Lessons from an Old School Journalist

Daniel Schorr

The passing of the great CBS/CNN/NPR journalist Daniel Shorr happened the same week the flap over how blogger Andrew Breitbart's incomplete video posting unfairly cost agriculture official Shirley Sherrod her job.  These seemingly unrelated stories actually serve to remind us how news coverage has changed, and not necessarily for the better in a world where anyone can start a blog and declare himself a journalist.  This trend did not escape the notice of veteran ABC Nightline anchor Ted Koppel, who was a guest yesterday on NPR.  Koppel pointed out how government has also gotten caught up in this new media cycle and then having to do damage control.   I noticed how bad the Obama administration, the NAACP, conservative bloggers, journalism in general and the cable news channels in particular looked when practically everyone involved paid more attention to poltical expediency or media sensationalism.  While Fox News led the cable pack in spreading an inaccurate story for a day, they later spent more time blaming the administration for overreacting than sufficiently owning up to their own part in laying it on so thick.  MSNBC's liberal primetime hosts devoted their energy to blaming Fox more than the officials who were involved in improperly firing Sherrod.  Ted Koppel sounded a cautionary note about today's media focusing more on giving the public what they want than what they need.    Koppel, Schorr and other great journalists searched for truth.  That was their agenda.  

The Sonic Experience

Commercials for Sonic Drive-in restaurants have been seen in Connecticut on cable channels for years, but Sonic did not have any locations here.  Those shakes looked so tempting too!  That all changed July 14th with the opening of the first Connecticut Sonic in Wallingford.   There were special traffic advisories in anticipation of the throngs of fast food fanatics who were expected to converge on this spot on Route 5 off the Wilbur Cross Parkway - did they ever.   I was visiting someone nearby and had to check out the mob scene up the road, but there was no way I was going to enter that fast food fray.   They get an "A" in traffic control, but I can't imagine waiting an hour or two or three just to get the first crack at what are still drive-in hamburgers, shakes and fries - carhops or no carhops.   Six months ago in Fort Myers, Florida, I felt compelled to see what all the Sonic fuss was all about and pulled into a Sonic twice during my week there.   I did love their smoothies and the whole retro atmosphere.  That was all well and good, but it wasn't the high point of my culinary experiences while on vacation.  What I witnessed driving past the new Wallingford Sonic last weekend reminded me of the traffic jams on the Berlin Turnpike stretch of Routes 5/15 when Krispy Kreme Doughnuts came to our fair state.  That store is now long gone.  After the Sonic experience spreads to Manchester and then all across Connecticut, I hope they don't go the way of Krispy Kreme around here.  I loved those hot donuts and at least they're still in Mohegan Sun, but with their rapid regional rise and fall it makes me wonder if they were also cooking the books.      

Wisdom from a Facebook Friend

You can't turn on a TV without somebody reminding us how something is broken.   It can leave people with a sense of helplessness and a yearning for some straight answers.  There are many people out there willing to try to supply them, and most fall short.  Instead of easy answers, maybe we need some common sense perspective.   One source for everyday wisdom is Facebook.  What?  True, most of what's posted there is far from wise or even relevant, but type in Dalai Lama under "search" and you can receive observations from this revered Tibetan Buddhist leader each day.  You don't have to be very religious at all (or know Richard Geer) to relate to what the Dalai Lama has to say.  Here's a quote from yesterday: Some people think that cultivating compassion is good for others but not necessarily good for themselves, but this is wrong. You are the one who benefits most directly since compassion immediately instills in you a sense of calm, inner strength, and a deep confidence and satisfaction, whereas it is not certain that the object of your feeling of compassion will benefit.   I feel a sense of serenity already.  It makes me rethink what had me all hot and bothered in the first place.

Don't Boycott BP

I have to admit I've been reluctant to get gas at any BP station in eastern Connecticut, and there are many.  At first I felt it would be sanctioning their negligence in the Gulf of Mexico and one of the worst records of violations by an industry already wielding way too much influence over government policy.  Apparently an attempt to boycott BP is having a nationwide effect at stations displaying the BP sign.  But who is hurting when customers shy away?  BP stations are locally owned and operated, not company run.  They pay BP to use their name.  Many are contractually obligated to continue with BP for years.  I saw one of those station owners on CNN, and it was clear that he was taking the hit and not BP.  It also could leave one less choice for consumers who may not even be buying BP gas when they go to a BP station.  That revelation makes you wonder about truth in labeling, a whole other topic.  Make no mistake about it.  BP should pay.  They should pay big.  Thankfully, they have capped the leaking well for now, but there are too many unanswered questions about their corporate conduct.  If you boycott, you may not be punishing the right people.  Maybe we should also look at ourselves when we support politicians who say "drill, baby, drill" as our fossil fuel addiction forces oil companies to search in increasingly risky places.

