Culture

Tom Wolfe Praises Print, Calls Dan Rather And Other TV Journalists "Idiots"

by Maireid Sullivan | June 18, 2008 at 04:13 pm

268 views | 7 Recommendations | 9 comments

Charlie Rose's interview with Tom Wolfe presents an interesting take on the "zeitgeist of today's moment" with a brief look at the history of booms and crashes, while exploring Wolfe's views on journalism. To quote: "As newspapers are declining rapidly . . . I would just point out, all news today comes from newspapers. All of it," and, "Television has never initiated a successful story in its life. When they have a big story, it's always wrong."

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Barry Artiste

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 22:00 on June 18th, 2008

Maireid Sullivan, I like this story. It's good stuff. Surely he is not slandering Mr." What's the Frequency Kenneth" Rather? That's Unpossible!

René

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 22:25 on June 18th, 2008

Interesting.

Maireid Sullivan

at 22:58 on June 18th, 2008

Well, Barry, he is famous for blurring-the-line-between-fiction-and-journalism :) ...and since we can't know exactly what he means, we know very well why he has been so successful! ...he leaves you guessing. ...very smart in a 'dog-eat-dog' world. :)

Maireid Sullivan

at 22:59 on June 18th, 2008

Thanks for the tic, René.

Barry Artiste

at 23:30 on June 18th, 2008

Well Danny Baby, came here with much fanfare to do a story on our Downtown Eastside (DTES) to comment on the rampant crime and drugs, and as you say, he keeps us guessing. Yep, we are still guessing when the DTES story will ever hit the airwaves. Perhaps it is lost in Geraldo vault of "Where are they now?"

Maireid Sullivan

at 01:16 on June 19th, 2008

Hi Barry, I don't understand this reference. It must refer to something from your part of the world.

If you are just saying that not all stories get aired on tv, then I immediately remember what Wolfe said re. newspapers originating all journalism - and NP seems to demonstrates that. ...but, that said, I'm still not decided on the direction online news will take...

Barry Artiste

at 23:23 on June 19th, 2008

Gee, perhaps Rathers story is put on the backburner for good reason, of course Vancouver hosting the Olympics in 2 years I am sure has nothing to do with it., That would just be plain silly!