Word: reals
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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After the Supreme Court ruled last summer that laws banning flag desecration were unconstitutional infringements on freedom of expression, Congress rushed to appease indignant voters with a new Flag Protection Act. George Bush and many congressional Republicans insisted, however, that nothing less than a constitutional amendment could provide real protection for the colors. Last week a federal judge in Seattle proved them right...
Note the phrase "a little mud on his shoes," because it represents an attitude held by editors and reporters who should know better. They have created two standards in their newspapers and broadcasts: one for real news, in which "a little mud on somebody's shoes" is treated like a little mud, no more, no less, within the context of that person's life and work. Then there are the values of the gossip/celebrity press, a netherworld of journalism in | which flacks and hacks operate in a manner that would never be tolerated in the rest of the paper...
Which gets to perhaps the central fact about today's excess of gossip and celebrity journalism: it is contemptuous of readers and viewers. It says they are incapable of dealing with real news and that they must be fed Pablum and given the illusion that they are vicariously participating in important stuff. It is also about class: a nouveau celebrity class applauded less for achievement than for the mere acquisition of money or the act of becoming famous. I suspect that the pre-eminence of this type of gossip and celebrity journalism is not unrelated to the private frustrations...
None of this is to say there isn't a place for celebrity journalism. It can and should be fun, occasionally bitchy and lurid, rich in relevant information about the lives of the rich and famous and the accomplished. But it should be based on reporting. And real reporting is nothing more than the best obtainable version of the truth. Getting at the truth is hard work. It requires phone calls, knocking on doors, spending hours with people who know the subject and, most important of all, giving credence to information that might be contrary to a reporter's preconceived...
...streamlined minivan this fall and a new version of the Jeep Cherokee next year. Criticized for its reliance on Mitsubishi for sophisticated engines, which power Chrysler's hot new Plymouth Laser and Eagle Talon, the company has introduced a family of U.S.-built V-6 engines. The automaker's real product gap is in the mid-size-car category. To counter that, Chrysler will introduce a striking auto in 1992, code-named the L/H, which will boast, among other things, a new multivalve Chrysler engine...