Drive-by pontification (media edition)
(1) I’ll confess to being both amused by the idea that John Edwards’ alleged love child is surely causing much hand-wringing in newsrooms (particularly at the News & Observer, his hometown paper) and swept with a feeling of pity for my former colleagues, who have to decide how to cover this news — or whether it should even be covered at all. I’ve participated in such deliberations before, most recently a couple of years ago when Raleigh singer and almost-Idol Clay Aiken was reported to have had all-male whoopee in an area motel. It’s the kind of story — sordid, unconfirmed and invasive — that makes reporters want to take a bath and then look for another line of work. But in Edwards’ case, things are different. He’s a national politician who made his family and his small-town values a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. Does it matter that he apparently has been boinking another woman and fathered a child with her? My bet is that the N&O, and most other mainstream papers, will decide that it doesn’t, and will just look the other way.
(2) Speaking of the News & Observer, its parent company McClatchy Newspapers reported second-quarter financial results yesterday, showing a drop in profits of more than 40 percent from the same time last year (prompting one debt rating agency to immediately cut its outlook on the company). The most interesting bit of news, however, was that McClatchy executives may have finally been embarrassed by the high dividends being paid to shareholders — a large number of whom are McClatchy family members, who control the company through a two-tier stock system. In his remarks accompanying the financial results, McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt said: “Our board will meet during the third quarter to consider dividend policies and we will look at additional cost saving measures as necessary.” Translation: The company needs cash right now more than the trust-funders do.
(3) I came across an interesting fact while reading a Portfolio magazine profile of new Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth. It seems that her aunt is Tina Weymouth, the bass-playing founding member of legendary New Wave band Talking Heads. I can pontificate on this matter in one word: cool.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Dan - Would the N&O debate regarding Edwards be different if he were selected as Obama’s running mate (which would seem unlikely now that this story is lurking just below the surface) or if he were nominated as Attorney General in an Obama administration?
July 25th, 2008 at 10:24 am
“Burning down the house”
July 25th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
That National Enquirer story is one of the funniest things I’ve read all week. The defamation case ought to be even funnier.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
“All male whoopee”. That’s the gayest description of gay sex I’ve ever heard.
Ol’ Clay was gettin’ it on man! Just like you or me (as opposed to you and me), just different in some ways, that’s all.
And what do John Edwards and Prince Charles have in common? Taste in women apparently.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Besides “cool,” I hope that means really good entertainment at the office Christmas party.
July 25th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
My mother-in-law, who has lived in Raleigh for more than thirty years now, has been complaining regularly about the changes to the N&O. She means poor editing, confusing layout, little real content, etc. As I told her today, I believe the N&O will have to die, be sold, and be resurrected by someone local, and with a renewed sense of what a local/regional paper needs to be in order to be something other media does not offer. The whole thing is a disgrace, and I hope it carries the McClatchy fortunes to the proper place as it continues the course they set.