August 1, 2018

"Legendary journalist Christiane Amanpour walks into the room trailed by the most impressive of clouds: a cumulonimbus of fortitude, pierced by solar flares of her signature erudition."

So begins Kevin Fallon in "Christiane Amanpour on Replacing Charlie Rose: ‘It Sends a Really Big Message’/The acclaimed journalist on her new show, defending the press against Trump’s attacks, and what it means to be the woman replacing the disgraced Charlie Rose" (Daily Beast).
We attempt a joke. “Nice to meet a fellow ‘enemy of the people,’” transforming President Trump’s controversial characterization of the free press from a scorching threat on democracy to an interview icebreaker.

“I refuse even to joke about it,” Amanpour says, grinning gamely but preparing to deliver the first in a series of manifestos that would score our conversation about the state of journalism-under-fire....
Fallon is a florid writer. What does "manifestos that would score our conversation" even mean? Doesn't a "manifesto" need to be something more than a one-liner? My dictionary, the OED, says it's "A public declaration or proclamation, written or spoken; esp. a printed declaration, explanation, or justification of policy..." and "In extended use: a book or other work by a private individual supporting a cause, propounding a theory or argument, or promoting a certain lifestyle." As for "score," I guess he means "To cut superficially; to make scores or cuts in; to mark with incisions, notches, or abrasions of the skin." Example from the OED: "The elephant,..deeply scores with its tusks the trunk of the tree" (Charles Darwin).

The conversation is covered with cut marks made by declarations of policy. Okay. It's actually quite common to speak for words as capable of making cut marks. We often say "cutting remarks." And a conversation is something that can be cut. We speak of cutting into the conversation and even of silence that feels like you could cut it with a knife. Or a manifesto.

Anyway. Back to late-night talk shows. Why were people watching Charlie Rose in the first place? Did he make them feel smart and sophisticated? Can Christiane Amanpour access the same streak of TV audience emotion? If there was a sexual element to the response, can Christiane do what Charlie did? By the way, was Ted Koppel in a different psycho-sexual niche? Who watched Ted and who watched Charlie? What was that late night consumption of men chewing the news all about?

IN THE COMMENTS: campy said:
“I refuse even to joke about it,” Amanpour says,...

THAT'S NOT FUNNY!!!

80 comments:

jaydub said...

" ...can Christiane do what Charlie did?" You mean like harass women? Why not?

David Begley said...

Nobody but coastal elites watch those stupid shows. Same with the Daily Beast. Althouse blog probably has a bigger audience.

rhhardin said...

She wears a lot of perfume, it means.

David Begley said...

Legendary to whom? Not to us Deplorables in Nebraska.

Ralph L said...

Rose would occasionally have interesting people on--and then do most of the talking. Brian Lamb he ain't.

I've only seen a few seconds of Amanpour's show, but it reminded me of Susan Estrich vomiting out words, as someone described it. I felt more scoured than scored.

Sprezzatura said...

"Back to late-night talk shows. Why were people watching Charlie Rose in the first place?"

I rarely did. But, it was sorta-long-form. Which is better than the quick cuts of jabber that occurs, for example, on the Sunday shows that are regularly viewed at Meadehouse.

IMHO.

Ralph L said...

‘It Sends a Really Big Massage’
Wow, that's aphrodite, I mean erudite.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Anyway. Back to late-night talk shows. Why were people watching Charlie Rose in the first place? Did he make them feel smart and sophisticated?"

Ha! I just connected Honey Badger to the Late-Nite Talk Shows in the previous post, then see this. My Inner Althouse is strong this morning.

born01930 said...

I used to watch Ted back in the day. I recall him on Johnny Carson when Carson was retiring telling some great stories, I still laugh when I think of the one concerning Henry Kissinger.

rhhardin said...

Tomorrow: sex offender registries for dogs. It's about time.

- Veep, sendup of TV news, season 6

john said...

