TV Turn off Week...or What is WRONG with us?

NBC ‘massacres’ a delicate story

Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper — Schleswig Leader, Thursday, April 26, 2007 – Page 3

I’m kind of a journalistic purist who believes that newspapers should provide information that readers can use toward sound judgements essential to the healthy functioning of a democracy. I want to train kids to be better communicators for the common well being of the community and to be more savvy consumers of the media, equipped to be discriminating. Call me a hopeless idealist, but that’s what happens when you’ve been teaching journalism for over a decade.

There are these things called the elements of news-worthiness, that you’re supposed to consider when deciding whether or not to cover something, such as timeliness, proximity, prominence, consequence, conflict, and human interest. All of these ought to be weighed against the news agency’s concept of what they see as the public’s well being.

Before releasing the contents of a package sent to them by mass murderer Seung Hui Cho, NBC failed to consider anyone’s well being. All they seemed to have cared about was ratings and “scooping” everybody else.

But that’s not the only problem with how this story has been handled.
I was appalled by the media’s coverage of the tragedy at Virginia Tech last week.
I overheard a variety of responses in the faculty lounge. Most were disgusted by how TV news has been milking it for everything it’s worth and disappointed by how emotional and melodramatic coverage has been. Perhaps more restraint and stoicism would’ve actually been more respectful.

Others were concerned that there was SO much speculation and reporting before there had been any information even collected by, let alone released by law enforcement.

A couple of people said that they can’t stand to pay attention to the news because everything is so negative. Others find it ironic that 2-3 times as many people die each day, everyday in Iraq, but that doesn’t receive near as much coverage or as much sensationalism.

I know I was surprised that on Tuesday nigh TV reporters interviewed a number of VT students who said that they didn’t think that the college could have done anything better to protect them- but the next morning’s paper featured a headline about how frustrated students were that the college didn’t do more.

This afternoon on National Public Radio, they interviewed a college official who was frustrated that pro-gun activists were using the tragedy to argue that all students should’ve been allowed to carry concealed weapons to protect themselves. Certainly there are those on the Left who have already been blaming the shooting on Virginia’s lack of regulations of firearms. Should it be a starting point for debate?

I have to tell you, I was certainly tempted to write a column about gun control. But I decided that it would be taking advantage of a heinous incident to make a political point, so I decided not to.

How about all of the samples of the killer’s poems, stories and plays that are popping up on the web? Should the media make such a heinous killer famous posthumously?

I was absolutely sickened by the things that TV news programs aired from Cho’s now infamous package to NBC. By showing his video diatribes over and over again, not only did they give him the fame and attention which he hoped for, but I believe that they compounded the pain and damage to the families of the victims and to the communities of Virginia Tech and Blacksburg, Virginia. It was like coming in behind him with more guns, shooting people once they were already down.

NBC should’ve handed the entire package over to the FBI or at least asked experts to analyze the materials and report on them without presenting the original material, over and over again ad nauseam as they did. Who would it have hurt for them to at least have held the materials for several weeks before releasing them?

Certainly this tragedy, like others before it at high schools reveal a disconnected, unsympathetic and violent society. Certainly, like the September 11 attacks or Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it reveals how painfully unprepared our institutions are to handle crises. And certainly it reveals that we need to consider regulations and procedures in both gun availability and in the field of mental health treatment. But most of all, it revealed what a salacious, sensational, insensitive and irresponsible media we have.

Ted Mallory lives in Charter Oak and teaches at Boyer Valley Schools in Dunlap. ‘Ted’s Column’ has appeared weekly in the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper since 2002. If you’d like to see any of Ted’s editorial cartoons bigger and brighter, you can visit http://tmal.multiply.com/photos/album/2 Ted has started a new blog that focuses on Journalism and the media at http://thepresscorps.blogspot.com

Whatever happened to Aaron Brown?

Something has been troubling me about journalism lately. Lots of things, actually. I can't stand when conservatives and/or well meaning non-progressives mistakenly think that FOX NEWS actually is "Fair and balanced" and that all other news sources are "liberal." FOX is a blatant Republican propaganda machine and all other sources, including FOX's competition CNN and MSNBC are CORPORATE, not liberal. They're all about making money, not reporting fairly or accurately. About pulling in ratings, not providing the electorate with information for making intelligent decisions.