Steinbrenner's Legacy

This has been a week of sad news for the New York Yankees.  First we learn of the passing of legendary Yankee Stadium announcer Bob Shepherd at 99.  Now comes news of the death of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner at 80.  He had been in poor health for several years and the team was being run by his sons Hank and Hal.   Few sports celebrities and fewer owners have drawn as much controversy in the years since he bought the team in 1973.  I confess to never being a big fan of the Steinbrenner style.  He deserves credit for the Yankees earning 11 pennants and 7 World Series titles.  He spent money to make money in the country's largest media market.   If the talent pricetag was beyond the reach of some competing teams, don't blame George.  The people who produced - or did their best - were the ones who made me a Yankee fan.   He deserved a return on his investment, but his micromanaging and grandstanding too frequently made the Yankees story all about him.  His character as portrayed on Seinfeld actually boosted his image, and it was clear that he could be a good sport and laugh at himself.  He was a phenomenal businessman with a larger than life image who brought in great people.  Like many American business leaders, he often forgot about letting great people do their jobs.  You hire their expertise; you don't own them.   You can't take it with you, but this is one boss who left a sports franchise so much stronger than he found it.  It's only fitting that he was around long enough to see the new Yankee Stadium and his team on top.     

A Baby Boomer Moment

It's been decades since Saturday night TV has had much of anything worth watching, but this past weekend found this baby boomer in front of the tube for an hour watching PBS and CPTV.  This time, California Dreamin': The Songs of The Mamas and the Papas, originally released in 2005, brought back some great memories in a beautifully produced retrospective of the group's relatively brief time in the spotlight of sixties pop culture.   This unlikely foursome had a familiar sound that defied labels.  Their hits and even a few of their misses sound as fresh today as when you couldn't put on an AM radio without hearing them.  Steeped in early sixties folk, the counter culture and then peaking in 1967's "Summer of Love," these Rock n' Roll Hall of Famers weren't strictly rock at all.   Their autobiographical hit "Creeque Alley" says they decided to "leave the folk music behind," but I think they just refined it with great lyrics and lush vocals arranged by John Phillips.  Mama Cass Elliot was one of a kind and was clearly destined for greater things in a solo career before her untimely death in 1974.  Drugs and the tension within the group eventually brought them to the breaking point, although the group did tour with a shifting roster of members for years afterward.  When I saw them at WDRC-FM's Oldies Fest in 1996, Denny Doherty was the only original member still on tour.  Of all their songs, the one that still stops me in my tracks only made it to number 20 on Billboard: "12:30 (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)".   Just like the clock that always says 12:30, it's easy to get frozen in time with any of their songs.

Dramatic Diversions - No Big Deals

So, Lebron James is headed out of Cleveland and toward the Miami Heat.  To see the reaction in these towns and others, you would think the world as we know it had radically changed forever.  Cleveland's NBA team, not to mention its economy, will most likely survive LBJ's departure.   He had every right to go where he wanted, and Cleveland fans need to get over this feeling of betrayal.  What could have been spared?  An endless hour on ESPN that could have been a minute!  At least the Dancing With The Stars results shows have something called entertainment leading up to who gets the boot.   The other drama that needed to end was Lindsay Lohan's reaction to the judge's jail sentence.  She showed no respect for the court up to that point, losing all credibility.  Her hysterics were more an angry, incredulous reaction to a sentence she thought she was above.  She needs treatment for her drug problems, but nobody can be too shocked by what the judge decided.   In both cases, it's time for a lot of fans (and Lindsay herself) to get real.   Were these huge water cooler topics of conversation?  Sure.  Did they affect our lives more than the time spent following them on ESPN or TMZ.com?  No.   

Eastern CT's Road to Nowhere

Every time I drive on Route 85 between the Crystal Mall area and Salem Four Corners, I think how much better the trip would be if they only finished Route 11.  Just the other day around 5:00 p.m., my 20-mile trip from New London to Colchester took over 50 minutes thanks to pure volume snaking its way from the Chesterfield Road intersection and the Route 161 merge in Montville  back down to Waterford.   Think about how much time people waste here each day, how many serious accidents occur on this stretch of Route 85 and how there would be no way to successfully evacuate the shoreline via this road.   Route 11 - all 7.42 miles of it - is one of the least stressful drives on a limited access highway in a region infamous for overcrowded interstates and treacherous two-lane state highways.  Planners had envisioned an expressway running from Route 2 all the way down to I-95 near the 395 split.  A drive to and from New London could be a breeze.  Funding ran out and in 1972 the road opened only half finished, ending at Route 82 in Salem.   Despite painstaking proposals for a "greenway" to limit environmental impacts, promises from politicians and support from local residents, the funding never materialized.   In this economic climate, I won't hold my breath for Route 11 dollars to flow, and we can only wonder how much the completion of Route 11 would have saved lives and been a shot in the arm to southeastern Connecticut.