About a quarter century ago when I was working at a community weekly, a media critic named Dave O'Brian, writing a column called "Don't Quote Me," penned a short item making fun of my editor (who shall go nameless), who had made an embarassing mistake in a political column that he wrote. In classic O'Brian fashion, it was an artful, but painful attack, a quick sticking in of the stiletto.
Singled out for ridicule, my editor stewed in some deep, dark juices for about 48 hours -- plotting bloody revenge against O'Brian and deliberating on what form it would take. I was amazed at the impact of O'Brian's work on my normally cool-headed boss and I imagined that O'Brian -- who I didn't know -- must have been one rough, tough son-of-a-gun to be willing and eager to get so many of his journalistic peers furious at him. (Only later, when I met him at a party, did I discover that Dave was about as mild-mannered a human being as had ever lived.)
I was also completely hooked on the idea of being a media critic.
As the Phoenix
announced yesterday, after about 20 years of doing that strange but wonderful job -- at both the Phoenix and the Globe -- I'm going to be moving to Washington in July and taking a job with the
Project for Excellence in Journalism, a non-partisan research organization that does serious content analysis and examination of the press and its work. For someone who has spent two decades scrutinizing the media from a reporter's perspective, it is a unique opportunity to move up to the next level. I have used the PEJ as a trusted source for years and have great respect for its work and the leadership of its director Tom Rosenstiel.
Until my departure around July 1, I'll still be writing for the Phoenix and blogging here. But I wanted to use this opportunity to thank the paper's owner Stephen Mindich and its editor, Peter Kadzis, not only for helping guide the first part of my career here from 1987-1994, but for allowing me to come back and revitalize myself professionally last year after a decade-long stint at the Globe. I am convinced that the so-called "alternative press" is really the best place -- temperamentally and psychologically -- to be a media critic.
I'm also grateful for a lot of good colleagues and bosses at the Globe -- with a special thanks to former Globe editor Matt Storin who brought me over to Morrissey Boulevard in the first place and made it clear the paper had a real appetite for what I did.
When people ask me about the biggest change I've seen in my 20 years of media criticism, I'm amazed at how crowded the field's become. When I started doing "Don't Quote Me," it was really a lonely job. Today, there are media writers working all over the mainstream press, there's a weekly NPR show called "On the Media," there's Howie Kurtz's CNN show "Reliable Sources," there's Emily Rooney's "Beat the Press" on Channel 2. And there's the exploding and still evolving blogosphere, which considers skeptical scrutiny of the MSM to be one its primary missions. There are a lot more media cops out there than ever before -- and with good reason.
Like death and taxes, media screwups and problems are an enduring fact of life. Which is why, when speaking in public, I would frequently haul out this stupid joke that I came up with.
Scientists say only one species -- cockroaches -- would be able to survive a nuclear holocaust. But the truth is there are two species that would still be walking around in the radiated debris. One is the cockroach, but the other is the media critic. Because someone would have to be around to comment on how badly the press handled its coverage of the end of the world.That was usually good for a laugh.