March 23, 2004

Philly Daily News Editor Confesses to Stupidity and Tastelessness

In a moronic effort to disparage the already compromised Pulitzer Prizes, Zack Stalberg establishes himself an someone unfit to be an arbiter of taste at any media organization, much less the Philadelphia Daily News. It seems that Stalberg is still upset that the Pulitzer committee didn't see fit to hand one out to The Onion for its "coverage" of 9/11:

March 22, 2004) -- Zack Stalberg still remembers the oddest experience he had during his two-year stint as a Pulitzer Prize jurist.

The longtime editor of The Philadelphia Daily News was on the committee choosing finalists in the commentary category in 2002 when a submission from The Onion, the irreverent humor newspaper, came before the group.

"As it went around the table, you could see that people were blown away by this work," Stalberg said about the entry, which included the paper's mock Sept. 11 coverage. "But it was a little too different, a little too risky. I voted to make it a finalist, but nobody else did."

Although it would be surprising to see the Pulitzer Board award its coveted medal to what is essentially a parody of a newspaper, such an incident highlights what some feel is the reverence -- some might say restrictions -- under which the Pulitzer judging operates.
-- Pulitzer Prizes: Keeping the Little Guys Down?
Really? Would some? Some who? Perhaps some such as Stalberg or Editor and Publisher's Joel Strupp who penned this little whine. Should the Pulitzer have been awarded to The Onion for bouncing out of the gate on September 26 with copy like this? --
"Terrorist hijackings, buildings blowing up, thousands of people dying --these are all things I'm accustomed to seeing," said Dan Monahan, 32, who witnessed the fiery destruction of the Twin Towers firsthand from the window of his second-story apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn. "I've seen them all before -- we all have -- on TV and in movies. In movies like Armageddon, it seemed silly and escapist. But this, this doesn't have any scenes where Bruce Willis saves the planet and quips a one-liner as he blows the bad guy up."
-- The Onion | American Life Turns Into Bad Jerry Bruckheimer Movie
Not funny then. Less funny now. Don't get us wrong, we like The Onion in its place -- free on the street corner -- but at the same time only an idiot would think this stuff worthy of a Pulitzer. Only an idiot or Zack Stalberg. We report, you decide.

Posted by Vanderleun at March 23, 2004 12:30 PM | TrackBack
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