Witness CNN's 2006/2007 transformations- Headline news went from just reporting straight news over and over every half hour to being trashy tabloid "info-tainment." Their CNN prime time line up includes an Entertainment Tonight type of show, a salacious courtroom melodrama staring Nancy Grace that is pretty much all OJ type stories all the time, and of course, the gentlest Right Wing Radio blabber fascist on the air, Glenn Beck. Thank God he's not Quite as bad as O'Rielly or Rush- but in some ways that makes him worse, because he's insidiously mild-mannered enough to make you forget that he's just another propagandist and nothing close to a journalist.

But what has really bothered me most is, whatever happened to Aaron Brown and Newsnight? For a week or so, CNN pretended to move pretty boy Anderson Cooper up to become Brown's co-anchor, but it didn't take long before they shoved Brown aside altogether. When it comes down to it, if I were fair, I'd admit that Cooper isn't the worst journalist ever. He's committed and tries to be serious, although let's face it, his show is all about packaging the news, and not about in depth reporting or analysis. Now granted, Brown was way more warm and personal than the folks at the PBS News Hour, but he was still about the story, not the glory.

I especially miss his round-up of the next day's newspaper front page headlines that he ended every show with. Today I broke down and Googled, "Whatever happened to Aaron Brown?" and this is what I found. At least, as a native Arizonan, I can be proud that he's teaching at the state U.

Former CNN anchor Brown welcomes job at ASU

May. 16, 2006 12:00 AM

Whatever happened to Aaron Brown?

I'm asked that at least once a week. When CNN shunted its former anchor aside so that Anderson Cooper might get more air time, Brown disappeared (and with good reason: He's still under contract, so he couldn't show up on a competitor), leaving viewers to wonder where he'd surface.

Wonder no longer: Beginning next spring, Brown, 57, will serve for one semester as the John J. Rhodes Chair in Public Policy and American Institutions in the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University. And if Christopher Callahan, dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communications, gets his wish, Brown might stick around longer.

"I'm really open to it." Brown said of considering teaching future journalism classes. "I'm at a point in my life where I'm really trying to figure out what I want to do, how much I want to do, what sort of challenges I haven't done I'd like to take on."

Brown's first day at work at CNN, where he moved from ABC, was Sept. 11, 2001. Stories don't get any bigger. His offbeat, folksy style was a comfort; eventually it was parlayed into a prime-time show on CNN, which was slower paced and more thoughtful than typical TV news fare, practically anti-television in some respects: It included his reading the following day's headlines from papers around the country.

The effect was polarizing. Some viewers hated it. It wasn't what they were used to. Others loved it. It wasn't what they were used to.

Park Callahan squarely in the latter camp.

"In my mind, he is one of the leading broadcast journalists that we have," Callahan said, adding that Brown "just seems to me to be the kind of journalist we want our students to emulate."

Mark Jacobs, the Barrett Honors College dean, agreed, saying Brown was "a totally natural kind of person to come in for the Rhodes Chair. . . . It's wonderful for all of us."

Brown, who said he attended the University of Minnesota briefly, said he's not particularly worried about a future television gig conflicting with teaching. While he's interested in projects and such, Brown said he's not seeking another anchor job.

"I'm not looking to do that which I've already done again to simply do it again," he said. "To my satisfaction, I've accomplished in that arena the things I set out to accomplish. I'd like to accomplish some things outside the traditional evening news arena."

Outside the arena and into the classroom, then, one place where ratings don't matter.

Excellent new Jib Jab Cartoon

I saw this the other night on Jay Leno. Not only is it really funny, like all the JibJab animations, but it is a really poignant critique of the state of today's media & journalism:

Dearest JibJabber,

My brother and I just had the incredible honor of premiering our latest video in front of President Bush as well as thousands of journalists and politicians at the Radio-Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington, DC. You can check it out here:

http://www.JibJab.com/what_we_call_the_news

Rather than making fun of the President (which, to be honest, is like beating a dead horse) we decided to turn the tables and make fun of the press. We hope you enjoy our latest effort!

Adios Amigos,
The Brothers Spiridellis

Fairly balanced, sometimes, sorta

Fairly balanced, sometimes, sorta
Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper - Schleswig Leader, Thursday, October 26, 2006 -Page 3

A reader from Ute pointed out to me that a couple of weeks ago, when writing about how many things are observed in October, I omitted two important ones; Domestic Violence Month and Respect for Life Month. I’d apologize for the omission, except that as the reader noted in their letter to me, neither of these things are “much good for joke fodder.”

There’s never any reason to harm your spouse, children or any other family members or cohabitants. Wrong is wrong and domestic violence is wrong.

Respect for life is always a good thing. The problem is semantics and how insanely passionate some people get about life. One person may think that respecting life should include opposing war and the death penalty. Someone else may be vehemently opposed to abortion and euthanasia, but can’t for the life of them, can’t see how I can that first person can be possibly defend their positions. A third person may include all life, not just humans, so they’re opposed to butchering any animals or stepping on bugs or even cruelty to plant life. Pretty soon all three of these people are so angry with each other that they just about want to kill each other.

So there you have it, these are not things that are easy to joke about.

Well, wait..let’s at least try: Mutt: “Hey Jeff, how many times a week do you hit your wife?” Jeff: “Why you $X%&! Who told you I hit my wife? I’ll KILL ‘em! Ya hear me?! Tell me or I’ll kill you too!”

Okay, you’re right. Neither of those things are all that funny.

The point was that here we think that it’s fire-safety month or some people get bent out of shape because they hear that it’s Hispanic Heritage month and really it’s everybody and their brother’s cause-du-jour month. Or actually “du mois” or maybe “de la semaine,” but I don’t know because I don’t speak French.

Call it satire, call it trying to come up with an idea every week and looking to the calendar for inspiration.

And by the way, it’s that way every month. Mark your calendars now for “Waiting For the Barbarians Day” November 4, “Marooned Without a Compass Day” November 6, and the ever popular, “Start Your Own Country Day” November 22.

But thank you, you know who you are, for your letter. It’s always good to know that someone, somewhere is actually reading. Unless you want to send hate mail, then you can keep it to yourself, I’m very sensitive.

No, seriously- whether you agree with me, or disagree with me you should always write a letter to the editor. If you disagree with me, they your opinion will be heard, if you appreciate anything I write, then the publishers will have concrete evidence that might persuade them to keep me around.

I’d just as well take this opportunity to remind you that The views expressed here are not necessarily those of this newspaper, the publishers, Enterprise Publishing, the other staff members, or any of the subscribers.

I say that not only so you don’t assume that any of them condone any of what I write here, let alone share any of my opinions, but uh, well, uh...nope, that’s pretty much why I told you that.
My mother worries that maybe I should apologize to gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle for the cartoon that I drew of him and Congressman Steve King weeks ago comparing them to NAZIs for proposing that America declare one official language. I’m sure he’s a nice enough guy, from everything I’ve read and seen, he’s more reasonable than Steve King, I have nothing personal against Nussle, I certainly hope his feelings weren’t hurt- but I still think that it’s an unnecessary, discriminatory, nationalistic, jingoistic policy and those are the kind of policies that NAZIs came up with in Germany, also he looked funny. That’s the point of a political cartoon, to make a point and be funny.

Besides, Nuissle is the Congressman for the First District, over by Des Moines, so I hardly imagine that he saw that cartoon. Combined, the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper and the Schleswig Leader have a readership just over 2,000 and we’re in the Fifth District. There’s probably just as slim a chance that Steve King has seen my columns or cartoons either, even though he is our Fifth District Congressman, but you know what? He’s put his foot in his mouth enough and basically made a nest that he has to sit in as a wing-nut, so I don’t feel too sorry for him.

My wife considered the body of work of cartoons since this summer and suggested to me that I may be a little biased. “Where are the cartoons criticizing the Democrats?” she asked.
Who’s in power? Hard to make fun of people for doing stupid things when they aren’t in a position to do anything...

Ha ha, okay, okay, you’re right, that was a pretty good line, though, right? No? You were saying, “yeah, and I bet you have some great ocean front property to sell us in Arizona too?” You got me, I’m biased. In fact, I’m worry that if the Democrats gain control of the House and Senate next month it will be like baseball in October without the Yankees- there won’t be anyone to be mad at.

Be that as it may, I promise to TRY to be an equal-opportunity offender, if the opportunity should ever arise. Let’s just wait and burn that bridge when we come to it, shall we.
Now, I’d like to tell you why I think that you should vote for Democrat Joyce Shulte to represent the Fifth District in Congress...

Shoot! Dang, drat! Look at this? People are going to keep saying that Democrats only criticize the opposition without- (sorry ran out of room).

Good is bad, bad is good; Big Bird and Big Brother

Last month, Mark Felt, former Assistant Director of the FBI admitted to being “Deepthroat,” the high-level Justice Department official who was the secret background source for the Watergate stories in the Washington Post in the early 1970’s that eventually pressured President Richard Nixon to resign.

Nixon didn’t just want to win re-election in 1972, this time he wanted to win big, so that he could claim a mandate.

