Pulitzer Bait
PULITZER BAIT....Megan McArdle quotes Scottish journalist Alex Massie on the parlous state of British press awards:
In their own way, the hacks treat these awards with the proper level of contempt and, since no-one spends all year dreaming of ways to win them we are at least spared the epic, 17-part thumb-sucking series on "Life" or "Death" or "Being a Deaf Quadraplegic" the American papers publish in a bid to win Pulitzers...You know, I hear this kind of contempt for "Pulitzer bait" a lot. And some of it is probably justified. Still, I have to ask: is this really one of American journalism's most pressing problems? That it spends too much time on serious, detailed examinations of underreported public issues? Should we be awarding Pulitzers for "Best Advice Columnist" instead?
Of course, if you think the answer is "yes," you might be interested in my idea for changing the face of network news. I think someone should hire Billy Bush and Nancy O'Dell and have them start presenting the news the way they currently present Access Hollywood. Why not? After all, Billy has a degree in international relations and Nancy graduated summa from Clemson. They're just the ticket if we want to get the kids interested in news again.