I clicked with confidence on "Best. Journalism Quotes. Ever." at CBS News, from a few years back, 2007. That might have been before I got. fed. up. with. that. form. of. comic. punctuation, but I'll bet it wasn't.
The quote I was looking for wasn't even on this ranked list of 10 quotes, but what astonished me was what the author, Michael Felling, deemed appropriate to put not only on the list but in first place: "A news story should be like a mini skirt on a pretty woman. Long enough to cover the subject but short enough to be interesting."
How sexist do you have to be to think that was even worth repeating?
That dumb, embarrassing joke beat out the second-place quote from Thomas Jefferson:
Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.Oh, how depressing. Now, I have to disagree with Thomas Jefferson. I'd rather have government. Especially if we just get rid of newspapers and can keep the internet.
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84 comments:
The joke is funny.
And to the point. Playing peek-a-boo with the pussy is journalism. In fact, it’s everything.
It’s fashion, which is one of your favorite subjects.
Sexism doesn’t exist. Girls and boys do.
“I never quarrel with a man who buys ink by the barrel.” - Mark Twain
You'd have to work harder at a good news story is like a cunt. The comparison isn't obvious right off.
The mini skirt standard is so outdated. How about we use the thong bikini standard? Just enough left unviewable that we are absolutely sure what we are seeing is the whole, absolute truth.
Very old joke, badly told here. Version I heard went more like this: a sermon should be like a woman's skirt, long enough to cover what needs to be covered, short enough to hold everyone's interest. It's not especially sexist, unless were supposed to pretend that men don't like to look at women's legs, or at least attractive women's legs. There's a story by Isak Dinesen we're too young men in the 19 century walk around in the rain one afternoon hoping to catch a glimpse of a woman's ankles. That's not sexism, it's realism, and she understood man.
Now journalism is about comforting the comfortable "America is already great!" and further afflicting the afflicted deplorables.
How sexist do you have to be to think that was even worth repeating?
Not at all sexist. And it was certainly the best quote of the bunch. ( And far, far better than that comfort the afflicted bullshit. )
Why do you object to it? Do you think that is not an apt description of the purpose of a mini-skirt? Or only that it is sexist to talk about the purpose of a mini-skirt?
"Now, I have to disagree with Thomas Jefferson. I'd rather have government. Especially if we just get rid of newspapers and can keep the internet."
I would suspect the Internet is closer to Jefferson's idea of 'newspapers' than what Big Media is now.
The Internet being like a printing press available in every citizen's home.
I like to read the Althouse Gazette.
The Germans have a word for this.
I think Jefferson would have changed his quote, had he lived during the decline of newspapers and had seen the television and internet in his lifetime. At least I hope.
"The job of the newspaper is to sell advertising."
Okay, that's too accurate and not cute enough to be interesting, so how about -
"A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier." -- Mencken.
Ignorant as in this fake Drudge headline: "Mind-reading robot created to read human emotion; Ground-breaking project..."
If the government and the newspaper industry were transparent and honest, I would want both. But neither are. Thankfully, because of the internet, the newspaper industry is dying a glorious, painful death. It will take a bit longer for the overreaching feds.
Is it sexist to comment on human nature?
Nowadays, I guess it is.
The busty blonde bimbo interviewing the huge sweaty black athlete as he heads off the court at halftime has become standard.
And, every time I see this bit I wonder when the blonde is going to drop down on her knees and blow the hero.
Which is precisely the frisson that this bit of journalism is designed to provoke.
And the suspense is why the girl has a job in journalism. It’s an advantage for women.
Sexist: relating to or characterized by prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.
Prejudice against women? No.
Stereotyping women? No.
Discrimination against women? No.
About the only argument that you could make that the joke was sexist is that it is stereotyping men*, regarding their interest in women. Is that the sexism you were complaining about?
*That argument would be cis-normative, since presumably lesbians could also be interested in an attractive woman in a mini-skirt.
As far as what the mission of journalism is, I always thought it was to tell the truth about what's going on in the world. The whole "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable" is self-fluffing twaddle.
So cisnormative!
I'd say journalism is like a speedo swimsuit.
Enough material to justify the term "coverage" but with a narrative tight enough so that everyone knows what you're really selling.
"I was looking for what I thought of as the greatest quote about journalism: "The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."
Who decides who's afflicted and who's comfortable?
Was Barack Obama comfortable because he was President or afflicted because he was half-black?