Charlie Rose at least gave the impression that he read the book before interviewing the author. Probably not tho. He probably gave it to one of his female acolytes, who then gave him a quicky just before the show. I mean, quick synopsis.

Sebastian said...

"defending the press against Trump’s attacks"

So the very premise of the show is dishonest obfuscation of press partisanship and fake narratives.

But then, courage would get her canned.

rhhardin said...

Erudite and rude come from the same word.

My name goes here. said...

I watched Charlie Rose sometimes. While he did talk a lot during his interviews, and he would occasionally humble-brag about himself, he did one thing that I think made his interviews good. He would ask a question (at length sometimes) and you could see he was actually thinking about the question, and he was thinking about what he did not know. It was an actual interview.

The interviews were not pre-done by some producer with the questions already handed to Charlie. At least it never felt that way.

Christiane Amanpour might be a great journolist/narrativist/propagandist. Her style of journalism is detail based. Her work reminds me of Mike Wallace's work in the 80's on 60 minutes. I wish more "news" was presented that way (with less partisan slant) than the way it is now. But how she will interview people? I bet it does not work out well.

Wince said...

In the wake of Trump’s line that journalists are the “enemy of the people,” there was passionate reaction to New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger’s meeting with him to discuss his use of that phrase.

That they cannot accurately quote Trump using full sentences proves Trump's point about FAKE NEWS, doesn't it? And their self-aggrandizing arrogance.

You need Twitter to know what Trump actually said:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/business/trump-calls-the-news-media-the-enemy-of-the-people.html

tcrosse said...

Hey, you! Get off of my cloud!

tim in vermont said...

The best way to defend the press is to demonstrate that he is wrong. But we know that ain’t gonna happen. This is about taking sides, and the press have taken theirs.

rehajm said...

As a foreigner, I take America’s constitutional protection of the press very seriously. These are very precarious times. We all need to be very alert

Yanny: Nobody has the right to question the motives of the press.

Laurel: The press does not have the right to subvert the results of an election they don't like by creating their own narratives with the assistance of the party they want in power.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

She wears a lot of perfume, it means.

I thought it meant she was farting a lot.

tim in vermont said...

He would ask a question (at length sometimes) and you could see he was actually thinking about the question, and he was thinking about what he did not know. It was an actual interview.

I seriously, seriously doubt that. Maybe it was instinctual, but I got the feeling that he was thinking about the best way to phrase a question so that he doesn’t accidentally step on the narrative the Democrats were pushing, since, after all, pushing it was getting him access to first rate trim. He always seemed like a low wattage guy to me, so maybe it just took him longer to think, period. But he looked serious, and had the voice, so he didn’t need anything else but dedicated loyalty.

Lovernios said...

Christiane Amanpour is the physical embodiment of "That's Not Funny."

FIDO said...

Shrug. From what little I remember of this journolist (sic), she is quick on the button to rationalize, excuse, forgive and offer aid and comfort to any foreign policy initiative up to and including Iranian Mullahs assassinating teenaged female dissidents (American meddling).

But it seems, in her world, that assassinating female democratic dissidents is a venial sin compared to Trump saying nasty things about a press who lies about him.

So no, I am not her core American hating Demographic. But I'm betting a lot of Professor Althouse's co-workers won't miss it for the world.

She fits their checklist:

Female Check

Person of Color Check

Rabidly Anti-American Check

Feminist Check

Amapour is the hymen of the Bubble.

Mike Sylwester said...

What legends have been told about Christiane Amanpour?

Fernandinande said...

rhhardin said...
She wears a lot of perfume, it means.


The cumulonimbus of fortitude is when Superman farts.

FIDO said...

Mike S beat me to the punch.

A legend to whom?

Wince said...

The MSM doesn't want to mention -- let alone debate -- the widespread perception of fake news.

They think wrapping themselves in the flag is sufficient coverage.

tim in vermont said...

