December 12, 2005
Should Journalists be Like Hookers and Make You Happy? Neil Cavuto Apparently Thinks So.
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
We've previously posted interviews by the up-and-coming Chicago Sun-Times interviewer and journalist, Debra Pickett. Pickett is proof that there are still some young media practitioners who believe that their jobs are to ferret out the truth and not to practice public relations for the Republican Party.
She's so fair that she even gently chided BuzzFlash in one of her columns for being a bit shrill and over-the-top after we headlined one of her pieces and she got a ton of e-mails, but you could tell she didn't mind the accolades that our readers sent either (and we might add spontaneously sent).
Anyway, she recently interviewed Neil Cavuto of GOP FOX News and covered it in her usual fair, engaging, accessible style. Pickett has a great way of not being just a detached journalist, but of letting you know her emotions during the interview, as if the reader is the one sitting there.
And boy, do you find out the difference between a real journalist and the likes of Cavuto who tells Pickett that the obligation of a journalist is to be "uplifting." God, we thought that was the responsibility of a hooker.
Pickett concludes her luncheon interview (an ongoing series she does for the Sun-Times) with the observation: "Our lunch does not end on a particularly cordial note."
She then finishes her account with this not unexpected final note: "After the interview, a Fox News Channel publicist calls to tell me that 'the whole Fox News media bias angle' won't make a very interesting story. She helpfully advises me to stay away from it."
Now, was that phone call from FOX or the Republican National Committee? Same Difference.
In many ways -- although this is our observation and not Pickett's -- the interview with GOP/FOX shill Cavuto reminded us that so many Democratic leaders are missing the boat. The battle is not between two visions of public policy, although the differences are night and day. The major political conflict of our time is between propaganda and the truth. That is why the Bush administration is spending so much time buying off journalists and news coverage here and in Iraq.
The Democratic leaders better stop arguing over technical details of government policy and start engaging full force in the battle over the airwaves and print publication coverage. Otherwise, we are doomed.
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
Debra Pickett's interview with Neil Cavuto is located at: http://www.suntimes.com/output/pickett/cst-nws-lunch11.html