el - a personal story: Howard Dean's brother Jim and I briefly talked about the 2004 election the other day when he was here in Houston. I mentioned the Meet the Press show in December before the Iowa primary where every single media pundit took turns kicking Howard Dean, then the Democratic front runner. He confirmed what I had observed that the Dean campaign expected the conservative criticism but to have the entire Washington and New York press as well as much of the liberal think tank and consultant class unleashed on them was unexpected. The answer was they wanted an outsider, a fun and different new story, until it looked like they would get one. Then OMG they realized what it would mean. With an outsider people were uncertain who would have jobs and who would have access. So job related and social class related - the insiders in Washington all go to each other's parties in an incestous shared mileu.
RJ Eskow analyzes some criticisms of him from Howard Kurtz in the The Huffington Post that used the phrase "conspiracy of shared values" that made me think of this conversation.
Here's a thought-experiment: Ask yourself what the public response would be if the Times ran a piece today on, say, Hugo Chavez - one that only quoted past employees talking about him as a wonderful leader and human being. You would probably ask yourself, "True or not, why are they running this now?" And, "How did they come to get these interview results?" That's a question that should always be asked, regardless of subject. Story selection is everything.
When writing a "human interest" story, which "humans" are of "interest"?
Choice of interview subjects determines outcome.
Style equals substance.
Am I saying that Karl Rove dictates editorial decisions to Sulzberger and the Times? No. To use a line from Gore Vidal's play "The Best Man," it's "a conspiracy of shared values." Watching it, analyzing it, and decoding it, helps free the public from manipulation. People who do that, instead of writing simplistic pieces like Howard Kurtz's, have earned the title "media critic." I wish we had a few more.
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