| April 28, 2006 Alaskan in Exile by Neil Zawicki Public relations, in relation to journalism, is considered the Dark Side. It is a seductive place that lures hardened reporters of the truth away with promises of doubled salaries and cozy positions of privilege among power brokers. The editor of the Alaska Star, Tony Bickert, tells the story well. While reporting on Big Oil in Valdez in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, he was offered lucrative positions as a mouthpiece for the companies he covered. Clearly he was not covering them in the light they wanted – in fact he says he received threats for some of the stories he produced. Of course, if he’d filed stories that made Big Oil look shiny and clean, they would have left him alone. But instead, he found the truth and told it – a thing a good reporter does. The oil companies could see that if they wanted him to speak well of them, they would have to buy him. He said no. Tony Snow, on the other hand, said yes. He has surrendered to the Dark Side, accepting the job as White House Press Secretary after a 25-year career in journalism. Now he will spend his days feeding his former colleagues the hollow, well-greased rhetoric he has no doubt despised a time or two in his career. Never mind that. Snow now works for a president he once referred to as “somewhat of an embarrassment.” I don’t know about you, but I’ll be paying close attention to how well Tony spins the president every week, now that he’s been bought. Indeed. The Dark Side. But maybe there’s a bigger thing at work here. Maybe real journalism is a dying animal. Newspapers everywhere are limiting – and even eliminating – investigative journalism. It’s just too expensive to produce. What used to be the standard is now a considered a luxury, and extreme objectivity has hobbled an already ailing industry. The newspaper is not a place to learn the truth anymore. The newspaper is a place to read about a newly constructed shopping center, and to do a crossword puzzle. That’s okay if you like to believe everything’s just fine and that cops never lie and that our leaders are looking out for us. For everyone else, there’s independent media, which by my estimation is the only place left to really find something out. Neil Zawicki, exiled Alaskan, is Editor at Large for Insurgent49, a former reporter for the Alaska Star, and winner of the Alaska Press Club's 'Best Columnist' award. He is now living out the rest of his days in an undisclosed location in Oregon. He can be contacted at - hondo23@gmail.com |
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April 21, 2006 April 14, 2006 April 7, 2006 March 31, 2006 March 24, 2006 March 17, 2005 March 3, 2006 February 24, 2006 February 17, 2006 February 10, 2006 February 3, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 13, 2006 January 6, 2006 December 30, 2005 December 23, 2005 December 16, 2005 December 10, 2005 December 2, 2005 November 25, 2005 November 18, 2005 November 11, 2005 November 4, 2005 October 28, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 14, 2005 October 7, 2005 September 30, 2005 September 23, 2005 September 16, 2005 September 9, 2005 September 2, 2005 August 26, 2005 August 19, 2005 August 12, 2005 August 5, 2005 July 29, 2005 July 22, 2005 July 15, 2005 July 8, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 24, 2005 June 17, 2005 June 10, 2005 June 3, 2005 May 27, 2005 May 20, 2005 May 13, 2005 May 6, 2005 April 29, 2005 April 21, 2005 April 14, 2005 April 7, 2005 April 1, 2005 - also by this
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Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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