Burglars broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office building in order to know the Democrats' strategies. They wanted to plant bugs, and they wanted to dig up dirt on the Democratic candidates in order to discredit them.

Thanks to the Post’s investigative reporting by Carl Bernstien and Bob Woodward, was only part of a much bigger campaign of intimidation, corruption, and “dirty tricks.”

Nixon seemed to have thought that because he was the President, he was somehow “above the law.” But the whole point of the United States is to be a governed not by men or political parties, but by laws and regulations.

Felt (Deepthroat) should’ve been lauded as a hero, but instead the mainstream media (not just Fox News, mind you, but all the networks and CNN) brought out all the President’s men instead, who proceeded to slander Felt’s character as someone who broke the law and violated the trust of his superiors.

Hello? Who broke the law? Who violated the trust of the American people? Chief among these Nixon defenders was Charles Colson. Colson is now a Conservative-Christian pundit who founded a prison fellowship ministry, but for Colson to portray Felt as some kind of sinner is the ultimate in hypocrisy.

I think that instead of the “love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you…turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, give them the shirt off your back (Matthew 5)” theology of Jesus and ‘the Bible,’ Colson subscribes more to the “the ends justifies the means” doctrine of Machiavelli’s ‘the Prince.’ Nixon’s followers believed that they were the only people morally qualified to control the country, therefore it didn’t matter what they did to guarantee that they remained in power.

Things haven’t changed much in thirty years. Last week the Republican controlled Congress decided to cut funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB) by 46%. That means that “Sesame Street” may be on the chopping block. Some PBS stations won’t be able to offer local programming, like the “Market to Market” and Iowa State Fair coverage we enjoy on IPTV, a few stations may shut down entirely.

Why? Because some Republicans don’t like it when PBS and NPR news programs fail to report on Bush policies in the most favorable light possible. Public broadcasting was created to be an objective, independent agency that is free both from political pressures and from commercial pressures of ratings. There motto used to be “If public television doesn’t do it, who will?”
Like Woodward and Bernstien at the Post, public tv and radio should take a skeptical and challenging position toward any administration, Republican or Democrat. That’s what a free press is for.

But first Bush made Kenneth Tomlinson chairman of the CPB, a man who spent $10,000 to scrutinize the content of “Now,” a PBS news magazine hosted by Bill Moyers, because he didn’t think Moyers was “Fair and balanced” enough. Of course, to Tomlinson (like for Sean Hanity and Rush Limbaugh) “fair and balanced” means biased in favor of the Bush Whitehouse.
Tomlinson would’ve loved to make PBS stand for the “Propaganda Broadcasting System.” Who is Bush nominating to replace Tomlinson? Patricia de Stacy Harrison, a high ranking State Department official who’s a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee. Does that sound like someone objective? Unbiased? Fair? Balanced?

Besides, wouldn’t you think that the head of public broadcasting should be- oh I don’t know- someone with a background in television? Radio? Journalism? Education?

I honestly haven’t figured out if this is all part of the right-wing philosophy that wants to privatize any and all social programs so that all the Federal government is involved in is the military, or if it’s more sinister. An attempt to exert one-party control over every aspect of our culture- “total” control (as in “totalitarianism”).

Maybe I’m over-reacting here, but either way, but it seems like things we were always taught were good, right, and helpful: standing up for what’s right, reporting crime, freedom of the press, free speech, and public television are all things that are under attack by the very people who claim moral superiority.

Happy Birthday Idiot Box

Today is the anniversary of one of the most important events in all of history. This is the 79th birthday of perhaps the most powerful invention to ever change the world. On January 27, 1926, a Scottish inventor named John Baird gave the first public demonstration of a television in London.

Baird operated two ventriloquist dummies in front of a camera. He just showed their heads, so that viewers couldn’t see him working them. a German scientist had actually patented a television system in 1884. Baird also made the first trans-Atlantic broadcast from London to New York over phone lines and came out with the first color TV in 1928.

Frequent broadcasts to a few homes began in New York that same year. Regular television broadcasts began in the United States in 1939, and permanent color broadcasts began in 1954. By the late fifties, televisions were in a majority of American homes.

Television had a unifying effect on the nation for the second half of the twentieth century. Since there were only three major networks and the Public Broadcasting System in the airways, Americans had television in common. Southerners and Northerners both watched ‘I love Lucy.’ Easterners and Westerners watched ‘Dick Van Dyke.’ City dwellers and country folks all watched ‘I Dream of Genie.’ Television wore away at regional differences and cultural divides. TV made the myth of a “melting pot” a reality. America was no longer a deli tray of Monterey Jack, Cheddar, and Provolone; it was finally becoming a Velveeta fondue.

