Pliability Journalism

Change comes to the Associated Press.

More than 144 hours into Barack Obama's presidency, the economy is still in recession, the country is still at war, and in many parts of the country it's still cold outside. Citizens are growing impatient: Wasn't President Obama supposed to bring change?

Yet one institution has changed dramatically, and in a very short time: the press. After spending the Bush years as a voice of opposition, American journalists have by and large turned on a dime and become cheerleaders for the man in power.

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A case in point is the Associated Press, perhaps the nation's premier "straight news" outfit. During the Bush years, the AP introduced a new reportorial idiom called "accountability journalism," whose goal is "to report whether government officials are doing the job for which they were elected and keeping the promises they make." Turns out they weren't.

But the AP's new idiom, which we hereby name "pliability journalism," aims to show that everything is completely different from the bad old days of a week ago and before. A Saturday dispatch by Liz Sidoti, titled "Obama Breaks From Bush, Avoids Divisive Stands," shows how it works:

Barack Obama opened his presidency by breaking sharply from George W. Bush's unpopular administration, but he mostly avoided divisive partisan and ideological stands. He focused instead on fixing the economy, repairing a battered world image and cleaning up government.

A central feature of pliability journalism is the bending of contrary facts to fit the narrative of change, hope and unity. Here's how Sidoti reshapes one such fact:

So far, Obama's only real brush with issues that stoke partisan passions came when he revoked a ban on federal funding for international groups that provide or promote abortions. He did that quietly by issuing a memorandum late Friday afternoon. The move was expected; the issue has vacillated between Republican and Democratic presidents.

So three days after taking office, Obama executed a 180-degree policy turn on the nation's most emotionally charged subject. That would seem to be the epitome of divisiveness. But no. It (1) has been "Obama's only real brush with issues that stoke partisan passions," (2) was "expected" and (3) was done "quietly."

Sidoti also notes that "some Republicans are griping about Obama's economic stimulus plan and closing Guantanamo. But their protests are somewhat muted, perhaps because little of what Obama has done thus far is a surprise." So it turns out the abortion order was not the president's only brush with issues that stoke partisan issues. In order to meet Sidoti's definition of "divisive," it seems, Obama would have to do something surprising--which, since he is a liberal Democrat, means he would have to do something conservative.

Oh, and when the next Republican president restores the ban on funding abortions overseas, will Sidoti credit him with not being divisive if he does so with little fanfare? Or would that be an example of excessive secrecy and lack of accountability?

Paul Haven, in a Sunday dispatch, tells how much things have changed on the international scene:

In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama signaled conciliation to America's foes by using the metaphor of an outstretched hand to an unclenched fist.

Already, there are signs that some of those foes were listening, sensing an opening for improved relations after eight combative years under President George W. Bush. Fidel Castro is said to like the new American leader, and North Korea and Iran both sounded open to new ideas to defuse nuclear-tinged tensions.

After eight long years of conflict under George W. Bush, Obama will restore the amicable relations with Cuba, North Korea and Iran that previously had prevailed since the Kennedy, Truman and Carter administrations. What a change!

The change even extends to gustatory matters, as Mary Clare Jalonick made clear Saturday:

Visiting one of his favorite Chicago restaurants in November, Barack Obama was asked by an excited waitress if he wanted the restaurant's special margarita made with the finest ingredients, straight up and shaken at the table.

"You know that's the way I roll," Obama replied jokingly.

Rick Bayless, the chef of that restaurant, Topolobampo, says Obama's comfortable demeanor at the table--slumped contentedly in his chair, clearly there to enjoy himself--bodes well for the nation's food policy. While former President George W. Bush rarely visited restaurants and didn't often talk about what he ate, Obama dines out frequently and enjoys exploring different foods.

It turns out that top chefs have "many suggestions to improve food policy," most of which involve treating small farmers more favorably and agribusiness less so. But Bayless "says the Obamas could make a world of difference if they just publish what they are eating every day. 'Everyone's going to want to be like the Obamas,' he said."

Even if true, that may prove a mixed blessing for foodies. Topolobampo's Web site recommends calling two weeks in advance for reservations. If Obama follows Bayless's advice and the public follows Obama's, pretty soon Topolobampo will be so crowded that no one will be able to get in.

