by John Merchant
In the USA, there are perhaps six good newspapers: the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor. By “good,” I mean that they contain literate, in depth and balanced reporting.
The Christian Science Monitor, despite its name, is a newspaper that covers international and US current events. The paper does, however, include a daily religious feature on the “The Home Forum” page, but is not a platform for evangelizing, is well respected in journalistic circles, and is often quoted.
Despite the rigor applied to reporting standards, occasionally even the top newspapers are embarrassed when a staff member strays from ethical journalism by plagiarizing or even fabricating material, but such cases are a rarity, and usually lead to much soul searching by the publisher.
In 2003, one of the higher profile cases involved a New York Times reporter, Jayson Blair. An internal report from an investigating committee involving 25 staffers and three outside journalists, led by assistant managing editor Allan Siegal, discovered that 36 of the 73 national news stories Blair had written since October 2002, were suspect, ranging from fabrications to copying stories from other sources.
Aside from such aberrations, one also has to remember that newspapers live or die by the amount of advertising they sell. Perhaps surprisingly, some newspapers count “small ads.” among their primary sources of revenue – “Births and Deaths,” “For Sale and Wanted,” “Situations Vacant,” etc.
In a recent issue of the New York Sunday Times, the first section (there are usually at least five) was made up of 28 pages, totaling an area of 7,084 square inches, (45,703 square centimeters). Of that total, 2,991 square inches (19,297 square centimeters) or 42%, were occupied by advertisements, including four whole-page ads!
Now I’m not suggesting that all advertising is based on fabrication, but we all know that a lot of it is, and we love it. We all want to believe that the latest face cream will rid us of wrinkles, or that a set of kitchen knives will never lose their edge, or that a certain mattress will guarantee a good night’s sleep. How many suckers are there that believed some potion or food regimen would reduce their body fat without dieting or exercise?
Of course the lies that are the most trying for readers and journalists alike, are the reported “truthful” statements from politicians and personalities. The reporters may well suspect that they are being bamboozled: Bill Clinton’s “I did not have sex with that woman,” or presidential candidate John Edwards’ “I did not father her child.” How many sports personalities have sworn “I did not take steroids?” Sooner or later the truth will out, but at the time, the reporters and their readers can only take the statements on face value.
But for all their limitations, I hope I’ll never see the day when good newspapers disappear, though that seems likely – if you believe everything you read.
© John Merchant 2010
This entry was posted by John Merchant on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Theme of the Month.
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John, I agree with your choice of the six best newspapers in the USA. I live in San Diego and subscribe to both the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Both are delivered to my door at 5:00 am.
The San Diego paper has a very strong Republican bent in it’s editorializing. The Los Angeles Times is much more broad in its editorial coverage; however, the lead editorial (not the op-ed pieces) each day tends to reflect the Democratic Party position. One thing that I enjoy in the LA Times is a whole section devoted to the film industry and its products. It provides a lot of background information for a person who is hooked on films (me).
Colin
Suspect political statements are by no means a staple of U.S. papers. Here in Australia, all of the major dailies are replete with political statements which are largely unadulterated ‘spin’.
Indeed, it is so prevalent, that I think a growing segment of the reading public now cynically expect nothing else from their so-called elected officials.
One might conclude that the world is SPINNING out of control?
Colin. My daily source of fodder is the New York Times, politically left of center, but balanced. It too is delivered to my door at 5am, rain or shine. Until about five years ago it was impossible to get a NY newspaper in Florida. Like the LA Times, it has a strong arts section that gives lots of coverage to movies and Broadway, but probably not as much insider stuff as the LAT. A one time avid movie-goer, western movies lost their attraction for me many years ago. These days my preference is for some Chinese (Not the Bruce Lee variety) and Japanese productions when I can find them. John M.
John, I don’t know much about Chinese films; however, I am a great fan of the work of Hayao Miyazaki. I own all of his DVD’s.
Colin
Colin: Unfortunately I don’t know much about Chinese films either. I stumble accross them on the Sundance Channel, or one of the other Indy channels. I’ve also been able to find them at Blockbuster Video. Many are set in the period of the Cultural Revolution. The tell very powerful stories with incredible cinematography. I wish I could recommend a few titles, but I’m very bad about remembering them, or the names of the directors. One that was announced recently is about families displaced by the Yangtse Dam project, but I haven’t seen it yet. John
A Chinese film I greatly enjoy is
Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress [DVD] [2003] ~ Xun Zhou, Kun Chen, Ye Liu, and Shuangbao Wang (DVD – 2004)
Buy new: £5.18 (that’s the current AmazonUK discounted price).
Synopsis
The story of two young men, Ma and Luo, from the city who, during the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s, are sent to a isolated mountain village to be re-educated in Maoist teachings. They discover a cache of forbidden foreign books by writers such as Dumas and Flaubert and read them to the local seamstress, with whom they have fallen in love. Based on an international best-selling novel, this adaptation stars Zhou Xun (BEIJING BICYCLE) as the seamstress.
Brian: Thanks, I’ll look for it. John
John, another Chinese film I enjoyed on TV some time ago is “Together with you”. Not a blockbuster. Not a Hollywood epic. Human drama. Beautiful music. Maybe a tear-jerker.
Actors: Yun Tang, Peiqi Liu, Hong Chen, Zhiwen Wang, Kaige Chen
Directors: Kaige Chen
Writers: Kaige Chen, Xiao Lu Xue
Producers: Hong Chen, Kaige Chen, Bolun Li, Buting Yang, Ernst Etchie Stroh
Synoposis and customer comments at AmazonUK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001GNJH4/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
Hello, you film lovers. What do you think about Bollywood films? I have tried on several occasions to understand the sound track; but, I have considerable difficulty with the accents and some of the language.
Colin
Colin, I don’t worry too much about the stories but I love the way everyonel bursts into song and dance routines!
Have you seen Tracey Ullman’s spoofs of Bollywood, where as an Indian pharmacist she explains matters to her customers in, shall we say, an unusual manner? Example:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2089211/tracey_ullman_bollywood_pharmacy_viagra_skit/
Brian
Colin/Brian:
Having spent a little time in India, I find the Bollywood productions antithetical to what I know of Indian culture. I’m quite surprised that they are as popular with Indian audiences as they seem to be. The Indians I know, and those who I have met are very reserved, especially when it comes to overt displays of affection between unmarried people.
On the other hand, movies like Monsoon Wedding have a refreshing naivete about them that is popular with western audiences. Perhaps Hollywood could learn something from that. John
Back in the early 90s when I was touring India, you knew exactly where the local cinemas were, and every afternoon and evening, vast crowds could gather for the latest Bollywood films.
Almost the complete population seemed to be involved, it was not a matter of wealth or income. If it was not part of their own daily lives, they were all fully wrapped up in it, but as suggested, and reminiscent of Britain during the depression or post war, it is the great escape.