Television shed light on our wrongs and influenced us toward reform. Television exposed Northerners to the injustices of Southern segregation. It brought the horror of the Vietnam War into comfortable suburban living rooms. It chronicled the Watergate hearings.

We all remember fondly gathering around our families sets to mourn President Kennedy, to pray for the Apollo Astronauts, to listen to Bing Crosby and laugh at Bob Hope and Johnny Carson, and to cheer for our Olympic Hockey team.

When people my age were kids it was clear that there were patterns we could count on from TV. Local news at five and six, world news sandwiched between at five-thirty. A lively game show at six-thirty was followed by “the family hour at seven;” kid-friendly situation comedies like ‘Happy Days’ and ‘the Brady Bunch.’

Younger Elementary school kids were sent off to bed, or at least bath, at eight so that the grown-ups could watch those more edgy sitcoms with mature themes like ‘Maude,’ ‘All in the Family,’ and ‘M*A*S*H.’ Once those kids were safely asleep, adults settled in for the romantic dramas, detective shows or mini-series. Local news again before bed, Carson and Tom Snyder if they couldn’t sleep.

Weekdays were filled with soap operas. Saturday mornings were always cartoons. Sunday mornings were public affairs and weekend afternoons were sports. That structure made you feel like you knew what to expect and where and when to look for what you wanted or what to avoid.

Back then we believed that America owned the airways together, so our government regulated them. Who could own TV stations, how many they could own, no obscenity was allowed, both political parties had to be given equal-time, even a minimum amount of children’s and educational programming was required.

Then came the advent of cable, and now satellite- not to mention the Regan, Gingrich, and Bush W “revolutions” of de-regulation and corporate welfare. Television wasn’t a utility, it was a commodity. If viewers paid for programming, then there were no limits for content, language, or nudity. The government could stand between the trash and your living room so long as it was over the airwaves that everybody owned, but if you pay for it, you’re inviting it in- if you didn’t want it, you wouldn’t have paid for it.

Today reality shows are on some channel any hour of the day. Daytime talk show guests air their dirty laundry all day long. And we are bombarded with commercials for lingerie, birth control, venereal disease treatments, and erectile dysfunction aids at any hour on any channel. If American culture has declined, if we are more coarse, less civil, more sensual, more violent can we blame each other or do we have to blame ourselves? Of course there is the age old question, does TV REFLECT society, or SHAPE it?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m the first guy to support the First Amendment. I enjoy the edginess of’ Law and Order’ the witty sarcasm of ‘the Simpsons’ and the gory details of ‘CSI’ as much as anyone. I’ve even been drawn in by the relationship dynamics of ‘Sex in the City’ on occasion, but would it be so bad to have at least SOME boundaries? Would it be so difficult or some how Socialism to have well structured guidelines for when certain shows are shown?

The anniversary of TV may be a good time to remember what Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Newton Minow had to say to National Association of Broadcasters back in 1961.

He’s the one who called TV “a vast wasteland.”

“When television is good, nothing--not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers--nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you--and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.

You will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience-participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western badmen, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials--many screaming, cajoling and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you will see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, try it."

Minlow believed that television should serve "the public interest?" Some say the public interest is merely what interests the public. And in a day and age when so few corporations own and control the media, their bottom line is the bottom line. GE owns Universal/NBC, which includes USA, Discovery, History & Learning channels, MSNBC etc. Viacom owns CBS, MTV, VH1, CMT, Nickelodeon etc. Disney owns ABC, ESPN, HGTV etc. FOX and AOL/Times-Warner own pretty much everything else. They pander to our lowest common denominators. What makes money.

Government has been complicit in this corruption. The current administration’s philosophy is less regulation, less oversight, less competition, less law and order, more law of the jungle, more law of natural selection (Darwin); the survival of the fittest TV network, and fit means fat. Get kids hooked early on sex, violence and consumerism and you guarantee the advancement of your feces (I’m sorry, I mean species). Minlow had a better vision:

“Television and all who participate in it are jointly accountable to the American public for respect for the special needs of children, for community responsibility, for the advancement of education and culture, for the acceptability of the program materials chosen, for decency and decorum in production, and for propriety in advertising. This responsibility cannot be discharged by any given group of programs, but can be discharged only through the highest standards of respect for the American home, applied to every moment of every program presented by television. Program materials should enlarge the horizons of the viewer, provide him with wholesome entertainment, afford helpful stimulation, and remind him of the responsibilities which the citizen has toward his society.”