We return to Sidoti's dispatch for one final example of the change President Obama has already wrought:

In a mix of symbolism and substance, Obama used a host of executive tools to put his stamp on the country without having to go through Congress, making statements from the bully pulpit and signing White House directives.

It's about time we had a president who believes in a strong executive branch!

Be Diverse, Just Like Us
See if you can guess where the following sentence comes from:

As he moves from representing a liberal Midwestern state into the Oval Office, Mr. Obama needs to move beyond some narrower views suited to his old constituents and embrace his role as a president of a powerful, diverse and complicated country.

If we told you this was from a New York Times editorial, would you believe us? Of course not--and you'd be right not to. Yet we adapted it from the following sentence, which did appear in a Times editorial:

As she moves from representing a conservative upstate district into Hillary Rodham Clinton's office, Ms. Gillibrand needs to move beyond some narrower views suited to her old constituents and embrace her role as a senator of a powerful, diverse and complicated state.

The Times is liberal, so it hopes Sen.-to-be Kirsten Gillibrand becomes more liberal. That's fine--and, since New York state as a whole is more liberal than Gillibrand's House district, it may suit her political interests to tack to the left. But there's something slightly nauseating about the Times's dressing up its ideological preferences in the obviously insincere language of diversity.

The Golden Egg
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi raised some eyebrows with this exchange on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanapoulos":

Stephanapoulos: Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?

Pelosi: Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those--one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.

It reminds us of that Monty Python sketch in which the Catholic father announces that he can no longer afford to raise his 63 children and, as a consequence, is selling all of them for medical experimentation.

In the real world, however, while it is true that prosperity tends to be correlated with lower fertility, the latter is an effect rather than a cause. Today's unplanned pregnancy is tomorrow's consumer of baby products and next month's worker and taxpayer, so that subsidizing contraception, whatever its merits, is the opposite of an economic stimulus.

Unless, of course, this is what Pelosi has in mind:

These days, more men and women are trying to survive the bad economy by selling their sperm and eggs.

According to the Northeast Assisted Fertility Group , the number of women filling out applications to donate eggs has doubled. The number of women asking about donating their eggs has jumped by about 30 percent at some egg-donor agencies.

Providence's WPRI reports that women make as much as $10,000 for selling their eggs. It doesn't say what sperm goes for, but we suspect it's considerably less--which means Pelosi's stimulus-through-infertility policy also helps answer Robert Reich's objection.

See No Evil
A curious story from Wichita, Kan., crossed the Associated Press wire yesterday:

Police say two people were killed and seven wounded in a shooting during a wake at a house in Wichita.

Sgt. Ronald Hunt says all the victims of Saturday night's shooting were adults. He did not know their ages or genders.

Hunt says one victim is in critical condition, while as many as four others are in serious condition.

Police say the shooting occurred around 9:30 p.m. on the ninth day of the wake, which was being held for an elderly woman buried earlier Saturday.

Deputy Police Chief Robert Lee could not say how many shooters were involved but says some of the shots came from outside. Police won't say if they believe the shooting is gang-related.

Officers had trouble communicating because many of those at the house did not speak English.

Police are looking for a pickup truck seen leaving the home.

Supposedly no one has any clue who the perpetrators or the victims were, except that the AP hints the shooting might have been gang-related and tells us that "many of those at the house did not speak English." Did they speak any other language? The AP doesn't say.

We had a hunch, which we explored by checking the local paper, the Wichita Eagle. It had stories on the shootings Sunday and Monday, but the only additional detail came was this, from the Sunday story:

[Neighbor John] Kemp said that the woman who the wake was for and her husband ran a restaurant in the neighborhood.

"They were doing well," Kemp said.

That restaurant was closed Sunday afternoon.

Hmm, we have an old couple who ran a restaurant, a gathering of non-English speakers, and hints of gang activity. It sounds as though an ethnic community in Wichita is plagued by violence--though which ethnic community it is, is a closely guarded secret.

Well, closely guarded by the Eagle and the AP, anyway. KSNW-TV, the local NBC affiliate, was able to dig up (although not to spell properly) the fact that somehow eluded the eagle-eyed Eagle reporters: "The crowd was made up of Laotion-Americans and Laotion immigrants."

This did not surprise us, because the story, as vaguely described as it was by the AP and the Eagle, reminded us of a scene from "Gran Torino," the new Clint Eastwood movie, which involves a Laotian gang in an inner suburb of Detroit. It says something about the state of journalism in Wichita that people who see Hollywood movies are better informed than people who read the local paper.

