Media Nation

Tom Fox sounds like he was a remarkable person. A Quaker working with the people of Iraq, he was kidnapped several months ago. This weekend it was learned that he’d been tortured and murdered by his captors. Lest we forget, he leaves three fellow hostages behind. Their organization, Christian Peacemaker Teams, released a statement on Friday that says in part:

We mourn the loss of Tom Fox who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone.

We renew our plea for the safe release of Harmeet Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember. Each of our teammates has responded to Jesus’ prophetic call to live out a nonviolent alternative to the cycle of violence and revenge.

Fox kept a blog during his time in Iraq called Waiting in the Light. At the moment, it’s still online. ElectronicIraq.net has posted excerpts here and here. I find Fox’s analysis of how the United States ended up in Iraq particularly striking. Wrote Fox:

It has become increasing evident to me that after stripping away all the rationales for the US invasion of Iraq, what is left is the reality that the current U.S. Administration felt compelled to invade from a basis of hate. I can envision them saying, ‘Saddam is evil. We hate evil. Therefore we need to rid the world of this evil man and his cronies.’ I can see that actions taken by Saddam could lead them to feel hatred towards him. He and his associates built palaces and enclaves where they lived in luxury while across the Tigris River was a slum where over a million residents of Baghdad lived in poverty and squalor. He maintained control of the country by devoting huge amounts of material resources to his military and security forces, a decision that allowed the infrastructure of the city to deteriorate. And most hateful of all was his use of imprisonment and torture to keep the population of Baghdad living in a state of fear.

This is rather complex — after all, shouldn’t we hate evil? What I think Fox is saying is that though it may be natural to hate evil, it is dangerous to act on the basis of that hate, because it becomes easy to become caught up in the same evil that you’re trying to vanquish. Sadly, Fox himself, a man who had transcended such weaknesses, fell victim to the weakness — to the evil — of others.

By the way, there’s a story making its way around blogland that Rush Limbaugh actually poked fun at Fox and his fellow missionaries when they were taken captive last November, saying, “But any time a bunch of people that walk around with the head in the sand practicing a bunch of irresponsible, idiotic theory confront reality, I’m kind of happy about it, because I’m eager for people to see reality, change their minds if necessary, and have things sized up.” See the Daily Kos on this. Unbelievable, except that it’s not.

If he wanted to, Limbaugh could have an apology up on his Web site right now. He does not.

Howie Carr ought to give Kevin Weeks a cut from the sale of his book, “The Brothers Bulger.” Weeks, a one-time associate of the notorious James “Whitey” Bulger, tells “60 Minutes” that he nearly assassinated Carr several years ago, but couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger because Carr was holding his infant daughter.

The Boston Globe today runs a low-key story on Weeks’ claim on page B2 by Ralph Ranalli, himself the author of a Bulger-related book on FBI corruption called “Dark Alliance.” But the Boston Herald, understandably, goes nuts. The front-page splash reads, “Howie Carr to would-be assassin: YOU DIDN’T HAVE THE GUTS.” Carr’s column (sub. req.) begins:

Kevin Weeks didn’t have the stones to shoot me.

That’s what I told Ed Bradley of “60 Minutes.” And for the record, I don’t believe any of the stuff he told Bradley about my alleged near-murder. You watch Sunday night and tell me who you believe.

So his serial-killing boss Whitey Bulger hated me. This is news? Whitey wanted to murder me. Stop the presses. There’s an old saying: Never send a boy on a man’s errand, and that’s what Kevin was, a boy. He played Robin to Whitey’s Batman.

Good stuff! And talk about having it both ways — Carr can simultaneously market himself as someone who was nearly killed by the Bulger mob while at the same time mocking one of Whitey’s hit men for lacking the testicular fortitude to follow through.

“The Brothers Bulger” is sitting at #10 on the New York Times Best-Seller List right now, but that will change — especially after the “60 Minutes” interviews with Weeks and Carr air this Sunday.

Amazon.com’s ratings are so flaky that they’re almost meaningless. But for what it’s worth, “The Brothers Bulger” is at #90 this morning, while Week’s own “Brutal” is at #1,192. Methinks Weeks’ “revelation” is going to do more for Howie’s sales than for his.

More: Jay Fitzgerald on why this is bad news for Bill Weld.