We have a constitutional right to read the Althouse blog. (As long as we use the Amazon Althouse portal.)
"A news story should be like a mini skirt on a pretty woman. Long enough to cover the subject but short enough to be interesting."
Many lesbians would agree with the sentiment. Does that make them sexist?
"what I thought of as the greatest quote about journalism: "The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."" Oh. no. not again. One mention in one post was plenty.
"A news story should be like a mini skirt on a pretty woman. Long enough to cover the subject but short enough to be interesting." By contrast with the first quote, this one has the benefit of containing two kernels of truth, one about what makes for a good news story, the other about women's reasons for wearing mini skirts.
I realize, of course, that in matters of "sexism," truth is no defense. Better to default to the illusion about the press afflicting the comfortable. Maintaining the illusion is one way the press comforts the comfortable.
The joke may not be funny to you, but nevertheless, it is funny because (a) it is excellent rhetoric, and (b) it is an apt analogy. To find the joke sexist, you would have to be anti-science, because biology is what it is.
Well Ann, you may get your wish. The "newspapers" are doing a pretty good job of getting rid of themselves. One of my favorite things used to be to go out, in the morning, grab the newspaper, get a cup of coffee and read it. When it got to the point where I would read an article and say, "That's just wrong." and then start doing some research, I understood that the Palm Beach Post had become a liberal propaganda sheet and not a newspaper. I cancelled my subscription and have never bought the paper since.
First, I resent that I had to do that, I really enjoyed reading the paper, but more than that, I'm angry that the press, protected by the Constitution, thinks so little of us that they've allowed themselves to become a propaganda arm of the Democrats. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Here's what I found as the original quote - a saying from the fictional irish bartender "Mister Dooley":
“Th' newspaper does ivrything f'r us. It runs th' polis foorce an' th' banks, commands th' milishy, controls th' ligislachure, baptizes th' young, marries th' foolish, comforts th' afflicted, afflicts th' comfortable, buries th' dead an' roasts thim aftherward.”
OK, I give up...
"The Germans have a word for this. "
What is the word?
The older one gets, the more one realizes that Thomas Jefferson was, in many respects, full of crap.
There is a reason George Washington hated him.
I prefer Lincoln's "Government of the Media, by the Media, for the Media." Or was it Zuckerberg? I always get those two confused.
Comic editing is tedious for the reader and tedious for the writer. They have to uncap the following word after each period in the rxample provided. Most just run with a shouting capital letter in place.
Sometimes the truth has the effect of afflicting the afflicted and comforting the comfortable. In those cases, that's what newspapers should do.
Great man, Jefferson, but a little too in love with the sound of his own voice at times.
You don't want to let the camel get it's toe into the tent!
I thought the original TJ quote was:
Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a miniskirt without Sally Hennings, or Sally Hennings without a miniskirt, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
"A Jefferson quote should be like a mini skirt on a pretty woman. Long enough to cover the subject but short enough to be interesting."
The Germans have a word for this.
OMG, a mild and utterly banal joke about mini skirts! Told by a man! (And one without a vagina, no less.) Find my smelling salts! Where is the fainting couch?
There are parts of the 21st century that I find very depressing.
A Jefferson quote should be like a mini skirt on a pretty woman. Long enough to cover the subject but short enough to be interesting.
And should never use a merkin--like they used to do at the Moulin Rouge.
“If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.” - former newspaperman Mark Twain.
"The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."
That might be the job of the pastor but the job of the newspaper is to report the news.
"It's not sexist - it's sexy"
Smell the Glove - Spinal Tap
Best.Bette.Davis.Impression.Ever.
Blogger Fernandistein said...
Ignorant as in this fake Drudge headline: "Mind-reading robot created to read human emotion; Ground-breaking project..."
Here's the link https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/meet-charles-mind-reading-robot-12249320
So how is this "fake news"? Seems real enough to me from the article. Someone really has created a robot that seems to mimic human emotions. I doubt that it does a very good job at it and it seems pretty silly.
But is it untrue in any way? Is the headline even misleading? Perhaps a bit sensational but not misleading as far as I can tell.
There are plenty of things we can point to as fake news without going off the deep end like this.
John Henry
The Newspaper is an institution developed by modern civilization to present the news of the day, to foster commerce and industry, to inform and lead public opinion, and to furnish that check upon government which no constitution has ever been able to provide. The old Chicago Tribune credo--before they swung Left.
