The most ridiculous 'story' I saw last week
And, as an antidote, a reminder of some excellent journalism
I try to be a constructive media critic, not a mocking one. But sometimes I get pushed too far.
This was the case last week with an Axios story titled “Biden’s reliance on notecards at fundraisers worries donors.” Here is the lead: “President Biden has been using notecards in closed-door fundraisers, calling on prescreened donors and then consulting his notes to provide detailed answers, according to people familiar with the routine.”
Stop the presses! This is some world-shattering stuff.
Using its usual story formula, Axios quickly addressed the obvious question: “Why it matters.”
Ready? “Biden’s reliance on notecards to help explain his own policy position — on questions he knows are coming — is raising concerns among some donors about Biden’s age."
The story provides no evidence or backing for that assertion. No worried donor is quoted, even anonymously. We’re just supposed to believe, I guess.
Clyde Haberman, the longtime New York Times reporter and columnist (and father of Maggie) posted about it: “Anybody who’s been a speaker, as I have been countless times, jots down thoughts on cards of note paper. It’s called being prepared.”
Quite so. However, L’Affaire Notecard did give Axios the chance to recirculate the “Biden is too old to be president” meme, quoting polls that all of us are quite familiar with by now.
I like a lot of the work Axios does (and have a close relative who is a reporter there) but this one didn’t deserve to see the light of day.
Not everything is as depressing out there in media land. I was reminded of the huge amount of good work that’s being done when the George Polk awards were announced last week. The Polks are to the Pulitzers what the Golden Globes are to the Oscars. As they celebrated their 75th anniversary, the organization recognized worthy journalism by outlets big and small.
Here’s a gift link to the New York Times story about the awards, which unsurprisingly leads with their own ample recognition.
Some of the work I found most heartening to recall or learn about:
— ProPublica’s reporting that revealed the expensive gifts and trips given to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by a Republican donor, the billionaire Harlan Crow. It will be surprising if that work doesn’t also earn a Pulitzer Prize this year. ProPublica also shared an award with the beleaguered local newspaper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
— Reporting by the Colorado Springs newspaper, the Gazette, that showed how the state’s child custody system had led to four deaths of young children. The reporting led to a criminal investigation and to changes in the law.
— Luke Mogelson’s riveting first-hand account titled “Two Weeks at the Front in Ukraine,” published in the New Yorker.
There’s a lot more that’s worthy of revisiting — impressive enough, almost, to make you forget about the notecard scandal.
Thanks to all the subscribers here, and a warm welcome to all the new ones. This newsletter, which began well under a year ago when I launched the American Crisis podcast, has close to 8,000 subscribers, and I appreciate all of you. Please know that I read all the comments, and appreciate hearing your thoughts.
Here’s my most recent Guardian column, in which I make the case that what happens to Julian Assange matters immensely to American press rights. Because Assange is such a polarizing figure, the column came in for its share of criticism. But you don’t have to like the WikiLeaks founder — or even consider him a journalist — to see the broader threat, especially to national security reporting in the US.
And finally, a question: What media coverage or journalism have you seen in recent weeks that has you either shaking your head in disbelief or raising a fist in solidarity?
For me, it’s not a story, but the general lack of one. Trump has been increasingly unhinged, making outright authoritarian and racist and generally acting like someone who is not mentally well. When he spoke about expecting higher support among Black Americans because they understand what it’s like to be indicted, there should have been scathing articles at the top of the fold in the NYTimes and the Washington Post. The seemingly useless Sunday TV hosts should have asked republican guests about it instead of doing their millionth segment on Biden’s age. That none of this happened—that instead we got more drivel like that Axios story that deserved to be in the Onion—is both deeply frustrating and concerning.
shaking m,y head in disbelief": Haley's approx 40 percent in SC primary was treated as a blow to her and a triumph for Trump. A similar outcome in NH in 1968 got the exact opposite interpretation:
McCarthy nearly upsets LBJ in New Hampshire primary: March 12, 1968
By ANDREW GLASS
03/12/2016 12:16 AM EST
On this day in 1968, Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-Minn.), a critic of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Vietnam policies, captured 42 percent of the vote in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation Democratic presidential primary; LBJ got 48 percent. A Harris poll indicated that anti-Johnson, rather than anti-war, sentiment propelled McCarthy’s near upset. The New Hampshire results caught most political pundits unaware.
I believe a frontrunner losing 40 percent of his own party is never a good sign, not matter what the political pundits had expected.