The proper response is to demonstrate that their news isn’t fake, not to take offense at criticism. Were they able to do that, actually, Trump would be on his way out already. The problem is that between raids on his lawyers offices, NSA spying on his team, and probably him, a dishonest and partisan former Director of National Intelligence showing up everywhere giving out his personal political views, etc, etc, etc, they still have nothing but anger that he beat St Hillary The Perfect.

Marcus said...

"Legendary" must be the new "Iconic".

tim in vermont said...

What legends have been told about Christiane Amanpour?

She did some good work when she was much younger, before she fell into the whole cult. Maybe she feels like the Democrats really are better and fake news is justified, but she long ago stopped feeling like giving Americans the straight news and honest analysis was her job.

Stephen A. Meigs said...

I had an instinctive loathing of the Charlie Rose show. Pretty much the only thing he ever seemed to care about (e.g., as evidenced by the questions he asked his guests) was trying to elucidate how his wealthy or famous guest got wealth or acclaim. He came off as greedy and, even worse, like someone who respects people more or less in proportion merely to how rich and famous they are. Reverential to the rich and acclaimed, indifferent to everyone else.

campy said...

“I refuse even to joke about it,” Amanpour says,...

THAT'S NOT FUNNY!!!

Wince said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Heartless Aztec said...

"Blow up your tv, throw away your paper..."

John Prine circa 1970: prescient

Big Mike said...

Amapour, Rose, and both Kevin and Jimmy Fallon really are enemies of the people, and, no, I don’t think it’s a laughing matter. Pity they lack the intellectual integrity to grasp that.

Wince said...

The reaction of the MSM Fake News Media: "We'll show you we can put words in your mouth!"

How different is that than Charlie Rose: "I'll show you I can put my dick in your mouth."

Sebastian said...

For those of you who don't read Powerline, John Hinderaker has yet another example of the AP attacks on Trump, this one dealing with needing ID for shopping.

Carter Wood said...

Can Christiane Amanpour access the same streak of TV audience emotion?

Boredom and exasperation? Sure!

tim in vermont said...

That headline was pretty funny. They could have been Norks talking about Rocket Man.

gilbar said...

Forget Christine Amanpour. I think we, as a Nation, can agree that the person whose input and insight and opinion we want to hear from is

PONYTAIL GIRL ON A TREADMILL!!!

What are Her feelings on the whole PoundMeToo world that we are now living in?

rehajm said...

She checks many of the boxes for American limousine liberals and ultra white American media types- the exotic ethnicity, the British accent, prep school, foreign assignments, war zone assignments. I suspect that last one helps the most- while she's a 4 if she sits at on the anchor desk in a war zone she's an 8...well, a solid 7 anyways...

Bay Area Guy said...

If I were a CBS intern, I wouldn't want Christine Amanpour walking around in a loosely fitting bathrobe either.

chickelit said...

I always got Amanpour confused with Peter Arnett and wondered whose side is she was on. I guess that’s a sign of good journalism.

tim maguire said...

Mike Sylwester said...What legends have been told about Christiane Amanpour?

That she's a competent journalist?

Two-eyed Jack said...

I think Amanpour will help us all to remember the definition and correct use of"amour propre."

Two-eyed Jack said...

Charlie Rose's signature tic as an interviewer was to start a sentence and then pause, waiting for the interviewer to finish the thought. Once you notice this, it becomes very distracting.

tcrosse said...

What legends have been told about Christiane Amanpour?

Amanpour made her bones during the First Gulf War. One night she was reporting from a community center in Tel Aviv when the alarm came that SCUD missiles were coming in. Christiane bravely continued her stand-up, while all the men around her were diving under tables. Back at the studio, some retired military guy was praising her bravery. Well, he could have saved some praise for her camera crew. You can't see them, yet they exist.

Two-eyed Jack said...

Interviewee autocorrected to interviewer.

Caligula said...

"she’s remained the decades-long baseline of globe-saving journalism" vs "its duty of service at a time when the president is spouting that rhetoric that we are the enemy" pretty much encapsulates it, doesn't it?

Since when are journalists "globe savers"? Is it not obvious that when your globe-saving mission conflicts with just providing complete and accurate coverage of events and the globe-saving mission wins, you become more propagandists than journalists?

Hey, "journalists": If you don't wish to be mocked and ridiculed, maybe it's time to grow up, put away that globe-saver superhero costume and just do your damn jobs?

It's long past time for editors to stop assigning advocate-reporters to cover subjects dear to their advocacy, and especially to cease valorizing dishonest "journalists" like Amanpour. And yes, you can do this even if she does identify as female.

Henry said...

Anyone else reminded of William Wordsworth?

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting
And cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:

Known Unknown said...

"Person of Color Check"

What color? Purple?

She's a little Iranian, but was born in London.

etbass said...

Wonder if we could have a second Althouse blog that contains all the analyses and dissections of words, their history, etc. This would be for all the english majors who follow althouse and are turned on by words.

The first Althouse could focus on the substance of the article based on the intent of the author which is pretty clear 99% of the time. This would be for the restivus.

Robert Cook said...

"Anyway. Back to late-night talk shows. Why were people watching Charlie Rose in the first place? Did he make them feel smart and sophisticated?"

It was because Rose often had interesting guests on that one didn't see on the normal "talk" (sic) shows. Unfortunately, countering this attractive aspect of the show was Rose himself, a self-important blowhard who often talked over his guests, always at the detriment of the conversation. (He also had on the usual Washington talking heads who promoted the propaganda of the day, which Rose never challenged.)

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Amanpour will prove to be a mistake. She’s just the kind of overly mannered personality that parodists delight in. The memes and merciless Internet parsing will reduce her to a joke in no time. May as well put a sign that says “kick me” in the chair.

Ray - SoCal said...

Super biased lady.

Supported Obama’s Nobel!

I remember her debating someone, and coming off as biased and a bit of an idiot on Trump.

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/scott-whitlock/2010/07/29/profile-bias-christiane-amanpour-abcs-new-host-week

Robert Cook said...

"Amapour, Rose, and both Kevin and Jimmy Fallon really are enemies of the people...."

Really? How? What can any of these people have done to actually make them "enemies of the people?" I think "enemy of the people" does not mean what you think it means.

gerry said...

This news gives the term "news whore" a whole new meaning.

Yawn.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...


“"Person of Color Check"

What color? Purple?

She's a little Iranian, but was born in London”

Just enough, but not too much. Good Lord, we’re not going to put Al Sharpton in there!
The Connie Chung Theory of Diversity.

gerry said...

Really? How? What can any of these people have done to actually make them "enemies of the people?" I think "enemy of the people" does not mean what you think it means.

Again, predictably and boringly, a simple Robert Cook assertion confirms a comment.

Martin said...

And I always thought Amanpour was just another media jerk--wait, I still tyhink that.

gerry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Loren W Laurent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tommyesq said...

Amanpour got this job solely because Charlie Rose was a serial predator as well as a hypocrite, bashing others for the very actions he committed, effectively lying to the public on his show. Amanpour accepted the job from a network that has a demonstrated, repeated problem with sexual harrasment (Rose, Tom Ashbrook, John Hockenberry, Daniel ZwerdlingLeonard Lopate, Jonathan Schwartz, Garrison Keillor, Michael Oreskes, David Sweeney, etc.) - they can't even convince their own employees that they took the issue seriously (https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/22/588093337/npr-board-faces-tough-questions-over-sexual-harassment-handling). No wonder she "refuses to even joke about it" - it has advanced her career.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

I watched Charlie because his name is similar to mine.

MD Greene said...

Say this for Ms. Amanpour: She used to be a hardworking reporter. She was not one of those SYTs (sweet young things, per my mom) who grace the anchor desk in bright-colored sleeveless dresses and with perfect blonde curls and makeup, which to our idiot public screams Serious Female Journalist, hahaha.