I think Jefferson had a reason for feeling that way, British sedition laws, etc., as to freedom of the press and the oppression and incompetence of the British government fueling his disdain for the latter. At least as far as I understand the Declaration of Independence.
We're privileged to see it all differently now of course. Well, not the need for a free press and the belief that government can be oppressive and incompetent, at the same time, which is kind of a real accomplishment actually. Something government does well, something we can all do together.
John said...
But is it untrue in any way? Is the headline even misleading?
It is not reading minds, only facial expressions. Assuming it is doing that well, that is a useful step in being able to interact with humans.
But it is not in any way reading minds. The vast majority of humans can do this, and the vast majority of humans are not mind-readers.
"The older one gets, the more one realizes that Thomas Jefferson was, in many respects, full of crap."
I agree. There's one quote of his about not caring whether his neighbor "Worships 20 Gods or one" - which always annoys me.
What if your "neighbors" want three wives, believe in animal sacrifices, think cheating outsiders is OK, and support Jihad, or infanticide?
Does anyone believe the New YOrk TImes or the WaPo have "afflicted the comfortable" in the last 40 years?
They aren't speaking truth to power.
They are power speaking.
Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.
John said...
But is it untrue in any way? Is the headline even misleading?
"Mind-reading" is the advertised activity which is not occurring, and come to think of it, "read[ing] human emotion" is not occurring either, so yeah, that headline was completely fake 'n' dishonest. ("Groundbreaking.." who knows?)
The guys who built the thing don't use the word "mind", saying instead "A robot has been built at Cambridge University that can mimic the facial expressions of human beings."
Would you call imitating someone's facial expressions "mind reading"?
The obvious observation is that many people become comfortable only after long years of affliction. The man with the hoe was a good saver and invested wisely. . Also, many afflicted people deserve their afflictions. The afflictions they have afflicted on others are far greater than the afflictions they have themselves suffered. It's a stupid quote and gets dumber when repeated by Matt Lauer, Tavis Smiley, and Charley Rose.
Here's some interesting background info on the Sally Hemings story, as told in the Ellis book, "American Sphinx". Jefferson hired a journalist to print salacious stories about Alexander Hamilton and even George Washington. This was hush-hush. Jefferson liked to be seen as a lofty soul who was above partisan politics. He had a falling out with the reporter over proper reimbursement for the reporter's services. The reporter got mad and passed on the story about Sally Hemings to the public.......According to Ellis, Jefferson was a remarkably duplicitous man who engaged in a number of underhanded tricks to advance his career and interests.......That said, Jefferson did write The Declaration of Independence and put through the Louisiana Purchase. It's hard to have a negative credit score when you bank these achievements,
AA,
The joke is clever, but dated. It does not disparage women, directly or indirectly.
You may need to rethink your definition of "sexist."
Name one of Jeff Bezos’s publicized “afflictions”.
Isn't Althouse often ripping on men who wear shorts in public?
This guy is complimenting women who wear mini-skirts in public!
The yin and yang of lower extremity fashion sense....,.,
Governments are overrated. They are a necessary evil only because othet governments exist.
There are regions of the world that thrived without centralized governments, just autonomous communities, sometimes just villages. They eventually got governments, because its essential function is to concentrate resources with which to make war. If your neighbors have a government, then you need one too, just to keep them from taking you over - at the price of being taken over by "your" government.
Its more than a bit like nuclear weapons, or lawyers -
"Of course I've got lawyers. They are like nuclear weapons, I've got them because everyone else has. But as soon as you use them they screw everything up."
-Other Peoples Money
Covering with a pillow:
https://mobile.twitter.com/SeamusHughes/status/978232295332204544
Here are two I like:
"Journalists are the semi-literate cretins hired to fill the spaces between the advertisements." by Winston L.S. Churchill;
"If ever you see a man put his fingers in his ears and whistle 'Dixie' to keep from hearing the truth, you may assume he's a fool; but if he puts his fingers in your ears and starts whistling, then you know you're dealing with a journalist." by Andrew Klavan.
Should Stormy Daniels be treated as among the comfortable or afflicted by the journalism community? The answer is obvious, but I predict that there will be a pushback from the uncritical male gaze they have bestowed upon her.
