Commentary: How Keen determines what is newsworthy
Posted on 08/19/2005 1:57:37 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
JON FRIEDMAN'S MEDIA WEB
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| USA Today covers the Sheehan circus Commentary: How Keen determines what is newsworthy |
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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Like it or not, antiwar protester Cindy Sheehan has become a full-blown media phenomenon.
You can't open a newspaper or turn on a television set or go online without seeing a reference to her. A Washington, D.C., public relations firm is helping coordinate Sheehan's interviews with reporters. Journalists from as far away as Japan and New Zealand have pursued her. Dozens of media representatives are on assignment in Crawford, Texas, covering President Bush's vacation at his ranch there. They are flanked by many people who have flocked there to demonstrate against the war in Iraq. Believing that America can't get enough of its Protest Mom, the news media cover every aspect of her story. Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq last year, had vowed not to leave until Bush met with her. But she may fade from public view for a spell, after announcing late on Thursday afternoon that she would be leaving Crawford to tend to her mother, who had suffered a stroke in California. At the same time, a lot of Americans wish that the media would move on, too. No apologies USA Today White House reporter Judy Keen makes no apologies for the Sheehan coverage.
"It's definitely a happening and we can't ignore it," Keen said, adding that the key "is to be judicious." Skeptics would hastily add that's always true with overhyped stories. Adam Penenberg, a professor of journalism at New York University, pointed out: "What makes anything a media circus is the potential for a conflict. Here, you have a woman who lost a son in Iraq staking out ground right outside the President's ranch. It's a good story." Why is it a good story? Whether you support or condemn Sheehan for becoming an overnight sensation, her audacious vigil in Crawford seems like such a peculiar way to grieve. Keen, for her part, has exhibited admirable restraint as she focused on the news. Staking out Crawford Sheehan's son Casey, a 24-year-old soldier, died in Iraq in April 2004. The grieving mother started attracting national attention recently when she followed President Bush to his vacation ranch in Crawford, Texas, and vowed to remain there until he met with her - for a second time. He has declined to do so, and Sheehan has stayed on the scene. At first, during a fairly slow news period, Sheehan became synonymous with the American antiwar movement. Now she has added the designation of Media Celebrity to her resume. True, we've seen legitimate follow-up stories, such as the more than 1,000 vigils that were planned in the U.S. earlier this week. Others (like me) prefer to take a long view and wonder whether Sheehan might eventually stand for something real. Could she serve as the catalyst for a legitimate antiwar movement in America?
Challenge Keen, a plain speaking native of Austin, Minn., has worked for USA Today since 1987. She covered such big stories as the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the Persian Gulf War. The challenge for her and the other serious reporters in Crawford is to resist the temptation to keep the story going, just to fill the public's appetite for gossip -- and possibly appear on page one. When I interviewed Keen by phone on Thursday morning, she suggested that the Bush White House played an unwitting role in sparking the Sheehan extravaganza. Keen noted that the administration created a news vacuum that Sheehan and her skillful media-relations associates were only too pleased to fill. "When the White House is not generating news for us, it leaves us to our own devices," Keen said. She said reporters view the Sheehan story as a way to "justify our existence" by reporting on what so many Americans are talking about. "Sometimes there is a lot going on" in Crawford, mused Keen, a long-time White House reporter. "The last time we heard from him was Saturday evening when he went to a Little League game in Waco" -- though, the bemused journalist added, an enterprising television news crew did spot Bush in the highly dramatic act of riding a bicycle. 'Citizen Cindy'
In some ways Sheehan has become the real-life version of "Citizen Ruth," the 1996 movie about an ordinary woman who was accused of being manipulated by political interests on both sides of the abortion issue. "I think they've been very clever," Keen said of Sheehan's advisors. "Every day, there has been something going on," Keen said. For what it's worth, my favorite bit of gossip had it that Michael Moore, the gadfly and director of the antiwar movie "Fahrenheit 9/11" would show up, too. But Moore, no stranger to the art of manipulating public opinion and someone who'd feel right at home at a media circus, has stayed away. Dopey media Adding to the wacky atmosphere, a neighbor of Bush's named Larry Mattlage reached his breaking point. With the pandemonium swirling around him, he fired a warning shot into the air. The Associated Press's Angela Brown quoted him as saying: "I ain't threatening nobody, and I ain't pointing a gun at nobody. This is Texas." (Somehow, I doubt that the state's Chamber of Commerce will want to put a picture of him saying, "This Is Texas" on bumper stickers, though). It was a silly story, but judging by the heavy coverage, you'd have sworn that the guy went on a vigilante crusade. It should be noted, under the category of Why America Thinks the Media Are Dopes, that America Online (TWX: news, chart, profile) felt compelled to conduct an instant poll and ask: "With whom do you sympathize most: a) gun-toting neighbor Larry Mattlage b) protester mom Cindy Sheehan c) President Bush. As it turned out, Sheehan got 45% of the tallies while Mattlage drew 36%. Bush got a mere 19%. The real tantalizing question, of course, remains: what if Bush HAD spoken with Sheehan on day one? "It might have defused the situation dramatically," Keen suspects. Keen chuckles at some of the out-and-out goofy occurrences around her. "It's a circus atmosphere," she said. For instance, she noticed that an electronic sign in Crawford declared "heavy traffic ahead," an incongruous message in such a small town. "There is one stop light in the town," Keen laughed.
