"An Agreeable Person is One Who Agrees With Me."
It is always gratifying to see my odd opinions and observations confirmed by more distinguished sources. Not that any of my insights are particularly new, they just, at times, reflect those that are in the wind. Some time back I overcame my addiction to the New York Times and took up a subscription to The Wall Street Journal. While I always find the Journal to be agreeable, it was especially agreeable this morning when it agreed with several observations I made just last week.
In today's Wall Street Journal editor emeritus Robert L. Bartley writes:
I frankly doubt that Mr. Keller will succeed in restoring objectivity or balance to the Times newsroom. Former executive editor A.M. Rosenthal, actually a conservative, had a hard enough time. Then too, the current tone and culture are the work of publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., who remains in charge at the sufferance of his family.
Last Friday, I expressed the same sentiment with less concision:
Raines may be gone, but ... the Moose still has his job.The origin of the shrunk-wrapped mindset that controls the Times .... is to be found, as all newspapers policies are to be found, in the office of the Publisher.
.... Raines was given the boot because his actions and inaction had directly threatened the Publisher's job. It was, at the end of the day, a situation that evolved into either Howell or Pinch. In that case, adios Howell. Every time.
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. (aka 'Pinch') is the person responsible for the tone and the direction of the Times .... As long as he remains at the wheel, and there is no reason to believe that he will soon be gone, the Times will continue, at bottom, to reflect the attitudes and aspirations of the privileged liberal social milieu that created him.
Elsewhere Bartley notes:
The opinion of the press corps tends toward consensus because of an astonishing uniformity of viewpoint. Certain types of people want to become journalists, and they carry certain political and cultural opinions. This self-selection is hardened by peer group pressure. No conspiracy is necessary; journalists quite spontaneously think alike. The problem comes because this group-think is by now divorced from the thoughts and attitudes of readers.
While I agree with Bartley's conclusions, the cause I ascribed last Wednesday was somewhat different when I somewhat seriously proposed that the workers in Big Media suffered from industry induced ADD / HD:
The recent events here at home in the political circus that is known as "Lots of Democrats Running Around Begging to Be President," and abroad in the collective media hallucinations known as "All is Lost in Iraq Because We Won," underscore the fact that ADD has infected and taken over the media.The terrible truth is not that so many people working in the media are biased towards wanting the United States to fail all the time and everywhere (although there are more than a few who do). That is merely one of many obvious truths about media people. No, the terrible truth is that nearly 100 percent of media professionals are infected to the marrow of their bones with ADD / HD. And not just the "stars" but the whole pack of them, root and branch.
The truth is that most revel in their ADD / HD media jobs simply because these are the only jobs and careers open to them that promise both wealth and fame.
Similar symptoms but a different diagnosis. That's why it is always good to get a second opinion. Especially one that you agree with from the agreeable Mr. Bartley.
Posted by Vanderleun at July 28, 2003 9:34 AM | TrackBack"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated to combat spam and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.