: To the fraidy-cat TV executives who declined to show "Saving Private Ryan" -- on Veterans Day, of all occasions, because they feared FCC reprisals in the wake of the Janet Jackson fiasco. Hello! The cussing and gore helped make the film an epic.
CLASS WIT: To the creators of jibjab.com. Their Bush-Kerry skit, to the tune of "This Land Is Your Land," is my favorite memory of the 2004 campaign.
ROLE MODEL: To Smithsonian and Nieman Reports. The big magazines could learn plenty from these classy publications.
YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH: To Tucker Carlson. CNN's "Crossfire" co-host came up on the short end of his discourse with the ever-witty "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart. Some highlights:
Stewart: You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.
Carlson: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think.
Stewart: You need to go to one.
Carlson: Wait. I thought you were going to be funny. Come on. Be funny.
Stewart: No. No. I'm not going to be your monkey.
THE FUTURE - MAYBE: To you blessed bloggers everywhere.
MURDERERS' ROW: To the columnists at the New York Times.(NYT: news, chart, profile). To the disgust of the "red-state" mindset, I think there isn't a more gifted group anywhere in newspapers.
PET PEEVE: To the otherwise smart magazines of America. You rip off your readers when you ask questions, instead of answering them, on your covers. Stop taking the easy way out! How are you helping your audience? How? How? How?
THE ROLE MODEL: To Fortune writer Carol Loomis. Remember how the sports world went nuts when Brett Favre recently started his 200th consecutive game at quarterback for the Green Bay Packers? Take a sack, Brett. Last January, Loomis celebrated her FIFTY-year anniversary at Fortune - and presumably thrived all those years without being tempted by any performance-enhancing substances. Long may you run, Carol.
MISSING IN ACTION: To the one and only Louis Rukeyser. We all miss the grace, wit and grin of the father of TV business news as he remains sidelined with an illness.
DUM-DEE-DUM-DUM: To CNBC (GE: news, chart, profile). You guys hear any footsteps these days? It appears that Fox is finally serious about launching an all-business news channel on cable TV. So, watch your back. In fact, feel free to do a little research. Place a call to 404 827-1500 -- CNN headquarters -- and ask for the new telephone numbers of any CNN executives who vanished amid Fox's ratings dominance.
WHAT, ME WORRY?: To Dick Parsons. Time Warner's breezy chairman seldom seemed to break a sweat, as he quieted his company's numerous, hostile critics. Time Warner, in a major reversal of fortune, has become the most stable of all media goliaths.
THE LUCKIEST FELLER: To me. I am fortunate to have such loyal and opinionated readers. I even appreciate the e-mail writer who was typing so furiously, in his haste to send me a raspberry, that he called me a "jakass."
STORY OF THE WEEK: The Nascar Nightly News: Anchorman Get Your Gun by Frank Rich (the New York Times, Dec. 5)
QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHAT WILL YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THE MEDIA'S PERFORMANCE IN 2004?
Please send your comments to JFriedman@MarketWatch.com
Jon Friedman is media editor for CBS.MarketWatch.com in New York.
I read about half of it, and then got bored.
He proves very well his premise by praising some of the worst things his colleges did.
He might as well have said "We didn't rise to the occasion so read this to see that how we are continueing that strategy.
I love it when these guys try to clean up their faux paws by digging deeper holes to be buried in. In which to be buried. Never end a sentence with a proposition unless you are in the read lite districk.
Call leagues...
When the reporting sins of USA Today's Jack Kelley (GCI: news, chart, profile) surfaced several months ago, he had clearly topped Blair and another miscreant named Stephen Glass.
I sure don't blame ya! I see the thread got 23 views and two replies... YAWN!!!
Wake me when it's interesting... HUGE YAWN!!!
By George! I THINK YOU'VE GOT IT!!!
But sycro's right... It's just too danged boring to even throw darts or pass farts over!!!
Failure of any media to show what happens to a terrorists captive, ie be-headings.
But I expect no less from a group of people who refuse to show the towers collapsing.
Or the burning humans, including Muslims, jumping from those top stories and crashing through the lobbies, raining down so thick and fast that officials were afraid to go outside!!!
It's to laff at!!! Ha Ha Ha!!! Peanut Whistles!!! Ha Ha Ha!!!
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