Transcript
BROOKE GLADSTONE: And now for a few of your letters. Last week, the editor of The Detroit Free Press explained why he was calling on his reporters to find more minority sources. Drew Rothman, of Cleveland, Ohio, wrote in to say that he found that effort to be, quote, "totally pointless. If the paper is covering a race-related issue or doing an opinion piece affected by race, I could see the purpose in seeking a representative group of sources. However, if the paper is covering environmental science, as noted in the guest's example, would there be any difference in the information received from a White scientist than a Black one? Very unlikely.
Including people in something purely because of their skin color is every bit as ridiculous as excluding them because of it."
MIKE PESCA: Ted Scheu, of Middlebury, Vermont, wrote in to rebut Franklin Foer's negative assessment of ESPN's soccer commentators. Quote, "He honestly cannot have been watching the same World Cup on ESPN the rest of us have. There have been no baseball or basketball analogies, and the announcers, both the play-by-play teams and the post-game commentators, have been almost entirely experienced soccer experts."
BROOKE GLADSTONE: But listener Marshall D. Katzman of Ridgewood, New Jersey, asks himself why he watches the World Cup on the Spanish station, and then answers, "Could it be that they do not clutter up the screen with superfluous logos, baseball scores, player profiles and other trivia that makes it impossible to see the field of play?"
MIKE PESCA: And finally, listener Charles Sumnerian writes in this week to take umbrage at the media snipes directed at the parting CBS newsman, Dan Rather. Quote, "What were the headlines yesterday? Rather depends under cloud of scandal. Dan Rather finally quits, having stayed too long.
Rather and his cohorts made journalism a force to be reckoned with. They actually told people things that mattered. They were arrogant, even haughty, because the government they went after had shamelessly abused power - kind of like today. And in order to take on those challenges, you have to be rather fat in the head.
You certainly can't accuse the press today of being fat in the head. Submissive would be an apt description. Now that the last giant of the profession has departed, the media can properly return to sniveling for a seat at the table."
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Keep those comments coming to onthemedia@wnyc.org, and don't forget to tell us where you live and how to pronounce your name.
MIKE PESCA: That last letter, though rather harsh, does remind us of the tradition Rather represented, that of the intrepid anchor who missed working in the field, and perhaps he missed it too much. But Rather was more than just an heir to a great tradition. He was memorable, to say the least, in his own right.