This will no doubt be one of those columns that will have my Republicans saying things to me like, “Clean up TV? Ted, you’re starting to sound like a conservative!” You’re absolutely right. I’m a social conservative Democrat. The current government, controlled by people who call themselves “neo-cons” are the radical libertarians at least where culture is concerned. Minlow was appointed by John F. Kennedy.

Tips for better writing

by Ted Mallory
Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper Thurs. Sept. 30, 2004

Let’s face it, one of the things we’d all like to see in the media is a little more self-criticism. People just don’t trust the press anymore and with good reason. On the Republican bad list, no doubt is Dan Rather at for the flap about memos alleging that President Bush was A.W.O.L. when he should’ve been reporting to National Guard duty.

Democrats still want to know why CNN commentator Robert Novak released the name of a CIA operative who’s the wife of former acting U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Joseph Wilson. We’d also like to know what White House official illegally leaked her name to him.

Journalists make mistakes. Sometimes they’re perfectly honest mistakes, but obviously they’re sometimes mistakes that are made “accidentally-on-purpose.” It would help the media’s credibility a lot if they would do some self-examination and self-policing. People would trust them a lot more if they’d admit when they were wrong and try to make amends for their mistakes.

I’d like to volunteer to set an example. Not that Dan Rather or Robert Novak read my column, but I figure I at least owe it to you my readers. Here are some textbook tips for writing Editorials and Opinion pieces and my personal appraisal of how well or poor I’m doing at following them:

Be Brief & Concise- I’m working on it. The Des Moines Register suggests that letters to the Editor be no more than 600 words. Too often I go almost double that. You don’t have to write much more than 50 words if you can get your point across.

Come to the Point Quickly- I spend way to much time prefacing whatever I want to say. For example, last week, before I got into criticizing Governor Vilsack’s education policies, I spent a couple paragraphs apologizing for Bush bashing so much the week before.

Be Sincere- You have to give me this one. You may disagree with me on lots of things I write about, but at least I know what I believe and I’m not afraid to say so.

Don’t take yourself too seriously- I hope that I’ve been humble and self-effacing enough that you know I’m sincere and try to be honest.

Don’t preach- persuade- This has to be the biggest problem I’ve had and I want to take an opportunity to apologize if you feel like I’ve ever done this. Preaching is when you talk down to people as if you know better than they do. Persuading is when you set the facts before someone, tell them why you feel a certain way and encourage them to agree with you. If I had been smart, I would have been trying to persuade you not to vote to re-elect Bush (a $7 Trillion debt and a $445 billion deficit are two good reasons) . Instead, I let my frustration and irritation get the best of me and just used this column to vent and rant. Please forgive me.

Avoid all gossip or hearsay- Here is the biggest mistake I made in my column two weeks ago about President Bush’s history of cocaine use and National Guard duty. Second hand information. Of course, the person who determined that Dan Rather’s memos were forgeries wasn’t an expert in typography, he’s a Republican activist who runs a conservative website. And both Bush’s C.O. and his secretary both have said that basically the content of the allegedly forged memos was pretty much true anyway. Be that as it may, I didn’t call the Texas, Alabama and Florida National Guards, I went by what Dan Rather did and look what it got me? Egg on my face.

Admit errors- don’t be afraid to change positions- I still don’t trust the President any more than Rush Limbaugh trusts Dan Rather, but I was a hypocrite. I’ve preached against mud slinging and character assassination- “the politics of destruction,” but I stooped to making accusations about a candidate’s face, instead of sticking to current, relative issues. That was wrong, I admit it. I was so angry about how Bush supporters tried to smear Kerry’s record, that I jumped on the band-wagon with everyone who wanted to return fire.

Of course, while I’m sincere enough to admit it was cheap, I’d be an even bigger hypocrite and a real liar if I promised it will never happen again.

A little humor never hurt anyone- I know I’m no Mark Twain, heck I’m no Dave Berry, but I know that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Some people would rather I not even write about politics. For some, that may be because politics can be boring, so I try to slip a little wit in here when I can.

Sometimes it’s hard to top reality, though. Sen. John McCain recently took some time off of campaigning for Bush to criticize the way he’s handled the reconstruction effort in Iraq, I at least find that mildly amusing. Then Pat “Mr. Conservative” Buchanan criticized Bush for even invading Iraq, and the aftermath, and his run-away deficits. Buchanan thinks that there’s nothing “conservative” about the Bush administration. Soon after McCain criticized the Bush campaign for not criticizing Buchanan for criticizing Bush. Did you follow that? It makes my head spin.

