Friday, February 28, 2020

‘Veritas’


News Note: James O’Keefe, the right-wing dirty trickster and head of “Project Veritas,” whose speciality is secretly videotaping people using “disguises and hidden cameras to uncover supposed liberal bias and corruption," yelled “Gotcha!” at ABC’s David Wright this week. ABC overreacted by suspending Wright for saying these things, among others:

“‘I don’t think we’re terribly interested in voters,’ he said, echoing gripes about the superficiality of some aspects of White House and campaign coverage that have been raised by journalists for decades. 

[He also said,] “‘Commercial imperative is incompatible with news.’” 

—David Wright, ABC News, in Paul Farhi, “ABC News suspends correspondent David Wright after comments about Trump coverage, socialism, in Project Veritas Sting,” The Washington Post, Feb. 26, 2020.
 


Editorial Comment: Yesterday, the WORD featured Trump suing the NYTimes; today, ABC News voluntarily shoots itself in the head. Sheesh.


 

Vantage






















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Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard


Thursday, February 27, 2020

Trump Sues NYT for Libel


“The Trump campaign has turned to the courts to try to punish an opinion writer for having an opinion they find unacceptable. Fortunately, the law protects the right of Americans to express their judgments and conclusions, especially about events of public importance.” 

—Eileen Murphy, NYTimes spokeswoman, “Trump Campaign Sues New York Times Over 2019 Opinion Article,” The New York Times, Feb. 26, 2020.


Editorial Comment: Remember that meme, “First they came for the journalists . . . We don't know what happened after that”?



 

Low ebb for the press & America





















FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard



Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Easily Confused


“I’ve been doing this for 38 years. I don’t care what you do, there’s always going to be someone that shows up saying, ‘I didn’t know about this.’ Because people want to be spoon-fed. And I’ve also learned over the years that no matter how much you publicize, how much you print, how much you provide, most people — not all, but most — don’t read it. . . . 

“Most people don’t want to be confused with the facts.” 

—Jay Bender, grocery owner and mayor of Pollocksville, N.C., since 1982, in Charles Bethea, “What Happens When the News Is Gone?” The New Yorker, Jan. 27, 2020.
 

Editorial Comment: We’re confused enough as it is.



 

Low-tech selfie





















FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Losing the News

 
“Local news in the United States is in a state of crisis. For over a decade, there has been a steady succession of local outlets closing down, reporters being laid off, publication schedules cut, and resources tightened. As a result, thousands of communities across the country have less access to critical information on governance, elections, education, health, and numerous issues specific to their cities, towns, and neighborhoods.

“Local news plays an indispensable role in American civic life as a trusted source for critical information, a watchdog for government and corporate accountability, and a building block of social cohesion. As such, local journalism is a cornerstone of American democracy, serving as a driver of civic engagement and a guarantor of government integrity.”



  


Editorial Comment: Where can we all get together and talk?



 
http://www.humsenior.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Senior-News-March-2020.pdf

We’re not all dead yet: the March issue of Senior News

















FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

Monday, February 24, 2020

Where Bad Writing Comes From


“Why is so much writing so hard to understand? Why must a typical reader struggle to follow an academic article, the fine print on a tax return, or the instructions for setting up a wireless home network?” . . .

“The Curse of Knowledge . . . a difficulty in imagining what it is like for someone else not to know something that you know. The curse of knowledge is the single best explanation I know of why good people write bad prose.”

—Steven Pinker, Harvard psychologist, in Glenn Leibowitz’s “The Single Reason Why People Can’t Write,” Inc., July 2017. See Pinker, “The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century,” 2017. (Thanks to alert WORDster Mark Larson)



Editorial Comment: There’s also the Curse of Ignernce.
 

 

Ferocious Sadie Loves Her Hose














FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard







Friday, February 21, 2020

Demoralized Rabble


“The Gulf War was quite a victory. Yet, who could not be moved by the sight of that poor demoralized rabble — outwitted, outflanked and outmaneuvered by the U.S. military. But I think the press will bounce right back.” 

—James A. Baker III, BushI Secretary of State, Gridiron Dinner, 1991.






Editorial Comment: In time to be outwitted in the Afghanistan.
 

 

Blue Merc











  

  
FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard





Thursday, February 20, 2020

The Public Mind


“The very purpose of the First Amendment is to foreclose public authority from assuming a guardianship of the public mind through regulating the press, speech and religion. In this field, every person must be his own watchman for truth, because the forefathers did not trust any government to separate the true from the false for us.”

—Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954), Supreme Court associate justice (1941-1954), in a 1945 decision. See First Amendment Champion Abrams Discusses Freedom of Speech,” Robert H. Jackson Center, 2017.



Editorial Comment: Surely we can trust the government to tell us what’s right. Right? Don’t call me Shirley



 

Say Goodnight, Chet.












  

      
  
FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard



Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Informed Decisions


“Voters decide elections. Now’s the time to focus newspapers’ full energy and limited resources on providing every voter with the information that’s essential to making informed decisions. We can’t do that if millions of voters won’t ever read, let alone trust, the solid journalism flowing from the fingers of the underpaid and overly abused reporters in the field. We certainly can't do that if they won't read and won’t trust fact-based reporting . . . .” 

—Matt Laslo, reporter and blogger, “The New York Times presidential endorsement shows why newspapers must end the practice,” Think, NBC News, Jan. 20, 2020.



Editorial Comment: We don’t need no stinkin’ facts.



 

Old Bikers










  

      
  
FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard