The Media Are Useless Teaser: Steve Adler

i want to write about some quotes that Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) and the Guardian US (GUS) collected from US journalism movers and shakers. The quotes are supposed to be about what the media did wrong in their 2016 election (especially presidential election) coverage. In practice, most of them aren’t about that. It’s sad, really, that communication professionals can’t even stick to the topic. Yet other aspects of what they said was far worse than merely undisciplined topic-wandering.

As I was writing about the larger series of quotes, I found myself writing a huge amount about just one. It’s far too much for a piece that analyzes trends throughout the quotes – it would bias the feel of the piece, making it feel less a piece about trends and more a piece about that one guy and some peripheral junk. So I’m dropping this preview of the other piece where I’m just shoving everything I wrote about that one guy: Steve Adler, the Editor In Chief of Reuters. Allow this to whet your appetite for the later piece.

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If I only had a brain: What I should have written, but didn’t write, but someone else wrote, so you’re saved.

The Attorney General of the USA has, helpfully, provided us with a summary of the Harry Potter books. Interestingly, it concludes that Voldemort was innocent.

William Barr publishes summary of Harry Potter series claiming Voldemort was “completely exonerated”

 

You really can’t know how badly I want to take credit for that. Purest genius. My favorite quote?

Those unfamiliar with how these things work will no doubt point to evidence of things like killing people as examples of wrong-doing, but the evidence is weak at best.

It’s short. You have no excuse not to read it in its entirety.

 

Priorities

Recently, an 8-year old girl found a sword in a Swedish lake. While heavily corroded, scientists were able to determine that it was 1,500 years old-ish. That’s pre-Viking era, and steel swords from the time would have been very rare in Sweden. But while the science is nice and all, some people are having a bit of fun calling this girl the Rightwise-Queen-of-All-Sweden because of some loose parallels with the Arthurian legends. Fortunately, the Guardian is on the case, and dispatched interviewer Moya Sarner to record the girl, Saga Vanecek, describing the experience and its importance in her own words.

There is much to love about the interview, but perhaps the best part is that this is a kid who clearly has a good sense of her own priorities. Asked about her claim to the throne, Vanecek says

I wouldn’t mind being queen for a day, but when I grow up I want to be a vet. Or an actor in Paris.

Any mammal, bird or reptile would be lucky to have you, Saga, whether they’re directing productions in Paris or not.

Ah, Easter Eggs Almost Make Jesus Worth It

So I’m watching the second season of Jessica Jones last night – for various reasons I didn’t watch it when it came out – and I finish the first episode and have time so I dive into the 2nd. As is her gig, Jones is investigating something. She gets hold of someone else’s computer (or tablet or whatever – I think it was a touch screen + a keyboard & I’m not sure what that is anymore) and is scrolling through the comments they’ve left on a site. When she focuses in on one, you can see the comment immediately above it, indented and obviously on a different topic. In that comment, redleader is responding to AliasJewel. That’s fun enough. But the actual body of the comment was

Douglas Adams is underrated as a philosopher IMO!

I had to giggle.