A Real Reporter
Jun 28th, 2005 at 12:20 pm by Susie
I was just wondering what Jimmy Breslin’s up to:
Some people say they got into the newspaper business because of Woodward and Bernstein. I’m in it because of Breslin.
Which is why, eight months after he stopped writing a regular column in Newsday, I still cared what he had to say.
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He ripped newspapers for losing “their backbone and their nerve,” ripped writers for their timidity and boringness, ripped George W. Bush for Iraq and Jeb Bush for Terri Schiavo.He ripped a culture that has gone mad with celebrity worship and ripped Big Corporate Media for being complicit in it while ignoring real issues, a real war and real people.
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Breslin is infuriated with the way the ongoing war in Iraq is being covered, or not covered. “Does it even get mentioned?” he asked. “Our performance on the war is horrendous. This will be looked at for a long time as a journalistic failure.”He talked about a woman Army reservist in the Bronx with four children sent to Iraq. “Even in the worst of World War II, we had a 3A [draft] classification. You couldn’t send a father with four kids to the war. Now it’s all right. They said, `She only delivers mail, she just has to drive on the highways.’ I said you must not read the papers. That’s a fine place to be killed.”
As he spoke, I thought of the times I’ve shied away from strong words or disturbing topics and wondered: Are newspapers losing their way? Are we afraid to offend?
Breslin was never afraid to offend, even when he was truly offensive, and because he was Jimmy Breslin, he got away with it.
Yes, the papers have lost their way and are afraid to offend. Blogging is in its infancy, but it is the next step. We are the media.