Keen turned serious when I asked her if she thought that Sheehan had begun to enjoy the massive media attention. "She is obviously deeply wounded by what happened to her son," Keen said. "She is grieving. When I asked her if her growing celebrity eased her pain, she said, on the contrary, it's in my face. Everyday." Keen doesn't fret about suggestions that the media are distorting the Sheehan story out of all proportions. "You know what?" Keen told me. "I'm a journalist, and I'm just covering the news." MEDIA WEB QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you continue to be riveted by Sheehan's saga or are you tired of her? FRIDAY STORY OF THE WEEK: "Media escalation unnerves protest mom" by Judy Keen (USA Today, Aug. 17) Please send your comments to JFriedman@MarketWatch.com. |
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Jon Friedman is Media Editor for MarketWatch in New York. |
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No mention about Able Danger and the Omission Commission here at all.....hmmmmmmm!
Riveted....LOL!
Of course, attacking the cause the troops are engaged in is also old hat for the LameStream Press.
This story is just about over. The media now has to resort to reporting their excuses for over-reporting this story in order to keep reporting it.
correction:
Like it or not, antiwar protester Cindy Sheehan has become a full-blown media PRODUCTION.
All that's missing is "the pick-up was repossessed, and the dog died."
You are correct, sir.
The article said that Cindy is "filling a vacuum"---
wrong, the press is creating the vacuum...by NOT covering the real news of this summer..Able Danger, and not covering it idiotic statements by Bill Clinton re: Osama Bin Ladin and al-queda...and NOT covering the good things in Iraq, like the fact that they are drafting a constitution just 2 years after war...
Like the good economy...(of course they DO cover high gas prices)...
The dems and MSM created Cindy...and they don't bother to notice that there ARE more important things going on.
I DO think that they have fallen down on the story by NOT pointing out who ISN'T THERE>...democrat politicians.!
Here's a sampling of "click the pic" links:
Able Danger, 9-11 Report, Gorelick, and so much more...
Click the picture...
Air America Scandal-- Click the picture-
Code Pinko-- the Cindy Sheehan affair ( click the picture )
Sticker Shock-$3 a gallon gas? Click the picture:
Like all my stuff, you have to go to the "last" first and work backwards to get the latest updates... Sheehan and gas ( bad juxtaposition of words, I realize ) are, of course, "stories the media can't shut up about"-- because they wish to damage the President. The other two are "stories they just won't talk about"-- because you might start asking rude and unwelcome questions. Same old, same old.
It's not a "good story", and it's not a circus...It's
a Carny Freak side show.
For the Benefit of Mr Kite
There will be a show this night
On Caseys Casket...
The Lesbians will all be there
Late of Kerrys Dimo Fair
to Tramp-o-line...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Step up! Step up! and see
just how many DemoLeftie slimeballs
Can all climb ontop Cindys Amazing
Castered Casket!
Which it exposes the media as bias and ideological leftist, plus its antagonism towards the President and the war on terror.
Yes that is what I see, however the MSM is continuing with their propanganda on their TV outlets, especially the Public Stations that I happened to see today. Perhaps other than C-SPAN, just finished watching a DYNAMITE presentation by Knute Gingrinch at the National Press Club advertised as covering the Medicare and Medicaid topic, buth the questions were much broader than that, and he had some choice comments about the events in Texas and in Iraq and in Gitmo, and on Immigration.,....I hope he is running., The Man is the most articulate Man around and is mostly conservative, although there will be many here that would not accept him !
I agree, he's the guy the media loves to hate. But he's very articulate, and I like the way he thinks.
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