August is often a bizarre month for newspapers. Lots of folks are on vacation. Government slows to a crawl. Businesses don’t do a whole lot, etc. And yet there is still a paper to put out. So it’s interesting to see what fills the vacuum, what stories that in different times might get lesser play or no play suddenly get a lot of play.
Two this week that taken advantage of the August lull are the Jon Benet Ramsey case and the reassignment of Pluto to “dwarf planet.” OUCH
First, JBR: I have a good friend who was a top editor at the Denver Post when the JBR story broke, and he said it was an overwhelming story, so much reporting for so little news (He also was at the Post when Columbine hit, which was overwhelming for different reasons). The Ramsey story, I think, plays to many of our secret desires and fears. The fears of our children dying in some horrific crime, our desires about the fallibility and failings of the super-rich, etc. And the lack of an arrest back then didn’t dull interest. If anything, it enhanced it. The crime was now a mystery, with Jon Benet’s face frozen in beauty-pageant perfection staring out at us. Ten years is a long time, but not a long time. So one of the reasons it’s still getting so much ink and air time--besides the fact that it’s seen as a diversion from the wars—is that many of the people who covered it before are still in the media business. They may have been reporters then; they’re editors or producers now. It’s a chance to replay part of their lives. And it doesn’t hurt that Mr. Karr is so ---- creepy. What did the NY Daily News and Post both use as their headline: Snake on a plane.
Second, Pluto: There’s two back stories on this one. First is the rise of Geek Chic. The nerds will inherit the earth. Science and technology rule these days, and the images of debates between the pocket-protector set are irresistible. Hard-core scientist wannabes, such as myself, have been following the demise of Pluto for a while, and I’ve slowly watched it get laundered into the national press, ever frothier, and nastier. The second reason the Pluto story resonates so much is that it challenges a basic tenet of our knowledge base that generations of kids have learned. Nine planets is a user-friendly amount. Easy enough to memorize, hard enough that it takes some work to recall. Sort of like the 50 states or 100 counties. It just made sense. If there aren’t really nine planets in the solar system, what other fact is going by the wayside? Next up: removing Europe as a continent!!!
Your host is Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal. It's a forum to discuss the media, from
As I said on my xanga--planet, schmanet. As long as the Girl Scouts still sell Thin Mints, it’s all good.
I am more of a peanut-butter sandwiches person than thin mints, but I’m with you.
’Tis but thy size that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself though, not a planet.
What’s planet? it is nor wee, nor teensy, 44
Nor bitty, nor miniscule, nor any other size
Belonging to a Pluto. O! be some other size:
What’s in a size? that which we call a planet
By any other name would still be enormous ; 48
So Pluto would, were he not Pluto call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that enormosity. Pluto, doff thy planetude;
And for that planetude, which is no part of thee, 52
Take all myself.
Act II, Scene ii
Pluto and Juliet
William Shakespeare
Oh my goodness, we’ll be rewriting Shakespeare! To say nothing to science books. I know , I know planet had no definition. And all this coming out the year the first day of school was a Friday!
Eh, personally, I’m okay with Pluto’s demotion. It’s only been a planet since 1930 so it lacks the pedigree of, say, a Mars or a Venus. And there’s always the better-than-decent chance that in another 70 years or so a new breed of astronomer will get together and decide that Pluto, along with myriad other celestial bodies, should actually be included.
So we may go from the mnemonic My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas to My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Nachos to My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas, Fourteen Chalupas, And Some Watermerlon And Boy Am I Stuffed Hey Did You Hear The One About the Priest And The Rabbi How Bout Them Yankees Well I Could Win A Championship Too With A Nine Figure Payroll Are Eggs Good Or Bad For You This Week Because I Want An Omelet If A Mime Falls In A Forest Does It Make A Sound And A Partridge In A Pear Tree Plus Planet UB313.
So maybe it’s a good thing Pluto got bumped.
Post a comment
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.