Sun-Times: “Where are all the naked men?” Vanity Fair has naked women. Why no naked men? Seriously, we want naked men! We want naked men! This an AP story out of New York exploring an important social phenomenon. No thanks.
Chi Trib: “Wisconsin’s lonely crusader fights on,” about Sen. Feingold (who has his name on an anti-free-speech act that forbids buying air time at what he and McCain say is the wrong time) as arguer against Patriot Act is left-wing puffery. Can you imagine a lonely-crusader story about Joe Scheidler, who’s made a career out of opposing abortion?
Next to it is “Pro-war ads take aim at swing state,” about 527 ads in Minnesota that feature war widows and other bereaved saying it’s worth it. Power Line, which has been all over this story, notes, ” The story omits almost entirely any discussion of the wild local reaction to the airing of the ads in Minnesota.” It also spells out GOP strategy in running the ads here with a view to going national with them or something like them, but that’s standard, isn’t it?
The funding group, Progress for America, not to be confused with Howard Dean’s Dem party group Democracy for America, is mentioned in the same breath with Moveon.org but without mention of George Soros’ role in the latter. I would have expected something more chewy, shall we say, from our home-grown nationally aspiring newspaper. For a fairly neat rundown on 527s, have a look at a Wash Post piece of 10/17/04, “After Late Start, Republican Groups Jump Into the Lead: Since August, 527s Raised Six Times as Much as Democrats.” Yes. ’04.
Finally, consider Sun-Times Controversy essay Sunday by Don Rose, “THE POWER OF ART MAKES GOOFS OF US ALL: WE WATCH WITH ASTONISHMENT AS MUSLIMS RIOT IN PROTEST OF A CARTOON, BUT PROVOCATIVE ART HAS TRIGGERED VIOLENCE FOR CENTURIES, EVEN IN CHICAGO,” which does not appear on-line. It’s admittedly a thumb-sucker for a Sunday opinion section, but annoying because it shows what runs through writer’s and editor’s mind, as in such a bother, all this Islamo-fascism talk, we’ve seen it all (and done it, for that matter) before.
Bad cess to thinkers of that ilk. This is how MSM writers have their way, far more than slant and omission and exaggeration, but by deciding what’s worth discussing. They frame the argument. But the power of art to inflame (and inspire) is not what comes to mind for most people in these days of fatwa and beheading. No, no. Sorry, Don Rose.
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Update:
From Reader Nancy: Regarding the lonely crusade story about Feingold that appeared in the Tribune today, there was also one about Joseph Scheidler which began on the front page and ended on page 16. It sounded like a lonely crusade story to me. The title of the quite lenghty article was: “Defiance pays off for abortion foe: Justices rule protests weren’t racketeering” by Judy Peres and Mary Ann Fergus, Tribune staff reporters. The headline on page 16 read: “Roe vs. Wade led him from PR to activism.” The article, at least in the way I interpreted it, highlighted Scheidler’s struggles throughout the years. NJT
She’s right.
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Update again:
From Reader Bob: I note that Feingold was treated even-handedly, with a section well back in the story on what critics and admirers say about him. On the other hand, Scheidler is called a “tireless zealot” in the first graph, not by named critics but by the Trib writers. And everbody knows that lonely crusaders are the good guys and zealots are the baddies.
Blithe Spirit 