A very strange encounter. In the middle of the reception for my daughter's wedding a fellow walked up and without even introducing himself (I sort of knew who he was but we had never been introduced... I think he is fairly high up in the banking community in Anchorage). well, he started ragging on me about the failure of newspapers. Not the failure in economic terms, but apparently the failure to write the news about and in favor of things that interested or affected him. I kept trying to find a courteous way out of this, but it was like this guy had this pent up criticism for journalists and finally had one he could bring it out to.
Among his complaints was the idea somehow that the press had not brought out that Alaska fishermen DID receive money from Exxon over the spill and that was not made public in the awful press. That almost got under my skin. The paper I worked for published several stories about payments to fishermen when they were made, but this guy evidently missed those days or conveniently forgot them. The fact that the Exxon obligation was cut by the courts from $5 billion to less than $500 million and more than 30 percent of the people died before payments could be made apparently meant nothing to this guy. When it didn't sound like it was going to stop any time soon, I mumbled some excuse about having to give a toast or something and got away from him, wondering why the man chose my daughter's wedding to put me in the position of defending the American press.
Among his complaints was the idea somehow that the press had not brought out that Alaska fishermen DID receive money from Exxon over the spill and that was not made public in the awful press. That almost got under my skin. The paper I worked for published several stories about payments to fishermen when they were made, but this guy evidently missed those days or conveniently forgot them. The fact that the Exxon obligation was cut by the courts from $5 billion to less than $500 million and more than 30 percent of the people died before payments could be made apparently meant nothing to this guy. When it didn't sound like it was going to stop any time soon, I mumbled some excuse about having to give a toast or something and got away from him, wondering why the man chose my daughter's wedding to put me in the position of defending the American press.
Later it crossed my mind that i might have said something like, yeah the press has its failings but it was the banking industry that almost brought down the world's economy. How about if we report more about that?
" ... Won't you come on and sing it children. He's a stranger in a strange land."
And the connection? Lyrics from Leon Russell's "Stranger in a strange land" during his Delta music phase
No comments:
Post a Comment