Some people are sick of the election and mud slinging and character assassination. We have to put up with enough of it on TV and there’s a whole ‘nother six weeks of it to go (unless, God forbid, it’s as tight as it was last time and goes to the courts again). If you’re one of those folks, I sincerely apologize. My hope is to write something that will entice people to read the NEWSpaper and make it unique among small town newspapers. The last thing I’d want to do is to make it just like everything you have to put up with in the mainstream media or to write anything that you won’t want to read. I’ll try to write less about politics and be funnier, but I’m not going to PROMISE, I’m too likely to break that promise.

See the thing is, it’s hard to think of something to write about every week that’s funny and not political. I may have to resort to writing about writing, say for instance if I spent a whole column writing about Journalism textbook tips for writing Editorial and Opinion columns. That could become a real drag. Know what I mean?

So much for being brief and concise. Dang, I’ve got to work on that.

Lets make Bob Costas wear a John Deere Cap

One of the worst parts of coaching a predominantly women’s sport like cheerleading is having to overhear the girl talk.

“Omigawd, did you watch the Olympics last night?”

“Omigawd- Michael Phelps is SO HOT.”

“He’s like 6’4” and only like 150 pounds.”

“And his like, what do you call that? Arm span is like two feet longer than normal, or than it’s supposed to be.”

“Really? Wow. Did you know he has like size fourteen shoes?”

“Like NO WAY, Omigawd.”

I guess it’s to be expected and I just have to listen, the Olympics will be over in another few days anyway. After all, I have to admit, the summer before Freshman year of High School, I was head over heels for Mary Lou Retton. Sure, the red white and blue gymnastics leotards looked great on her, but I think it was mostly about the smile.

It’s surreal to see her interviewed today. She’s a mom who’s a spokesperson for pro-family Christian things like internet filters and stuff. You wouldn’t think of Wonder Woman or Supergirl or Cat Woman hauling her three kids around to school in a minivan twenty years after you first fell in love with them.

But that’s an important thing to remember about athletes and any celebrities for that matter, (especially politicians and preacher) they’re human beings. People just like you and me.

Well, Okay, not QUITE like us. Have you watched Olympic gymnastics lately? It’s phenomenal that any human being can do any of the things these kids do. That’s discipline, that’s pushing their bodies and the laws of physics to the limit.

But why do the men all look like college-aged, well, “men,” but all the women gymnasts look like 11 or 12 year old girls even though they’re supposedly anywhere from 16-23? Do they take anti-steroids? Is there something about the feats they’re performing that alters the physiology of guys and girls differently?

The Ancient Greeks used the original Olympics to showcase the beauty of the “perfect” human physiques. Today’s athletes are more like evolutionary mutants. Really, something must be up. You can’t tell me that male swimmers were 6’4” with over-long arms just 8 or 14 years ago.

American shot putters Adam Nelson and John Gadina look more like people you’d know, but only because they didn’t shave for their interviews on NBC. Their necks have to be thirty inches around. I can see that having to do with the nature of their sport, but I’ve see steroids do that too.

Not all Olympians are so different than the rest of us. I guess that shooters and archers don’t need performance enhancing drugs. That’s about it. I’m not sure why they have to build white-water coursed for canoes. Does Greece not have rivers? And how are badminton and synchronized diving Olympic sports?

19 year old Mariel Zagunis won America a gold in saber fencing. There’s a sport I’d like to take up. I’d like to see more And Javelin throwing- who does that anymore? Olympic sports that are more common to common people. Like men’s or co-ed softball. Or bowling. Why isn’t bowling an Olympic sport? Or golf, walking- how about walking? Darts, darts would be cool. I bet my brother and one of my wife’s cousins could be Olympic class dart-throwers. What about fishing? They have sailing and kayaking, why not fishing.

Of course, what the Olympic planning committee really needs to think about is NASCAR. No, we’re not all Bobbi Labonte, but we all drive cars. Wouldn’t it be cool to watch people excel at activities that we all do anyway? Although, I’d hate for America to only get bronze or silver in NASCAR.

Lets face it, we get carried away with ourselves sometimes. Take the U.S. Basketball team. All over paid NBA spotlight hogs. Not working on fundamentals, not working selflessly as a team-unit, un-coachable, spoiled millionaires. That’s why the Olympics used on only allow amateurs. But in our day and age of sport-drinks, designer shoes and clothes there are no amateurs anyway. I think it was the 1988 Olympics when Nike paid American diver thousands of dollars to sling a pair of shoes over his shoulder while cameras snapped. Did anybody notice that divers, like swimmers complete barefoot?

