Momnesia

Don't Try This at Home - or in the Newsroom!

AUGUSTA, GA. - Scott and I frequently discuss the ethics and/or "relative admissibility" of writing for newspapers and radio - and even television. The guy on Fox News on the Thursday night that plane crashed into the Hudson River had us dying with laughter. If a cliche existed that he could throw into the conversation, he used it. "Baited breath," "near-death experience," "emotionally charged," "grim task," "the right stuff," "hero's welcome..." On top of all of that, he inserted himself into the story, saying that he, personally, was brought to tears by the experience of watching the rescue.

I couldn't find out who the reporter was. I tried. I think he was a reporter for the local NYC Fox affiliate, because he was so charged to be in front of the camera that he was either just off the plane from competing in a season of "Survivor," or he was nearly scalped by the fuselage as the plane came down over the Hudson River.

It's very nearly a cliche now for a journalist to quote Mark Twain, who said, "Journalism is literature in a hurry." But his point - besides that journalism is both a watered-down version to timeless prose, and that it should be respected because there are few opportunities to edit - was also that people look to journalism for the elements of fine literature. Obviously, the inclusion of a monomyth isn't possible, due to the restrictions of the genre. But well-defined characters, a clear storyline and an accurate account of any event - measured with concision - ensures that the news is both palatable to an largely uneducated populace, and it also provides them with the kind of writing that makes them want to return to the medium for what is essentially a really enjoyable yarn.

Fox News... yeah. There ARE reasons, other than politics, that people refuse to tune in to your coverage.*

*The local affiliate, thankfully, is ably run by the newsroom at the NBC affiliate. Otherwise, it might hurt me the way the national station does.