Time To Bleat The Press Again

The Overseas Press Club dinner was held in Manhattan last night, as noted here (no word on whether or not Rich Little was on hand to render bad impersonations of ex-presidents), and various press luminaries gathered to tell war stories (figuratively and literally) and dine on asparagus napoleon, black bass and a dessert sampler, according to the story.

I’m not being snarky by pointing that out, by the way. I think some of these men and women are entitled to kick back in style on occasions like this, given that they usually have to live out of their suitcases in some truly God-forsaken locations to do their work on a regular basis.

As I read about the reminiscences of Andy Rooney (who is a thoroughly accomplished writer and a lot more than the end-of-60-Minutes chronic complainer, by the way) and the praise heaped upon the Washington bureau of McClatchy Newspapers (God, I wish they’d held onto The Inquirer – the bureau was singled out in Bill Moyers’ fine program the other night which I will see eventually), I unexpectedly came across this testimonial regarding media coverage in Iraq…

Then there was Rita Cosby, recently departed from MSNBC, saying she wants to see more coverage of the soldiers in combat. A veteran of Afghanistan and other hot spot reporting, she says "It should get more coverage on American news. We can't lose sight of Americans involved."

Uh, what exactly has Rita Cosby done to merit a place in some imaginary journalistic pantheon that would consider her as a legitimate member? Is it merely her outstanding resume with her thoroughly verifiable credentials? Is it her fervent desire to “break through the glass,” if you will, to tell the story?

I mean, this woman was let go from both Fox and MSNBC; I guess, as noted here, Extra or The Insider is next.

Fortunately, Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times (who is doing some truly courageous overseas reporting for the New York Times on a catalogue of human rights abuses) took the occasion to state the following…

Kristof, a former foreign correspondent, went on to push journalists to go beyond just reporting. "I don't think we should be embarrassed if we have a little bit of advocacy, that we can do good. We have to serve the public good, not just the bottom line," he declared. "The reality is that we do have an incredibly valuable spotlight."

In addition, the columnist urged his colleagues to do more stories off the radar, and more in-depth. "We do a pretty good job of covering news that happens on any one day, particularly if it happens at a press conference," he said. "We do need to try harder to cover stories that aren't sexy and are the reasons we went into this profession. We in the news business have to think about our larger responsibility to society."

I know there are lefty bloggers out there who dump on Kristof from time to time, and I swear to God, I will never understand why.

Update: Speaking of courage in the press, Digby via Atrios has a great post on someone who came and went amidst the media "flotsam and jetsam" (I hesitate to say this is a must-read, but I'll say it anyway - this is a must-read).

And finally (speaking of media), I just wanted to point out the passing of Jack Valenti as noted here. Yes, he was a player among political and corporate types for years, but I would ask you to consider something.

Valenti established the ratings for motion pictures in 1968, and though they have always been arbitrary to an extent, I would argue that this helped free filmmakers from studio conventions, labeling content in an age-appropriate fashion. This resulted in all kinds of stories written, directed and acted in new ways that led to some of the greatest films ever made in the 1970s.

Thanks for that, Jack.