office politics can be rough
Via Poynteronline:
From BOB LAURENCE, TV critic, San Diego Union-Tribune: I’d like to offer a couple of possible reasons for the lack of attention given to the kidnapping of the two guys from Fox:One is that, sadly, they are far from the first to be kidnapped, injured or killed. They are, alas, only the most recent two of many. The kidnapping or targeting of journalists in Iraq isn’t the story it once was.
Second, Fox has deliberately set itself apart from other news media. Starting at the top with Roger Ailes, the Fox sales pitch has been to deride other media, to declare itself the one source of the real truth, the sole source of ‘fair and accurate’ news reporting. As a result, there’s not a reservoir of kinship or good will with Fox on the part of the rest of the news media. You can’t keep insulting people and then expect friendship when you need it.
They’ve made it a policy to keep a distance between themselves and the rest of the media, far beyond the usual competitive spirit, so that’s where they are: at a distance.
Translation: If we liked those Fox SOB’s we might give a damn. But we don’t, so too bad. Not news.
Imagine for a moment that some Israelis kidnapped a couple of BBC reporters and started making demands. There would be nothing else on television, not even commercials, maybe forever. There would be a CNN channel that did nothing but tell us over and over that it never would have happened on President Kerry’s watch. Mother Sheehan would go on a donut fast until the Brave Journalists were released, or for a week, whichever came first. All hell would break loose.
Palestinians grabbed some Fox reporters? Screw ‘em, they probably voted for Bush.
Posted on August 26th, 2006 by pwyll
Filed under: culture, politics
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Well said! As one who teaches, coaches, and understands the basics of office politics, the “alliance game” is an amazing one to observe. While the circumstances are unfortunate, you’d think that the network that introduced some of the most notorious reality shows on TV would figure out the whole “play the game” thing. I see this in office environments all the time… the “snake” politician will abuse and use everyone in his or her path, and when the time of crisis comes, everybody turns a deaf ear and asks, “Did you hear somebody screaming and writhing in pain? No? I didn’t either.”
Tim,
Thanks for commenting.
I just want to make it clear that I was not applauding Fox’s being on the receiving end of some nasty office politics. I was expressing disgust at what Mr. Laurence had to say.
I found it appalling, both as a human being and as a consumer of news. Are the petty jealousies of newsmen so inflamed that kidnapping should be overlooked? Do they expect their audience to sympathize with crimes against rival reporters? And if journalists are willing to skew the news to take a shot at rivals, why on earth should I trust them to be honest in any matter?
I agree with you that the event itself should not be applauded, nor should the ensuing behavior. However, as I said before, when people isolate themselves because of stances they take in relation to others, often they cannot expect those same people to come to their defense. It’s unfortunate, but it’s also human nature. Case in point, on a recent post on my site (http://carpefactum.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/08/ken_barbarian.html) I reference an executive who was fired from the job. This executive had a long reputation (almost two decades) of stepping on people, so when they were fired from their lofty IT position in the late 90’s (when all you had to do was spell I.T. to have people throwing money at you), it took this person months to get hired. It is unusual that Fox is so despised among the media. Even the worst of competitors seem to bond together in a time of crisis, so Fox’s reputation must be pretty poor to receive this treatment. That may also have been the life saver for the reporters. Terrorists thrive on attention, so the lack of attention may have sped up the release.
The bottom line point I was hoping to make: office politics are office politics… regardless of the setting. Thanks for raising some great points, though.