Dept. of False Choices

* "Bikes Not Bombs promotes bicycle technology as a concrete alternative to war and environmental destruction."--BikesNotBombs.org
* "Police: Bicycle Bomb Kills 5 in Northwest Pakistan"--headline, Associated Press, Jan. 26

It Wasn't That Kind of Hate Mail
"White Power Sent to Wall Street Journal Was Harmless"--headline, FoxNews.com, Jan. 21

Life Imitates John Denver

* "I can't escape thinking every day about you / Can't escape wishing dear you were still mine / Can't escape thinking maybe I still love you / Can't escape caring for you all of the time"--lyrics from "I Can't Escape," 1986
* "An inmate at a southern Indiana jail who was part of a group that found a way to sneak between cell blocks for sex isn't guilty of escape because he never left the jail, a judge has ruled."--Associated Press, Jan. 24, 2009

'Know Hope'
"Police Bust Sullivan Ring Dealing 'Obama' Heroin"--headline, Times Herald-Record (Middletown, N.Y.), Jan. 23

Art Is in the Eye of the Beholder

* "Andrew Wyeth's Legacy Lies Beyond Rural Realism"--headline, Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.), Jan. 25
* "In Wyeth, Pfizer Saw Drug Pipeline"--headline, New York Times, Jan. 27

Isn't Circumcision Enough?
"Expert: Limiting Wiretapping Will Castrate Police"--headline, YnetNews.com (Israel), Jan. 26

Eat Your Heart Out, John Edwards
"New Zealand Reptile Becomes Dad at 111 Years Old"--headline, Associated Press, Jan. 26

'I Only Wanted to See You Bathing in the Purple Rain'
"Prince Uses Date Stones to Decrease Air and Water Pollution"--headline, Queen's University (Belfast, Northern Ireland) press release, Jan. 24

Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control

* "Even Porn Industry Hit by Slumping Economy"--headline, MSNBC.com, Jan. 25
* "Sign of the Ties: '21' Club Changes Dress Code"--headline, Associated Press, Jan. 24

News You Can Use

* "Make the Most of Meaty Leftovers With Hash"--headline, Associated Press, Jan. 23
* "Seal Brain, Penguin Breasts off Antarctic Menus"--headline, Reuters, Jan. 25
* "Stressed Over a Test? Pet Your Pooch"--headline, MSNBC.com, Jan. 26
* "When Thongs and Bras Are Hands-On at Stores, Thefts May Follow, Experts Say"--headline, Naples (Fla.) Daily News, Jan. 23

Bottom Stories of the Day

* "Tucker's Jonathan Davis Has No Weekend Plans Yet"--headline, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 23
* " 'American Idol' Judge Annoyed by Utahns' Cheerfulness"--headline, Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jan. 24
* "Raccoon Found Asleep in Back Garden"--headline, Daily Telegraph (London), Jan. 25
* "City of Ottawa Urges More Talks in 47-Day Transit Strike"--headline, Vancouver (British Columbia) Sun, Jan. 24
* "Biden Back in Del. for First Weekend as VP"--headline, Associated Press, Jan. 25

Great Moments in Marketing
A press release out today announces a tasty new confection:

Chattanooga Bakery, Inc., maker of the iconic MoonPie(R) brand marshmallow sandwich, has introduced MoonPie(R) Peanut Butter, its newest and most unique new product in decades. Sized like today's "Mini" MoonPie(R), the product touts a creamy peanut butter filling, a crunchier, chocolate-flavored cookie and a chocolaty coating on the outside. It's PB&J--peanut butter in January! . . .

"We're really excited to be launching some truly new and different items under the proven MoonPie(R) trademark," said Tory Johnston, VP of Marketing. "For over 90 years, we've stayed true to our original design--soft cookies with marshmallow filling. After extensive research, consumers seemed excited to try new items from us--peanut butter is first, and there are several other new ideas in R&D now."

We know what you're thinking. But don't worry! Right there at the top of the press release, in big red letters, appears the following announcement:

This new item is NOT involved in the recent salmonella recall

Reassuring, isn't it? Though it might have been more reassuring to hold the release until such a disclaimer is no longer necessary.



Complete Original Article from WSJ