It's always surprised me that the SFJs would play that game and then expect to be taken seriously.

tommyesq said...

Also, I totally agree with Gilbar - good to see a Laslo appearance, first I have noticed in a long time.

Barry Dauphin said...

"Legendary journalist" should be used every time her name is mentioned Legendary journalist Amanpour, shortened to LJ Amanpour.

Michael K said...

Doesn't a "manifesto" need to be something more than a one-liner?

The most famous Manifesto was the 1983 Labour Manifesto for the election.

It has been called The Longest Suicide Note in History" and resembled this year's Democrat policy platform. That is if anyone can find it.

Critics deemed the manifesto too radically left wing, denouncing its ambitious goals as reckless, ridiculous or just plain unrealistic.

Congressional candidate Occasional Cortex has described it.

Michael said...

I think by "score" he meant underscore.

MadisonMan said...

I agree the prose describing Amanpour is colorful, but it's all wrong.

Cumulonimbus clouds do not trail things. They are at the leading edge of temperature or moisture changes. Whoever wrote that knows absolutely nothing about meteorology.

Kylos said...

I think the word "series" implies a musical connotation to the word score. Thus, her manifestos provide a tempo or theme or motif to the conversation.

Robert Cook said...

"Again, predictably and boringly, a simple Robert Cook assertion confirms a comment."

To the contrary: the comment remains unexplained and unsupported. Just because you type something doesn't lend the resulting pixels any meaning.

Tank said...

MadisonMan said...

I agree the prose describing Amanpour is colorful, but it's all wrong.

Cumulonimbus clouds do not trail things. They are at the leading edge of temperature or moisture changes. Whoever wrote that knows absolutely nothing about meteorology.


That IS funny.

Thanks MM.

walter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
walter said...

Fernandistein said...
rhhardin said...
She wears a lot of perfume, it means.
The cumulonimbus of fortitude is when Superman farts.
--
She's a serial farter.
Her accent has helped he a lot.

William said...

When you mention Charley Rose, the subtext of the conversation becomes that people aren't always who they seem to be. I wasn't a fan, but Charley seemed to be earnest and well read and searching for answers to troubling questions. It was part of his act, and he was good at it. Broadcast journalism is part of show business. The most successful broadcasters have a persona. Maybe it's a fabrication, but on some level it's also who they want to be. Charley's persona looked quite real. Who would ever believe that Spencer Tracy used the services of gay prostitues? Who would ever believe that Charley Rose pursued nookie with more focus and effort than he pursued truth?......I don't think the press are the enemy of the people, but they're definitely a bunch of self serving phonies.

Seeing Red said...

CA is a legend in her own mind.

William said...

Every news channel has at least one woman on the air who was not chosen for her looks. Her lack of looks gives her credibility. She's not coiffed and corseted like those other airheads. She's brave and real and smart. Their blunt looks are part of their persona.

William said...

The media run their fingernails across the blackboard of my soul. I just read that Nicole Kidman is going to make a movie about the sexual predations of Roger Ailes at Fox News. She's going to play Gretchen Carlson. Well, of course. With all due sympathy for the Fox babes, of all these newsroom scandals, they don't emerge as the most abused nor the least renumerated for their troubles. Does anyone in Hollywood realize how one sided and bigoted such a production makes them look?

The Godfather said...

It used to be that a lot of people in this country mistreated "colored people", for which we are (most of us, anyway) sorry. But now we have "people of color", and we are supposed to grant them special respect. If Christiane Amanpour is a "person of color" entitled to that special respect because she's half Iranian, I'll expect folks to start giving some special respect to Israel, which is full of people who have ancestry just as "colorful" as hers.

Darrell said...

Bill, Republic of Texas said...
She wears a lot of perfume, it means.

I thought it meant she was farting a lot.


And the "solar flares" are the methane in her farts igniting. Every thing is clearer when you bring in science.