"s a journalist in the age of "muckraking journalism", Dunne was aware of the power of institutions, including his own. Writing as Dooley, Dunne once wrote the following passage mocking hypocrisy and self-importance in the newspapers themselves:
"Th newspaper does ivrything f'r us. It runs th' polis foorce an' th' banks, commands th' milishy, controls th' ligislachure, baptizes th' young, marries th' foolish, comforts th' afflicted, afflicts th' comfortable, buries th' dead an' roasts thim aftherward".[32]"
Wiki so you know it's actually accurate.
Thomas Jefferson was the perfect liberal. He fucked the blacks when pretending he had compassion for them. He beat the war drums but never fought for his country. When the British came to Virginia he fled the govrtnors mansion in his underwear. They had to stash him in an embassy to avoid further embarrassment.
Meanwhile Hamilton, Monroe, Burr and Knox served and suffered from Valley Forge to Yorktown.
Jefferson was the original "woke" asshole.
Patrick Henry hated him even more than Washington.
Hombre quoted:
"Journalists are the semi-literate cretins hired to fill the spaces between the advertisements." by Winston L.S. Churchill"
Winnie the Pooh* should know, his checkered career included being a war correspondent.
* An English teacher of mine speculated that A.A. Milne gave this name to Edward Bear to slight Churchill for his unjust firing of Milne's father, Admiral Milne.
What's puzzling to me is that anyone thought this was an observation worth commenting on in 2007. I first heard the quote from Ms. Lipski, my 75 year-old civics teacher, in 1977, when someone asked how long our essay had to be. For eight-graders in 1977, it was edgy. Thirty years later, the best ever journalism quote ever? Come on.
My 75 year-old civics teacher understood its universal appeal. Not really worth Ann's scolding, here.
Here’s what I get when I type “sexist definition” into Google on my iPhone (emphasis added):
sex·ist
ˈseksist
adjective
1. relating to or characterized by prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.
"his attitude to women is patronizing and sexist"
Goddamn Google, lecturing us again.
I don’t necessarily disagree that the journo quote was sexist, but it makes that impression for me by accumulation; making a global statement on a big subject while fusing “interesting” with ogling of the female form. Okay, it’s objectifying, but is female beauty not a thing at all? Maybe “sexism” is as unhelpful a concept as “race” is to “racism”. Highly subjective, yet everyone can find anecdotal evidence in the real world. But it ain’t like gravity! -willie
rcocean: "Does anyone believe the New York TImes or the WaPo have "afflicted the comfortable" in the last 40 years?"
Are you kidding? What do you think is the effect of all that identity politics, virtue signaling and luxury product ads? The comfortable have to read religiously every day, or risk social death for driving the wrong car, wearing the wrong watch, making the wrong joke, not toeing the latest PC line.
I'll give Jefferson credit for helping to pass the Northwest Ordinance and helping to ban the slave trade. He also tried to ban slavery from other territories but was voted down. That was before in became POTUS.
But then, as always with Jefferson, there's another side. He opposed banning slavery in Missouri (1820) was was quite vocal about it.
Buwaya, 10:25:
-Other Peoples Money
Underrated. And how subversive was it to cast an old, still commanding Gregory Peck as the beloved owner of the failing factory, Danny DeVito as the gleefully greedy capitalist Larry the Liquidator, and - SPOILERS - have the latter, if not win, more than hold his own in the climactic debate before the vote? What screenwriter wrote that shockingly compelling defense of the free market, with the metaphor of the last, best buggy-whip you ever saw? In Hollywood, that is afflicting the comfortable.
Dogs, donuts, and money....
A pornstar's dress should be short enough to reveal her pudenda during action scenes but long enough so that it can be pulled down to a demure length during an Anderson Cooper interview.....I think in retrospect that Stormy Daniels interview will be seen as a black mark against journalism. Cooper didn't ask her a single adversial question. There were a couple of questions that were politely skeptical, but, given the fact that she was a pornstar, the interview was remarkably deferential and respectful
William said...
...given the fact that she was a pornstar, the interview was remarkably deferential and respectful
Were she a prostitute, we could attribute the deference and respect as professional courtesy.
I'm sure 16th Century women made plenty of clever remarks about the codpiece.
The "Get Trump" Squad's latest stratagem - to ride the crest of Stormy Daniels' boobies to electoral victory!
It might just work... this time.
If CBS had any journalistic integrity, they would have told viewers that Stormy Daniels showed up to the interview with fixed and dilated pupils and they couldn't, in good conscience, let her go on air like that.
