Blithe Spirit, the Blog

Lifted from Blithe Spirit is this:

* How to read a newspaper: Always 2 or 3 days late.  You get so-called breaking (broken?) news by Internet and cable and talk radio.  Go to the paper for a palimpsest of local stories — crimes, accidents, school board fights, etc., above all sports!  It’s to prevent yourself from being too much impressed by story placement, headline, photos, etc.  More later: this is a very pregnant topic.

Here’s more, new to this blog: You want to remain untouched by the hype that inevitably attaches to The Selling of a Story, which is endemic to newspaperdom.  Newspapers are competing for your attention and they mean to grab it any which way.  This is not dishonorable.  Au contraire, it’s in the line of duty for them.  But so is it in the line of duty for readers (potential buyers of the story) to beware.  Caveat emptor and all that. 

In this case beware the headline, pix, story placement, etc.  As I say above, more, more, more later on this.

Lifted from Blithe Spirit is this:

* How to read a newspaper: Always 2 or 3 days late.  You get so-called breaking (broken?) news by Internet and cable and talk radio.  Go to the paper for a palimpsest of local stories — crimes, accidents, school board fights, etc., above all sports!  It’s to prevent yourself from being too much impressed by story placement, headline, photos, etc.  More later: this is a very pregnant topic.

Here’s more, new to this blog: You want to remain untouched by the hype that inevitably attaches to The Selling of a Story, which is endemic to newspaperdom.  Newspapers are competing for your attention and they mean to grab it any which way.  This is not dishonorable.  Au contraire, it’s in the line of duty for them.  But so is it in the line of duty for readers (potential buyers of the story) to beware.  Caveat emptor and all that. 

In this case beware the headline, pix, story placement, etc.  As I say above, more, more, more later on this.

. . . for its amazing double boo-boo, running two pix in a row of supposed gangsters and getting it wrong, wrong, wrong both times! The one guy is suing; that was the first one.  The other guy is just complaining at this point, but give him a day or so.  WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON IN THE PHOTO LAB AND AMONG PHOTO EDITORS??!!

. . . for its amazing double boo-boo, running two pix in a row of supposed gangsters and getting it wrong, wrong, wrong both times! The one guy is suing; that was the first one.  The other guy is just complaining at this point, but give him a day or so.  WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON IN THE PHOTO LAB AND AMONG PHOTO EDITORS??!!

Dawn T. Trice is not bad today with a shot at ghetto culture seeking respectability.

Dawn T. Trice is not bad today with a shot at ghetto culture seeking respectability.

Carol Marin discussed “Daley’s tight-lipped legacy” in a Sun-Times 4/22 column, deftly limning puffery surrounding golden-anniversary celebration of Richard J. Daley’s accession to the mayoralty.  Ex-Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, who paid for his sins with federal time thanks greatly to Sun-Times reporting some years back, bemoaned media’s lack of progressivism — were “not progressive enough,” he told a high-profile audience.  He also recounted the day in 1966 when Daley urged LBJ to get out of Viet Nam — beyond closed doors from which he emerged to pledge support for LBJ’s policies.  Rosty meant to praise that duplicity and apparently was applauded for doing so. 

Marin recalled instances of unresponsiveness to inadequately progressive media under Richard J., as in stiffing inquiries about lead-paint-related deaths, and brought us up to date with reference to similar unresponsiveness by the son Richard M., as regards hiring of a major Hired Truck scandal character — by whom in City Hall, that is.

It was a nicely honed and reported nay-saying at a time of reverence for the Great Man’s memory.

Carol Marin discussed “Daley’s tight-lipped legacy” in a Sun-Times 4/22 column, deftly limning puffery surrounding golden-anniversary celebration of Richard J. Daley’s accession to the mayoralty.  Ex-Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, who paid for his sins with federal time thanks greatly to Sun-Times reporting some years back, bemoaned media’s lack of progressivism — were “not progressive enough,” he told a high-profile audience.  He also recounted the day in 1966 when Daley urged LBJ to get out of Viet Nam — beyond closed doors from which he emerged to pledge support for LBJ’s policies.  Rosty meant to praise that duplicity and apparently was applauded for doing so. 

Marin recalled instances of unresponsiveness to inadequately progressive media under Richard J., as in stiffing inquiries about lead-paint-related deaths, and brought us up to date with reference to similar unresponsiveness by the son Richard M., as regards hiring of a major Hired Truck scandal character — by whom in City Hall, that is.

It was a nicely honed and reported nay-saying at a time of reverence for the Great Man’s memory.

Here’s a suggestion for newspaper writers and editors: No more “well” in the middle of a sentence to indicate a sort of chuckling hesitation to say what some may think shouldn’t be said but one is going to say anyway, because, shucks, it ought to be said, as in this from Andrew Martin of Chi Trib Wash. bureau, p. one, 4/20:

After four years of preparation that cost $2.4 million, the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday unveiled its highly anticipated replacement for the food pyramid, and it is, well, another pyramid.

Here’s a suggestion for newspaper writers and editors: No more “well” in the middle of a sentence to indicate a sort of chuckling hesitation to say what some may think shouldn’t be said but one is going to say anyway, because, shucks, it ought to be said, as in this from Andrew Martin of Chi Trib Wash. bureau, p. one, 4/20:

After four years of preparation that cost $2.4 million, the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday unveiled its highly anticipated replacement for the food pyramid, and it is, well, another pyramid.