#210 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Wednesday December 1)
Good morning!
Good morning!
“Write boldly and tell the truth fearlessly.”
This is the quotation of Joseph Medill that appears on the cover of the 100th anniversary publication of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
As we all know, it is tougher and tougher to writing boldly presented (much less, correctly), as poorly researched, ill-conceived, often misleading information is being disseminated on the Internet with remarkable speed, wide exposure and shared republication. It is also tough to be a journalist whose work demands the reader to commit the time, energy and open mind to read a thoughtful, detailed piece. Even more disturbing, in some circles many will pay no heed to an article written by someone derided as an “enemy of the people.”
It’s hard to be a journalist and it is hard to write boldly or tell the truth fearlessly—precisely because there is so much to fear—from public derision to actual threats of violence against the writer or his or her family—enflamed by the megaphone-in-chief, Mr. Trump, and his allies.
WHERE DOES ONE GO FOR NEWS?
The sad state of journalism was, curiously, the topic of a question posed to me last month by an expat from Europe. “I know where to go in my country but I’m at a loss where to go for the news in America. Help me out.” Her desire was to read (or hear) the news, disseminated calmly and dispassionately, while being able to read opinion that is fairly presented and well-researched.
Not one to shrink from a challenge, I’ll provide a few thoughts about where to get journalism and commentary. Let’s start with basic news:
TV News. The Public Broadcasting System offers great relatively “down the middle” reporting. For commentary, Bill Maher and Fareed Zakariah, with different styles and different spins, are reliable. For a little light-hearted, yet journalistically legitimate fare in a news magazine, CBS Sunday Morning.
Radio News. National Public Radio.
Newspapers. I go for a mix of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times (the latter largely for local news, sports and arts).
Magazines. Magazines. This is something newspapers can’t provide. “Long” journalism lives at the Atlantic, the New Yorker (where I’ll acknowledge for my conservative friends, the “Talk of the Town” is a bit breathy and biased), the American Scholar, Commentary, the New Republic and The Nation. All have their natural biases but all are reasonably fair and thorough in their analysis.
Those are some thoughts on where I go for intelligent reporting and news. Any other suggestions for our European friend, lost in the forest of screaming pundits on television?
FIGHTING ON
The college football world was stunned this week by USC’s hiring of Lincoln Riley as its head football coach. In this world where nearly all decisions—great and small—are derided, second-guessed or incorporated into a broader conspiracy theory—there seems near unanimity around the “Trojan Nation” and in sports commentary generally, that this was a great hire.
As a Trojan fan and as someone who wants to see greater parity among teams and conferences in college football, it is hard not to see this as a great move. In so doing, I think it fair to point out a number of the positives and the concerns raised by this hire:
· Talent Objectively Measured. USC has finally gone outside of the “loyal Trojan” mindset of hiring people in its circle. It didn’t go well for Athletic Directors, Medical School Deans, head football coaches and administrative hires from within. The hubris of hiring only known quantities loyal to the university was not a “good look.”
· Integrity as a Qualification. Given USC’s recent history of condoning bad behaviors and/or “turning the other cheek” to sexual predation, dishonesty, and illegality, integrity must now be among the university’s primary criteria. Other accomplished coaches with blots on their record were passed over for a man who appears to be “squeaky clean” and can elevate the university’s standing.
· Time to Bail on the SEC. Riley’s great success at Oklahoma was in part due to its playing in a “winnable” conference. With Oklahoma moving to the SEC, the dominance of Albama, Georgia, et al. renders Oklahoma’s ability to continue its run of playoff berths is in serious doubt. Riley saw Oklahoma for what it was—joining a tough SEC and dimming his future success rate.
· Greater parity among conferences. As Colin Cowheard noted, the PAC 12 conference needed a boost in terms of visibility, marketability, TV contracts and relevance. With an improved USC re-entering the group of elite programs, the PAC-12 will become more relevant and competitive with the SEC and the BIG-10. One can expect other PAC-12 schools to attract better coaches and players for an instantly more visible product.
· Readjusting recruiting back to local schools. There was a time when universities recruited locally, competing with other schools in the conference for the local high school stand-outs. In recent years we’ve seen many top-tier players (particularly quarterbacks) graduating from St. John Bosco, Mater Dei and Servite finding their way to Clemson, Georgia and Alabama. If this reenergizes local football recruiting—and healthy competition between UCLA and USC for the top recruits—so much the better.
· Ridiculous salary. A negative of this hire is the further escalation of coaches’ salaries. It is rumored Mr. Riley is making over $12MM per year on a long-term contract, with myriad extra benefits. This has the effect of turning coaching positions into bidding wars. This will further separate the “haves” from the “have nots.” By the way, if the head coach salary is so high, one easily can imagine that the increased burden of salaries for offensive and defensive coordinators will pose meaningful financial challenges to schools, in trying to keep up.
· Institutions of higher learning and money. There no doubt will be calls for further regulation of universities, in order to encourage money flowing to scholarships and academia and away from sports. It’s hard to argue with this. Yes, I understand the ancillary benefits a sports program provides to a university, but the sheer idea that the highest paid talent at most Division 1 schools is the football coach is disconcerting. I understand that Sally Bowles was right singing “money makes the world go around” in Cabaret, but one would hope universities are at least a bit skewed toward what is right for its students and academics, before their sports programs.
· Income disparity. Along with the recent contracts awarded to Cory Seager, Max Schertzer and others of over $30MM per year, the rich keep get getting richer. We throw around numbers in salaries like they’re nothing but they’re not. The escalation is absurd and argues, in my mind, for a more progressive income tax. It makes little sense that a surgeon makes $400,000 and a coach makes $12MM, yet they’re in the same tax bracket. Time for more brackets.
Notwithstanding my reservations (which are more about policy and fairness than about football), this is a great hire. Congratulations to USC. Now it’s time for UCLA to trade in Chip Kelly and compete on the gridiron under new leadership…
Have a great day,
Glenn
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