I've written many times here of the fascination of the modern press in covering...well...itself, and of the hagiographic coverage reporters get who find themselves on the wrong end of the violence they freely journeyed to cover. Here's another example of the "look how brave we are" genre, in which the WaPost OMBUDSMAN (new to the job) lauds the bravery and gumption of some Post journalists.
Journalists getting arrested or injured in political upheaval is not an interesting story to me, and I suspect many others. Were doctors and lawyers and postal workers and tradesmen not also injured and arrested in these upheavals? Were the voyeuristic activities of the journalists swept into the violence somehow more worthy than those actually involved in the protests? I think not, and I will continue to write about this ridiculosity.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
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1 comment:
I think a lot of journalists consider themselves somewhat invincible in most of these environments. I mean, after all, they generally feel more kinship in an Arab mob than in a Tea Party convention so combined with their "Foreign Press" credentials, this compassionate kinship should render them revered observers to be embraced.
They are not at all unlike the people who venture out to live among timberwolves, grizzly bears and silverback gorillas, who I believe are genuinely surprised when the wild animals finally decide to harvest this handy snack who's been making him or herself available for the picking.
For the record, I believe that this is more a case of narcissism than courage but I suspect there are those journalists who, once exposed to the reality of their environment choose to remain or go back despite the danger, actually do muster some personal courage, maybe even great amounts of it. But it is still not, as CW reminds us, newsworthy. Now if a reporter actually stepped in to save someone rather than take video and provide commentary, you know, like so many of the young Americans who do that every day in our two wars, well, then I'd happily bask in the coverage of a journalist's courage.
Furthermore, for a group (the media elite) who likely consider Private Manning a "hero" should it be any surprise that they also find themselves to be imbued with noteworthy courage and consider it their duty to highlight themselves to the lesser people who await and hang on their every reported word?
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