Who is that robed man? Apparently the winner of the Boston Globe’s Seán O’Malley Lookalike Contest. The photo at right ran Monday to illustrate a story on the archbishop’s personal, “colorful” side. Taken at one of O’Malley’s favorite bookstores, the picture did not survive the transition from the paper edition to the Globe’s Web site. Fortunately, the official Media Nation copy of Monday’s Globe had not yet been recycled when I read the “For the record” column in today’s Globe. Here is the relevant item in full:

Clarification: A photo caption that accompanied the continuation of a Page One story Monday on Archbishop Sean O’Malley gave the impression that it was showing O’Malley looking at books at Schoenhof’s Foreign Books in Harvard Square. Although the newly named cardinal likes to shop at the store, the photo was of a customer who identifies himself as Father Paul of Jesus.

Well, now. Why a clarification and not a correction? Here is the caption that ran with the photo: “Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley is a regular at Schoenhof’s Foreign Books in Harvard Square. Store manager Rupert Davis (left) said he buys books ‘that will help him better grasp the people.’ ” No, the caption does not specifically say that the guy in the robe is O’Malley. But come on. It’s a photo of a bookstore where O’Malley likes to shop, and the image is dominated by someone who looks almost exactly like O’Malley. A wimpy clarification isn’t good enough; it deserves a correction.

This calls to mind the thumbs-up photo that the Boston Herald ran of O’Malley the day after he was designated a cardinal — a photo that looked like the archbishop was celebrating when in fact the small type revealed that it was just a file shot. It’s nice to see that a lack of access isn’t stopping folks at the dailies from running precisely the pictures of O’Malley that they want to illustrate their stories.

When our daughter, Rebecca, was born more than 13 years ago, we never would have suspected that the genetic anomaly with which she was diagnosed — dwarfism — would one day be the media flavor of the month. Actually, it’s been quite a bit more than a month now, as media depictions of people with dwarfism are becoming increasingly common.

Just recently, the Discovery Health cable channel broadcast an outstanding documentary on a dwarf couple from San Francisco, Joe and Ginny Foos, and their children. Called “Dwarf Family: Meet the Fooses,” it did so well that it migrated up the dial to channels that people actually subscribe to, like TLC and Discovery. The Fooses themselves have started a blog for anyone interested in learning more about the film.

Now comes a far more ambitious effort by TLC — if, by “ambitious,” you mean an attempt to connect with a wider audience. “Little People, Big World” stars Matt and Amy Roloff and their four kids, who live on a 34-acre farm outside Portland, Ore. The New York Times ran a lengthy feature on the program last week in advance of its Saturday debut.

We were out on Saturday — at a Little People of America function, actually — but last night had a chance to see both the hour-long pilot and the first two half-hour episodes in a TLC rebroadcast. The series is to run over about 20 weeks. TLC has put together a comprehensive fan site with video clips and interviews.

The program — about 90 percent straight documentary and 10 percent “The Osbournes” — was fascinating to watch. We know the Roloffs a bit: Matt is a past president of LPA, and I interviewed the entire family for my book, “Little People: Learning to See the World Through My Daughter’s Eyes,” at the LPA national conference in Salt Lake City in 2002. The following year, LPA’s conference was held in the Boston area. The photo I’ve included with this item is of Becky with Matt and Amy at that 2003 get-together. (Am I hoping “Little People, Big World” gives my book a new life? Oh, yes. Did I mention that you can buy it by clicking here?)

I think what people will find most interesting about “Little People, Big World” is its depiction of the Roloffs as an absolutely normal family with normal desires and problems. There is a tendency when depicting people with disabilities to show them as somehow better than ordinary — courageous, perfect beings who overcome all odds. By contrast, the Roloffs’ four kids — three of whom are average-size, which may surprise some viewers — are as wild as any normal kids would be. Matt and Amy argue over money and her need to work two jobs following his being laid off. Their house is every bit as much of a disaster as yours and ours might be.

When Becky was a baby, about the most positive depiction of dwarfism we could find was an Argentine film called “I Don’t Want to Talk About It,” a coming-of-age story about a young woman who’s a dwarf. It’s a fine piece of work that falls apart in the last 15 minutes when the heroine decides that the only way she can truly find herself is to run away — and, I kid you not, join the circus.

Now, positive media depictions of dwarfism have become almost routine, thanks to Meredith Eaton‘s role as an attorney in the television series “Family Law,” Peter Dinklage’s wonderful movie “The Station Agent,” and even dumb reality shows like “The Littlest Groom.” Will this help Becky Kennedy ease herself into a more accepting world? I don’t know. But it certainly can’t hurt.

As promised, here is the link to Jon Keller’s new political blog. It’s fairly tame so far, but that could be because Keller hasn’t had a chance to sink his teeth into John Kerry yet.

