Man Bites Dog

 

A woman who grew up in the deep south of Georgia admits that years ago she used a racial slur. Duh!

In journalism, some stories are considered news and some stories are not news. As an example, the journalism instructor often gave “Dog Bites Man” as an example of a headline that is not news. The instructor would go on to say reversing that headline has a better chance of making the news: “Man Bites Dog.”

I’ve been disappointed with journalism for several years now. First, you have to understand that I grew up a news junkie. When I was a college commuter, travelling across the city of Chicago from my South Side apartment to my North Side college campus. For those of you who live in a smaller town, that took about an hour. I’d have purchased the Chicago Sun-Times and the Daily Defender some time between the Jeffrey bus line and before getting on at the beginning of the Jackson Park L line – a stop, I understand, no longer exists. But that’s another story for another day.

By the time I got off, near the end of the line, I had read the news sections, including editorials, of those two newspapers. I'd also have read Roger Ebert and Gene Siskal, another story for another day. 

As I got off, there was a newsstand where I purchased the New York Times. Because I had quite a bit of time between classes, I’d take a break from studying and visiting to read the campus newspaper, and if someone had left one on the train or somewhere around campus, I’m likely to have read the Chicago Tribune. I don’t remember why but I had some problems with the politics of the Trib and refused to buy it.

On the way home in the evening, I’d stop at the L station newsstand to purchase the Chicago Daily News, an evening paper that was published by the same people who published the morning’s Sun-Times. I’ll save the story of the demise of the Daily News for another day, too.

I continued this practice of reading at least two newspapers a day, and often more. I learned the value of getting more than one point of view. I read several stories about demonstrations or rallies that had a variety of attendees -- a difference of a thousand or more from one newspaper to another. I always figured the truth lies in between. Even then, I didn’t care so much for broadcast journalism because it moved too fast and I couldn’t check if what I’d heard was what they’d actually said.  Yet, I watched TV news and listened to late night radio which included newsbreaks. As I said, a news junkie.

Even after I left Chicago, first to live in Japan and then to live in Massachusetts for two years each, I continued to read at least two newspapers a day. In Japan, I read the English language Japan Times and might add the New York Times or the London Times to my reading.  Also, I started buying weekly news magazines there, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Reports, especially to keep up on American politics and other goings on “back home.” While in grad school in Massachusetts I read the New York Times again in addition to the campus newspaper and the Boston Globe. And I continued my news magazine reading.

When I moved to Minnesota, local newspapers often disappointed. I had to look around large front-page color photos of hogs and other animals at the State Fair to get to news that mattered to me. But I could still find some national and even international news on the front page, where they belong. At one time I had the New York Times delivered along with the local Minneapolis Star Tribune. And I’d read the St. Paul Pioneer Press when I worked in St. Paul. 

Then the New York Times decided to stop printing New York news in editions that went outside of New York. Since I could get their national and international news as reprints, I stopped that delivery. A few years after that the Star Trib was bought out by a news conglomerate who decided that local newspapers would stick with local news and got rid of their correspondents. National news moved off the front page and consisted of wire stories or reprints from other news sources. International news required a serious hunt unless you wanted to settle for one paragraph news round ups in a box on page 3 or 4 or 5 or beyond. Editorials were all about local issues.

I stopped my subscription to the Strib and now either read it for free at work or buy a copy when front page headlines are about important national events – Barack Obama’s presidential win, Hurricane Katrina – although the focus was still on the local connection to these stories: how Minnesota voted, Minnesotans caught in the hurricane, Minnesota’s response to the election and the hurricane. Or they were wire stories which I can read for free online.

I also don’t listen to TV news because it’s more entertainment than news these days:  the mother saddened by the death of her child followed by the antics of somebody’s pet or the fate of the local or high school sports teams. And I can’t stand the teasers: “What popular baby product poses a threat to your child and has been recalled? Stay tuned.” And when I stayed tuned the recall news had to wait for after the antics and local sports.

I listen to TV news for the weather in the morning before I go to work and tune off when I figure out what to wear that day. I do listen to NPR news in the morning. But I’d been sleeping on the couch and missed the story about the southern woman who used a racial slur years ago.

Like most celebrity gossip, I heard it from my sister first: “What do you think of the latest attack on Paula Dean?” We’re both amazed that people are calling her a racist because we like Paula Dean, especially the pre-diabetic Paula Dean. We would like her less if she claimed to have never used a racial slur in her life. We’d figure then she was lying and question her racist leanings.

My sister, who is diabetic, tells me that people who blame Paula Dean’s diabetes on the way she cooked have gotten it medically wrong. Even I know that she never advocated an abundance of the “bad foods” that everybody claims. A pound of butter in a dish meant to serve ten or more is not that much butter except for people who think all butter is sinful. Not all the dishes she cooked were fried and she often spoke of her desserts as dishes for special occasions. My sister goes off her diabetic diet for special occasions and balances it with what she eats before and after that special occasion. Besides, she tells me, that’s not what causes diabetes.

Now Paula Dean has been fired from Food Network and is losing sponsors because she, a woman who comes from Georgia, admitted to and apologized for using a racial slur years ago. I want to hear about the people – black or white -- who grew up in the Deep South and say they never used a racial slur. Now, that’s news!