LETTERS
EASY GRADER?
I taught English in New York City public high schools for over
a decade and know that all grading is ultimately subjective, but
I question Terence Smith’s criteria for judging how the America
media covered the Iraq war in his article “Hard Lessons”
(cjr, May/ June). He acknowledges that most media saw issues from
the American viewpoint and operated as cheerleaders. He gave them
a grade of C-. In the high school where I taught, students could
graduate with C- grades. I’d grade TV coverage an F.
Gary M. Stern
New York, New York
EMBEDDED LESSON
In his May/June piece on his experience in Iraq, Bob Arnot offered
a key insight that I wonder if he or any other practicing journalist
in the United States fully grasped. Arnot was surprised, he wrote,
to see how much his story was enriched when he would “find
an old metered cab, and drive around town,” in order to understand
what problems confronted the average Iraqi.
Those of us who have been concerned with the decline of the press
in the United States have been imploring journalists to get out
of their offices, out of the bubble, and walk around their communities
to get a sense of the concerns of the folks in their community.
Journalists should not have to experience a war to make this connection.
Christopher S. Kelley
Department of
Political Science
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio
REALITY TV NEWS
It’s no wonder that Orville Schell’s best broadcast
students don’t want to work in most commercial stations (cjr,
March/April). Instead of training them to become Fred Friendlys,
perhaps he should teach them what twenty-first century broadcast
reporting is all about.
First of all, he shouldn’t fill their heads with the myth
that in-depth TV reporting used to be the norm, which now has
been corrupted by the bottom line. It never was the norm. Jobs
like that were slim forty years ago, and they’re still slim
today, although with outlets like investigative units, cable documentary
networks, PBS, and the 60 Minutes clones, I’d warrant there
are more opportunities now than when I started thirty-five years
ago.
In-depth reporting on a commercial newscast was recently attempted
in Chicago, and it flopped. The fatal flaw? We are a linear medium
with a mass audience. No matter how well it’s done, a five-minute
report on Chicago’s schools isn’t going to interest
those in the suburbs. They’ll “flip the page” by
turning to another channel.
Finally, it’s obvious that Schell has never had the thrill
of doing a live shot on twenty minutes’ notice, or producing
a package in half a day. Sure, it’s not Nightline. But you
know what? If it’s done right, it’s the essence of what
journalism’s always been in this country: Get the facts.
Get them fast. And tell the story. If that doesn’t interest
you, there’s always magazine writing.
Too few in our business do commercial TV journalism well. Too
many do it poorly. But whose fault is that? Perhaps it’s
the fault of J-school deans whose “best students” somehow
got the impression that it’s not worth doing in the first
place.
Robert Luther Ray
Producer, WMAQ-TV
Chicago, Illinois
LEGAL THREAT
Re: Douglas McCollam’s article about international libel
suits against journalistic Web sites (cjr, May/June):
The problem is not just that cyber-journalists based in Western
countries may face lawsuits in dictatorial nations with draconian
libel laws simply because their articles may be downloaded abroad.
Worse, harsh libel judgments in repressive countries may be honored
by dozens of other nations around the world as a matter of routine
custom in international law. Thus the legal risk greatly increases
for all journalists whose articles are posted on the Internet.
The potential effect could be to transform libel law at an international
level, with standards set not by countries with the freest media
laws but by those with the most oppressive ones.
Mark Feldstein
Associate professor
Media & Public Affairs
George Washington University
Washington, D.C
