Write Down The Drain

I know that this site has more to do with politics than anything, but despite that, I’ve decided to weigh in a bit on the controversy behind author James Frey and his book, “A Million Little Pieces,” and Oprah Winfrey (who also celebrated a birthday yesterday, as it turns out). It’s because people who misrepresent themselves or some other subject in print is something that concerns me. I honestly try not to do that here, but if and when someone presents evidence that I’ve said something wrong or disingenuous, it is my intention to owe up to it.

First, I should tell you that I’ve read excerpts from Frey’s book, and it is truly a riveting account of someone (though, apparently, not him) overcoming substance abuse. When I read what was described and then saw and heard Frey promoting his book, I started to become a bit suspicious, because he looked too good for someone who had lived through what he described.

I don’t really understand why Frey did what he did – he could have said from the beginning that the book was a third-person account or it was based on a few different people he knew who he managed to consolidate into one character. The point is that if he said from the get-go that it was ostensibly a work of fiction, everything would have been fine. Instead, by misrepresenting himself, he diluted the power of his great work (which has apparently helped many other addicts to overcome their addictions), which is truly a shame.

But what of Oprah? What do I have to say to this self-promoting, self-manufactured media goddess who publishes and promotes a magazine which is apparently devoted to nothing more than every imaginable excess and circumstance of her life down to the most excruciatingly minute detail? What’s the word for this insular individual who equates an inability to shop at a trendy French department store with the subjugation of people of her race for over 200 years, including attacks from police dogs and water cannons?

Well done, I say. She held Frey accountable.

Now I don’t know exactly what caused her to experience this revelation or what evidence was brought before her to make her realize that she was wrong to originally defend Frey on “Larry King Live,” but the point is that she made him tell the truth. I also realize that her credibility was at stake – her “brand,” if you will – and that had more to do with it than anything. But she did it.

I would ask that you consider that when you realize that so much of what is mentioned and discussed at this site and many others has to do with people who just don’t do the right thing, and how anyone who misrepresents themselves should be held accountable. You could say that, if everyone represented themselves truthfully, this site and many others probably wouldn’t exist, and I have a feeling that you’d be right.

I’m bringing all of this up because there are many others who I wish would meet this same standard of accountability, and two of them are described in this recent column by Tom Ferrick, Jr. of the Philadelphia Inquirer (registration required).

As Ferrick notes, Richard Scrushy is a former C.E.O. of HealthSouth of the Birmingham, Alabama area, who was recently tried and acquitted of bilking $2.7 billion from his health care company. I maintain that we may never know how the “news” about Scrushy written by freelance journalist Audrey Lewis may have led to his acquittal (I know, in most cases, jurors are bound to be impartial in their verdicts, but they could have heard about what was written about Scrushy or even read the columns themselves). This only came out because Lewis complained when she received only $11,000 from Scrushy instead of the $150,000 promised to her and her church (charming).

Ferrick also mentioned Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at The Cato Institute who took money from Jack Abramoff to write favorable articles about Abramoff’s clients, who were often Indian tribes seeking casino licenses.

I could go on and on when it comes to journos taking payoffs (Armstrong Williams, George Will, etc.), but that really isn’t the whole point. Mainly, I just want to give Oprah Winfrey credit for doing the right thing (I also think she’s more than a bit shameless in promoting her book club, but if the net effect is that people are reading more, then I suppose I really have no right to criticize).

I’ll try to keep her good deed in mind the next time I hear about these programs of hers where she gives out automobiles as gifts to each of the members of the audience, which totally redefines “wretched excess” as far as I’m concerned.