Jefferson described European states of the time as “Kites [a kind of hawk] over pigeons,” sardonically noting that “The best schools of republicanism are London, Versailles, Madrid, Vienna, Berlin, &c.”
I got CBS' journalistic integrity right here.
That Jefferson chestnut is dubious, it was hauled out in time for the Clinton impeachment
That Jefferson quote, was that before or after some newspapers created the myth of him and Sally Hemings?
John Adams was stuffy and far less glamorous than TJ, but, Adams' vision of the American future had a stronger staying power than TJ's.
As an aside, as US Minister to France, TJ got laid a lot in that fine country. Probably, shaped his vision a bit. French whores were better looking than British whores.
One not-usually noted point about European states in Jefferson's day -
These were not centralized states in quite the form we know them today, not even the autocratic kingdoms such as France and Spain.
Both (and especially Spain) were highly decentralized, with a mass of local jurisdictions of all kinds left over from the middle ages, or earlier, each ruled by its own arrangements and traditions, each with its own power structure. Each with its own laws, few of which were overruled by the royal authority. The crown could and did control external trade and foreign relations, but it had limited reach into each town or village.
The French revolution did away with most of this, in France and many territories the French took over, and Spain spent most of the 19th century putting in a French style centralized state (and fighting a few civil wars along the way) and removing the "fueros", these local rights. And this in spite of the imposition of "liberal" democratic forms. The reactionaries were in truth anti-tyranny.
The true reality of tyranny Jefferson implied came later, in the modern liberal state.
my what big eyes you have Grandma.
The better to take cocaine with, my dear.
"Oh, how depressing."
Depressing?
That's an odd reaction.
Maybe Jefferson's quote makes more sense in his time..before government became the behemoth it is.
Shouting Thomas said...The busty blonde bimbo interviewing the huge sweaty black athlete as he heads off the court at halftime has become standard. And, every time I see this bit I wonder when the blonde is going to drop down on her knees and blow the hero.
--
They don't have to be blonde or bimbos to still create a ridiculous framing challenge for the director...some reporters so short their arm holding the mic ends up fully extended...hrad so close to waistline your scenario not requiring repositioning.
To be fair, you see the same framing issue when male reporters interview players in the beach volleyball locker room...
James Reston, late NY Times columnist, said something that should hang in every newsroom: "How can I know what I think until I read what I write?”
Ann Althouse said..... Now, I have to disagree with Thomas Jefferson. I'd rather have government. Especially if we just get rid of newspapers and can keep the internet.
No no, no no no no no. No. I disagree with ol' TJ myself on a few things but he's 100% correct here.
Jefferson expects people to govern themselves. He says a well-informed populace of self-governing individuals is preferable to an uninformed populace governed by others. He's correct. Jefferson believes that a desire for self-government is part of what makes an American special. He also expects individuals to be able to think and judge for themselves...including making judgments about how much to trust various "news" reports.
I hate the Media as much as anyone. More than most! But I'd trade our current national government for a reliance on our (terrible) Media in a heartbeat. With the Media at least I can sway coverage/vote with my dollars/start my own paper.
Well where I work we only have one editorial rule. You can't write anything longer than it takes your average person to take an average crap. - Michael, referring to People Magazine in THE BIG CHILL
my view is that journalism should give us as much information as it can, including various opinions about the news, but they now seem to believe it is their job to tell us poor ignorant slobs what to think. Can't open any physical magazine (even Scientific American or Reader's Digest or Smithsonian) anymore without getting instructed. We "should" feel this way, this event "means" X, so and so is awful.
So now all male interest in the female body is sexist? Or is it just sexist to talk about it?
If I'm a woman and I find the trope inoffensive, am I a sexist woman? An Aunt Tom?
So now all male interest in the female body is sexist?
Well, it's crushingly cis-gendered and rhymes with majoritarian tyranny.
The Jefferson quote is from 1787. Twenty years later, he wrote this:
It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more completely deprive the nation of its benefits, than is done by its abandoned prostitution to falsehood. Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.
Read the whole thing (in Jefferson's own hand, if you like: https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.038_0592_0594/?sp=2&st=text
And I've posted a large collection of skeptical quotes about the press here (if you get a spam warning anywhere on this, ignore it, it's BS): https://twitter.com/NateWhilk/status/932773639073787904
Joke that's funny because it rejects a PC meme.
God gave women tits so that men would talk to them.
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