I think we should host the 2008 Olympics here in Iowa. There could be an Olympic tractor pull. Speed corn-husking could be introduced. Hog throwing has got to be as difficult as the discuss throw (not that I’d know personally, I admit). Think of the money. If RAGBRI participants enjoy fresh sweet corn and tomatoes?

At the risk of blowing my own horn, I think I could be a real contender in the coffee-drinking event. What we really need is an Olympic euchre tournament. And it we really wanted to have some fun with the foreigners, we could try to talk the Olympic Committee into a cow-tipping event.

A little Shop-Talk

October 6-12 was National Newspaper Week. I bet ya didn’t even notice, did ya? I noticed, but then I don’t just teach Art, I teach Newspaper and Yearbook.

You might have noticed that a couple of weeks ago that many newspapers, CNN and Good Morning America ran a rather peculiar story. Most of them cited the World Health Organization as reporting that within a couple of hundred years, there would be no more natural blondes.

According to Bill Hoffmann’s story in the New York Post, a German research laboratory believed that the gene for naturally blonde hair would become extinct by the year 2202. Supposedly two things were bringing about the demise of the blonde gene. For one, it’s a recessive gene anyway, and for another, men are supposedly more attracted to fake blondes than real ones so they’re not reproducing as much as they used to.

Well, the word over the wire services is that the World Health Organization never issued such a report, never did such research and doesn’t know where the story came from.

According to Lawrence Altman at the New York Times, CNN got it from Good Morning America, ABC anchors heard it from an ABC producer in London, who saw it in a British newspaper.

These guys obviously forgot three basic rules of journalism.

First; "Get it first, but first get it right"

Second, which is one way you make sure you get it right; "Confirm information with at least three independent sources."

Third; "Use reliable sources"

In this day and age of 24 hour news, the internet, cable and satellite TV, too many reporters are quoting each other instead of returning to the original source of the information. Or maybe Charles Gibson just wanted to know whether or not Diane Sawyer dyes her hair.

I bring it up because I don’t think we appreciate our small, local newspapers enough. It’s not easy to put one of these things together every week and get things done right and get them done on time.

Sure, a few weird people like me thing it’s fun, but a lot of really hard working farmers think that planting and bailing and harvesting is fun, that doesn’t make it easy. Those folks who’s names are in that box on the bottom left corner of page two go through a lot of stress for ten or twelve hours every Monday and Tuesday. From writing, checking, rechecking, pasting up and correcting to folding and stuffing, labeling and delivering they’re working hard to put it together. And they’re not becoming millionaires doing it.

Someday I think I’d like to write a feature story on the history of Lyon Publishing. A small town, small business that’s stayed in the family and been recognized throughout the state for it’s contributions to journalism and their communities. It started with the Schleswig LEADER, added the Mapleton PRESS , added the Ute Independent and then consolidated it with the Charter Oak TIMES. Again, not making millions, doing it 1) for the love of the work, a lot like why farmers farm and 2) to serve us, the community.

And don’t think that having a Mapleton company own the Charter Oak & Ute paper is anything like the Chicago Tribune Company owning the Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s not even comparable to the Omaha World Herald buying out the Council Bluffs Nonpareil. The Herald is owned by the Ganett Corporation, by the way, who publish USA Today. Mapleton are our neighbors, part of rural western Iowa.

One of the best things about the small, local press is that you get to be part of it. You send in your story ideas, you hold us accountable when we get a fact wrong or a name misspelled (miss-spelled?) (sic).

Heck, you can actually write the stories or take the pictures! I for one have really appreciated the things that people like Lynn Hoffman, JoAnne Seufert, Ken Lally and Mary Ellen Keating contribute. And if you enjoy this column at all, don’t just tell me, tell Mike & Barb Lyon. Better yet, tell your friends and relatives and try to convince them to buy a copy or even better, subscribe.

But you know what we’d really appreciate? Letters to the editor. It’s easy to mail it, or give it to Jackie, or email it. My email address is under my byline, or you could send it straight to the office at mpress@pionet.net.

The more you contribute and participate, (not to mention the more people who subscribe) the better the NEWSpaper will be. It will be more personal, more unique to us, and you’ll make it more likely that we’ll be able to continue to have our own local newspaper on into the future.