Quick question: Do you suppose that any of our local newscasts would find room for a respectful report of the death of a white racist, white-separatist fringe-lunatic who mostly appealed to a small following of the hate-filled and wildly illogical?
Same here.
But Ch. 4’s WNBC News found both the time and highly respectful tone to report the death, Jan. 9th, of black racist, poet, nut loaf and all-around hate-monger, Amiri Baraka, formerly LeRoi Jones.
Ch. 4 co-anchor Shiba Russell did quickly mention that Baraka “was known for being controversial and provocative,” but left it at that.
Perhaps there was no time nor inclination to explain that one of Baraka’s “controversial” poems was a 2002 libel/slander job that asked, “Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed? Who told 4,000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers to stay home that day?”
But Baraka’s work wasn’t just defamatory, inflammatory and irresponsible; it was childish. It was simplistic, devoid of any discernible creativity. In one poem, he discovered that “love,” backwards, is “evol” — sounds like evil. Heavy, huh?
Yet, he hustled much transparently self-promotional noise, thus he was granted far more media and “counter-culture” status attention than he was worth.
The African-American newspaper columnist Stanley Crouch read — and wrote — right through him, describing Baraka as “an incoherent mix of racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, black nationalism, anarchy and ad hominem attacks relying on comic book characters.”
Yet, Ch. 4 News saw fit to give Baraka a respectful, solemn send-off, as if he’d served humanity and society as someone more enriching than a creep.
Another part of Baraka’s obit that went missing on Ch. 4 was that he died at Newark’s Beth Israel Medical Center. Surely, 4,000 Israeli doctors conspired to stay home, that day.
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NBC’s “Today” news and info formula is tough on the good senses. One second the hosts are pimping anything and everything that NBC will be showing at night, that week, the next minute, presto!, they’re broadcast journalists, often discussing the compromised and co-opted ethics and bad public faith of others.
Thus, last week, after shilling for the Golden Globes, it was time for the regulars to check in on the latest from the George Washington Bridge lanes closure saga. The issue: Do Chris Christie and his administrators deserve their trust.
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We see where CNN ghoul and smug on-air dirty-talker Nancy Grace has received a multi-year contract extension. Guess she’ll have to keep her fangs trimmed.
Wonder if Ms. Grace ever worries about whether there’ll ever be a shortage of her bread and butter, whether she’ll ever run out of freshly suspected or accused kidnappers and/or murderers of trailer park children.
Yeah, she eats that stuff up.
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We’ve got a new one for our collection of absurd news-speak. We can throw it in right up there with “affordable housing” (housing for those who can’t afford housing) and “drug deal gone bad.”
Last week in NJ, a 37-year-old Bloods gang member was sentenced to 17 years in prison for conspiring to murder an 18-year-old.
According to news reports, the judge ordered that Dennis Thigpen “serve 85 percent of the sentence before he can be considered for release on parole, under NJ’s No Early Release Act.”
Fascinating. Apparently NJ’s “No Early Release Act” allows for early releases.
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Winter weather in January remains the most sensational story within local newscasts. It’s the lead story, the middle one, and again, near the end. So remember, New York: Run for your lives! . . . Oh, and details at 11!
Heck, Ch.7 news anchor Bill Ritter daily seems so concerned by the weather here, he should consider moving to a safer city.