November 2007 Archives

“Former New York Times columnist Russell Baker says that was when he realized, for the first time, that ‘there might be a lot of things that were not worth keeping up with. This,’ Baker explains, ‘was a moment of liberation.’ … Will ignorance of the exact cause of death, of the subcommittee’s vote, or of the names of Eddie Fisher’s wives (or the paramours of today’s tabloid idols) come to be seen as a sign of a disciplined resistance to the blandishments of the current noise?” -- Stephens, 15 and 16

Some people are proud that they don’t stay informed about current events. And then there are others who are proud that they don’t keep up with celebrity news. Some people only read the sports section of their newspaper; others only read the news websites that lean in the direction of whichever political party they support. When it comes down to it, people will keep up with the news that they want to be informed about.

"Many editors of unstamped papers were crusaders first, journalists second. After detailing the “fun and frolic… and every sort of devilment that will make it sell” with which he would fill his Twopenny Dispatch, Henry Hetherington explained that “our object is not to make money, but to beat the Government.” This statement is consistent with the way Hetherington approached his newspapers and his life: His projects for the working class took precedence over his business." -- Stephens, Chapter 12

When advertisements take up 2/3 of the newspaper, can one assume that most journalists are crusaders? Is it self-righteous to be a crusading journalist or is it a way to better society? What about the expression: “the pen is mightier than the sword”? Isn’t that what’s it about? Words stopping trouble and righting wrongs?

The author wrote about how Samuel Pecke was jailed for spending too much time covering a petition calling for peace with the king, and about how Marchamont Nedham had wrote disapprovingly about King Charles before switching sides and writing for him two years later. He made it appear as though it was difficult for journalists to report the news and stay alive or out of prison at the same time. They had to walk a fine line. He described the difficulty in remaining neutral while covering dangerous, political discussions:

“’Whosoever undertakes to write weekly in this nature,’ noted one anonymous editor in 1647, ‘undertakes to sayle down a narrow Channell, where all along the shore on each side are Rocks and Cliffs that threaten him… He onely is the happy steersman that can keep his course in the middle of the channell.’” -- Stephens, Chapters 10 and 11