‘American Life,’ From GOP to CIA
CIA chief John Brennan (left), GOP politician Jeb Bush—to CBS, this represents “all segments of American life.” (CBS/Meet the Press)
Bob Schieffer kicked off his final show as host of CBS’s Face the Nation (5/31/15) with a clip of what he said on his first show 24 years ago: “Our aim is going to be very simple here, to find interesting people from all segments of American life who have something to say and give them a chance to say it.”
The Washington Post’s Michelle Ye Hee Lee (5/31/15), reviewing Schieffer’s last broadcast, wrote that “Schieffer remained true to the tradition on his final broadcast,” citing his two final guests: Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush and CIA Director John Brennan. In the insular world of Beltway journalism, these qualify as “interesting people from all segments of American life.”
AP’s Criminalizing ‘Compromise’
Reporting on congressional efforts “to prevent an interruption in critical government surveillance programs” and preserve “valuable surveillance tools,” the Associated Press’s Ken Dilanian (5/23/15) described as a “compromise” a bill offered by Senate Intelligence Committee chair Richard Burr that would have authorized the NSA to continue collecting domestic phone records in bulk until 2017— in what AP called a “transition.”
Senate Intelligence chair Richard Burr: His bill, described by AP as a “compromise,” could put AP‘s sources away for 10 years.
Burr’s bill would have done more than simply extend the NSA’s retention of phone records, known as “Section 215 collection”; Marcy Wheeler of Expose Facts (5/26/15) called it “a breathtaking expansion of surveillance authority.” Among other things, Wheeler wrote, the bill included “a 10-year prison term for anyone who knowingly communicates information about Section 215 collection to an ‘unauthorized person.’”
Interestingly, Dilanian’s story included information about Section 215 collection—sourced to officials who were anonymous because they “were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.” So his “compromise” bill could have thrown his own sources in prison for a decade.
When ‘Wrong as Often as Right’ Is Good Enough
The Washington Post (5/12/15) ran a sensational story about North Korean Gen. Hyon Yong Chol:
North Korea’s equivalent of a defense minister has been executed by anti-aircraft gun for insubordination and treason—including for sleeping during a meeting where Kim Jong Un was speaking, South Korea’s intelligence agency said Wednesday.
North Korea may have executed this general with anti-aircraft guns. Or he may be alive and well. The Washington Post thought you might like to read some guesses about him.
Note that this is what “officials from the [South Korean] National Intelligence Service told local reporters at a briefing in Seoul”—in other words, the Post got it secondhand. What were Post reporters Anna Fifield and Yoonjung Seo told directly? “An NIS spokesman confirmed to the Post that it believed Hyon had been executed.”
But the NIS is a reliable source, right? No, the Post acknowledged that “NIS’s claims turn out to be wrong as often as they are right.”
The story observed: “The report, if true, would starkly illustrate the brutal extent to which the young North Korean leader is going to consolidate power.” And if it isn’t true? It would starkly illustrate the low standards the Washington Post sets for itself when reporting about an official enemy.
‘Not Too Generous,’ Please: NYT on Family-Friendly Work Policies
“It turns out that generous maternity leave and flexible rules on part-time work can make it harder for women to be promoted — or even hired at all,” reported the New York Times “Women at Work” columnist Claire Cain Miller (5/26/15).
That’s one way to put it, and Miller put it that way repeatedly: Women are paid less in Chile as a “result” of a law requiring employers to provide childcare for working mothers. Maternity leave measures “have meant that” European women are less likely to achieve powerful positions at work. Policies intended to mitigate the penalty women pay for their traditional dual burden, the Times says, “end up discouraging employers from hiring women in the first place.” The column suggests it might be better if employers didn’t have to pay for policies that make it possible for caregivers to earn a living, or maybe those benefits should be “generous but not too generous.”
The workplace repression of women is repeatedly described as the “unintended” impact of family-friendly policies—as though there were no conscious human beings behind decisions to pay working mothers less or not to hire women. But it isn’t the policies that “make it harder” for women, but the male-centric management structure’s unwillingness to integrate those policies into the way work is done. Why not say that?
Public Radio ‘Ready for Capitalism’
Ira Glass (Matthew Septimus/NPR)
“My hope is that we can move away from a model of asking listeners for money and join the free market…. I think we’re ready for capitalism, which made this country so great. Public radio is ready for capitalism.”
—This American Life host Ira Glass (Ad Age, 4/30/15), speaking at an event designed to connect public radio shows with advertisers
(Glass later wrote to “clarify” that he did not want to “destroy everything that makes public radio special” but just wanted corporations to “come on our shows and pay lots of money”—Current, 5/13/15.)