The Sad State of the Estate

Ted Koppel on the Fourth Estate with Charlie Rose 10-28-16: 

 "(Journalism) is a real disaster... 

"There was a day when people in our end of the business (broadcast journalism) genuinely felt that we had a mission out there to give the American public the news that it needed...  

"ABC, NBC, CBS -- among the three of them -- had more than a hundred correspondents forty years ago -- a hundred! -- based all around the world, gathering information. These days, I'd be surprised if they have twenty among the three of them... 

 "Listen to NPR in the morning and listen to the BBC for an hour. And just take note of how many important events are taking place around the world that are never covered on American radio and television.

 ---- 

I and my brethren have bemoaned the decline of journalism for many years. For me, this sense of woe is not so much about us as it is about Americans' growing disinterest in learning and keeping up on news and issues that matter, whether they realize it or not. 

Khrushchev once vowed to conquer the U.S. from within. Although he didn't live to see it happen, Americans' present madness of gossip, rumor, and titillation which permeates today's "news" is doing it for him.

EXACTING

Excessive use of the word, "exact," has watered down its meaning to near nothing.

They're looking for the (exact) cause of the fire.
They don't know the (exact) location of the bank robber.
Who do you think you are, exactly?!

Removing the unnecessary descriptors allows each sentence to stand on its own.

Same with a long list of embellishments the "news media" use to startle, unnerve, and rattle viewers and listeners, including:

devastating
deadly
massive
tragic

Consultants infected broadcast journalism many decades ago.  TV and radio stations hired these guys to recommend ways to improve ratings.  Based on those recommendations, management commanded reporters, editors, and writers to "Be more urgent!"  Make it sound exciting, they said.  And, oh, yeah, give the news department a sexy name:

"Eyewitness News"
"News Now"
"Action News"

Fox News caught on with very attractive anchors in short skirts.  High heels, shapely legs and exposed thighs racked up the ratings.  Hoo, boy!  Gimme that Fox News Alert!

CNN, which earned its reputation on breaking news, now overpaints everything.  The "Breaking News" banner never goes away, rendering the term meaningless.

English is a wonderful language.  She is also a moody, demanding mistress.  But play by her rules and treat her with respect, and she will shower you with clarity, verve and beauty

THEY'RE COMING

I recently retired after more than 40 years in major-market radio news.  My wife and I moved to a place with a population one-tenth the population of the big-city suburb we came from.  Here, there are mountains, trees, lakes, wildlife, a slower pace, and -- most important -- good, gentle people.

A major highway runs right through the place.  It's just four lanes, and there are several stop lights along the way.  No big deal to us, but it's a pain in the butt to folks just passing through.  And to commuters.  A few miles down the road lies a handful of small cities that are home to some very big corporations.  Some of those people people live here and commute to there.  They are busy, on a schedule, and important.  Many of the folks here were once busy, on schedules, and important.  Today, they are just folks, many of them busy in more enjoyable ways.

Our little town is growing like crazy as word spreads about how nice it is here.  The future is coming like a runaway freight train, and some people here are very, very worried about the impact.

For what it's worth, I witnessed a similar change in the suburb I left in North Texas.  The townspeople didn't want city folks moving in, spoiling the peace and quiet and small town neighborhoods, and bringing their fancy cars, their kids, and their busy-ness.  The city fathers wrung their hands, examined their options, and designed a plan.  It went something like this:

Whether we like it or not, these people are coming.  We cannot stop them.  But they're also bringing their disposable incomes, so let's be smart and get ahead of the game.  They'll need good streets, grocery stores, doctors, schools, parks, and Lord knows what else.  Let's expand as much as we can before they get here.  Let's at least begin putting down infrastructure: streets, power, water and sewer.

Because they're coming.

And the city fathers did just that.  With hundreds of millions of dollars in bond money, mile after mile of brand new streets extended beyond the town, right out into what were dirt roads in farmland.  It was a sight to behold, and the townsfolk drooled over four- and six-lane concrete boulevards where there was nothing else.  Still more bonds went to schools, police and fire, etc.

And sure enough, the people came.  And they loved it.  They spent their money there, sent their kids to the new schools, attended churches, got their cars washed and their lawns mowed.  Multinational corporations moved their headquarters from out of state, bringing thousands and thousands of jobs.  Driving schools popped up for transplanted Yankees who didn't know how to drive because they'd never needed cars.

So, how did things work out for that once-small town?  There were the expected growing pains, but the word "success" applied for many, many years.  Today, it's a city of a quarter-million residents.  It has some of the attendant pains of a city that size, but fewer than most.  Now, more distant suburbs are the hip addresses in the market.  They, and the suburb I used to live in, are all part of the largest MSA in the South: more than seven million people in 13 counties.

My new address is in a beautiful little town founded in the early 20th century, and then only for people 55 and over.

But "they" are coming.  I know, because I am a "they."  I love this place and her people.  Sure, there are problems and rascals that I haven't learned of yet and yes, I miss some big-city conveniences.

This village is indeed a little slice of heaven.  It can retain its charm if our city leaders govern wisely and prudent.

