The Cardinal, Julia Child, Ozawa & Enron

The Cardinal, Julia Child, Ozawa & Enron
By C. Paul Luongo

Overkill.

So long, Seiji. Screams the headline in The Boston Herald.

Catholic leaders hit coverage, reports The Boston Globe.

Julia Child attends umpteenth farewell dinners, before “retiring” to Santa Barbara but threatens to return. Enron collapses.

Enough already. All of these stories in the news media are so hyped up, endless, rewritten, copied versions of what we just read the day before over and over again. On Radio, TV, Magazines and Newspapers.

When the news media grabs hold of a story they don’t let go. Why didn’t the media report the Catholic sex scandals when they occurred 30 years ago? And why is it so fashionable to do so now? Ad nauseam.

Two cardinals have suggested that the clergy sexual abuse crisis is a relatively minor phenomenon that is being turned into a major scandal by the media and others with an ax to grind.

To be sure, most sophisticated Catholics knew all along that 50% of the clergy are gay (including pedophiles and ephebophillies) but accepted it without question ‘til pedophillia and ephebophillia surfaced. And multi-million dollar settlements became known.

Even Jack Welch, Jr., former Chairman of GE told a group of journalists that the collapse of Enron was being overblown by the press. And why didn’t the media report it earlier?

Last year a music critic at The New York Times questioned Ozawa’s talent, but Bostonians have embraced the maestro as one of their own despite the fact that after living here for 29 years, he still struggles with the language.

And who would have ever thought that an Asian native would some day head our prestigious symphony orchestra? But in his remaining days as Conductor, the media frenzy has been wild with adoration and God-like praise. Oftentimes with three or four stories in a single publication not to mention broadcast coverage.

With Julia Child, it got to be a joke to attend “another farewell party” and each time it was religiously covered by the media as newsworthy as if it was for the very first time. One columnist in The Boston Globe even facetiously asked the question “is Julia Child leaving?”.

Trying to get a legitimate story published in the media is difficult without “an exotic news angle” and it’s easy for the media to state that “if its already been published in another news outlet” no matter how obscure that news outlet is, they’re not interested. Excuses. But when there’s a “name” involved or “sex” then it doesn’t matter that everyone else has reported the story. It’s news. Every time. Over and Over again.

Have I made my point clear?