Because they're coming.

Spell It

Have you noticed the prevalence of given names with unconventional spellings?  A waitress spells her name Cheyann.  Another pronounces her name, Sara, as "SAH-dah."  A man spells his name Byll.  They're like ants: they're everywhere.

Whenever a waiter or waitress comes to our table at a restaurant, my wife tries to shush me from asking.  Not only do I ask for the spelling, but also for the story behind it.  It's often an interesting tale.  One woman proudly explained that her mama was a hippie.  Another paid tribute to her redneck father.

Then there are the foreign names.  One East Asian's first name required two full lines of letters across her ID badge.  "Just call me Randy," she said.

Introductions sometimes catch me off guard, too.  If the person mumbles his or her name, I miss it.

Say again?

Jeff.

Jeff?  Spell it for me.  (Some shorten the British Geoffrey to Geoff.)

D-e-a-f.

Deaf?

Yeah.  Are you deaf??

Finding Fitz

We went straight to DefCon One.  Fitzgerald, Lord of Hessle House, was a fugitive.

We plastered Facebook with his picture and a BOLO, calling for "Eyes On!" and listing our personal cellphone numbers.  We didn't know what to expect.

Patty called soon after Fitz took off to say that she'd seen him 'way over on the west side of Bella Vista, not far from Lake Windsor.  She even photographed him.  We raced over there, thinking that someone had stolen him here and dumped him over there.  People sometimes do things like that in big cities like the Dallas area, where we are from.

Patty's photo sure looked like our cat, so we searched and searched, and called and called -- totally disrupting an otherwise peaceful Bella Vista neighborhood more than once.  Even at night we or our son and granddaughter were hiking through back yards, into brush and down ravines.  At length, we rented an animal trap from the shelter and parked it on their porch.  Days went by.  Nada.

Then we got a sighting report from here in the Lake Ann area.  Hopes raised again.  Scramble, search, call out to him, disturb more peaceful neighborhoods.  Our son caught sight of him, but not enough to confirm the cat's identity.  Nada.

Hopes up, hopes down.  It was awful.

Turns out that the west side cat belonged to a couple who own Bengals that run free.
The east side cat was a grey, ownership undetermined.  Things were looking grim.

I prayed.

Then Tena called with multiple recent sightings off Lake Ann.  Confidence was high, and neighbors concurred.  Fitz was living in the woods, up a hill in a pile of brush and fallen trees.  And probably hiding in a nearby drainage pipe when it rained.  Roger set his animal trap with a can of tuna, and the very next afternoon, the fugitive Fitzgerald, Lord of Hessle House, was in custody.

I delivered the good news to the multitude of Fitz followers on Facebook.  The response was stunning: nearly 600 likes and comments, if my lousy math is right.  That is entirely a testament to the wonderful people who live in this town with the beautiful view.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

A Republican Obama

Eight years ago, the U.S. economy was hemorrhaging.  The housing bubble had burst; millions of jobs were disappearing; the banking system neared collapse; certain Wall Streeters had defrauded and robbed Americans of trillions of dollars, and none of the perpetrators was going to prison.  The public was and still is really, really pissed.

In desperation, voters in 2008 sent to The White House Barrack Obama, a young, charismatic junior senator who had vowed to "change Washington" and unite Congress.  Despite staffing his cabinet with some well-qualified people, the new Democratic President was immediately overwhelmed.  The GOP swore to oppose Mr. Obama at every turn and make him a one-term President.

Today, another junior senator is vying for the job, and Republican voters are once again drawn to him.  But as we saw with Obama, experience counts -- more specifically, experience making hard decisions and answering for them.  That experience arises from owning, running and/or managing business(es), or from senior government experience and accountability.

The 2016 GOP candidates (as of this writing) who have such experience are John Kasich and Donald Trump.

No President can "change Washington" in ways that candidates promise.  Only voters can do that.  It starts with replacing both the President, and members of Congress.  And there is only one place to do that: in the voting booth.

So if you want another Obama, elect the right-wing version: elect Ted Cruz.

Politics and Monkeys

During a classroom discussion about bullying, an elementary school kid was quoted as saying that he doesn't like Donald Trump because he is a bully.  The child eventually explained that he doesn't like Trump because his parents don't like Trump.

This underscores the fact that children copy what we do, what we say, and how we behave.  Monkey see, monkey do.

The teacher was bemoaning children's lack of respect for teachers, and lack of respect for adults in general.  She said it's worse than ever.  Social media have a lot to do with that.  Kids can be mean, especially online.  We've all heard stories about bullied kids committing suicide.

There are lots of reasons why so many adults are drawn to Trump's fiery politics, not the least of which is Americans' frustration over their lot in life and anger at how their government is run.  They blame the President, Congress and all things government.  That flows to children, who conclude that dissing authority is accepted.

These next few months leading to the nominating conventions -- and especially the months afterward -- promise bitter, scorched-earth politicking.  Civility and respect will be the first casualties.

How you and I conduct ourselves directly affects what kind of people our children become.

Monkey see, monkey do.