New York Post publisher Paul Carlucci tells the Boston Herald that a possible deal to print the Post at the Boston Globe’s plant in Dorchester will not hurt the Herald. According to Herald reporter Jesse Noyes, “Carlucci said the number of Post copies sold locally would remain the same as that currently shipped to the Hub. About 6,000 copies of the New York tabloid are now distributed in the Boston area.” That contradicts Steve Bailey’s Globe column of last Wednesday, in which he reported that the Post deal could call for as many as 30,000 to 40,000 copies to be printed at 135 Morrissey Blvd. (Then again, since I first posted this item, a knowledgeable source has told me that the two figures may not be irreconcilable.) But let’s wait and see.

The single biggest threat to the emerging grassroots media is that, as the Internet gets faster, not all content will be treated equally.

The giant broadband providers — phone companies and cable systems — are talking about charging a fee to Web services that want to take advantage of the higher transfer rates and fatter pipes that will come online in the next few years. The inevitable result is that Web sites such as Amazon.com, eBay and, for that matter, multimedia news sites such as NYTimes.com and MSNBC.com will pay for those blindingly fast speeds — but that citizen-journalism projects such as H2otown, Universal Hub and the Narco News Bulletin will get left in the dust.

For anyone who hopes that technology will push the media in a more democratic direction, this is an incredibly dangerous development. Worse, it takes place at a time when deregulatory zeal permeates the White House, Congress and the FCC, leaving little hope for government intervention.

Ken Belson’s article in today’s New York Times is just the latest of many I’ve seen recently on the two-tiered (or many-tiered) Internet to come. Belson treats this simply as a business and consumer story, with little or nothing about its implications for the broader culture. In fact, this goes much deeper than that. Holding prices down is a worthy goal, but it’s just a tiny part of the real story for consumers — that is, for citizens.

Jeff Chester, who heads the Center for Digital Democracy, has been warning of this development for years now. Check out the CDD’s Digital Destiny Campaign to get an overview of the issues. Here’s a taste:

The broadband revolution — still in its infancy but offering the potential for a new, more democratic media system — has arrived…. But in order for that potential to be realized, community leaders, media activists, and representatives of the nonprofit sector must become more actively engaged in the broadband build-out process. Without question, the new high-speed networks are headed our way, but whether they simply deliver more of the same conglomerate culture, or whether they open new opportunities for civic discourse and cultural expression, will depend on the actions that communities take today.

Danny Schechter has more Jeff Chester, on AT&T’s proposed acquisition of BellSouth.

In a related matter, Adam Liptak wrote in yesterday’s Times that a move is afoot to hold Web publishers responsible for odious content such as apartment ads that discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity and religion. Liptak focuses primarily on Craigslist, which allows users to post ads — in most cases free of charge — with no intervention on the part of the site’s staff.

Liptak quotes people who argue that the immunity Internet service providers enjoy is no longer necessary or good public policy. Law school dean Rodney Smolla tells Liptak, “The Internet has now matured to the point that we are beginning to see that the ordinary rules of law that govern our lives in physical space should also govern our lives in cyberspace.”

Well, much as I hate to side with those who engage in discrimination, I think it’s important to point out that the more-than-a-century-old telephone business is not thought to have matured in the way that Smolla thinks the Internet has. You can’t sue the phone company for the illegal activities that callers may engage in for a very simple reason: the calls aren’t screened, and it would be impossible to enforce such liability.

In a similar vein, Liptak reports that Craigslist receives two million ads every month — and has a total of 19 employees. What Smolla is arguing, in effect, is that Craigslist’s very business model ought to be illegal — that is, unless it commits to hiring enough employees to screen every ad, then it should be sued into oblivion. And what would appear to be a blow against those who engage in discrimination would, in fact, be aimed primarily at the grassroots media.

For too many powerful people, the goal is a biggest, better, faster Internet — dominated by the same handful of corporate giants that control most of the rest of our media. The battle is being fought right now.

WBZ-TV (Channel 4) political analyst Jon Keller is going to start blogging on Monday. Keller’s blog is supposed to pop up somewhere here, according to a press release from the station, which continues, “Jon will update ‘Keller @ Large Blog’ several times every weekday with reports on breaking, political news as well as political analysis and his take on the political scene and upcoming election season.”

I’ve known Keller since we worked at the Phoenix together in the early 1990s. A couple of years ago we even debated the merits of John Kerry’s presidential campaign on The New Republic’s Web site. Keller’s a natural, and I’m looking forward to reading what he’s got to say.

The Boston Globe’s Steve Bailey has a squib at the end of his column today following up his Wednesday piece on the possibility that former Boston Herald owner Rupert Murdoch might sign a printing deal with the Globe for a local edition of his New York Post. Current Herald owner Pat Purcell, who once worked for Murdoch, has told his employees that Murdoch actually explored a printing deal with the Herald first, but the Herald lacked sufficient press capacity.

New York Times staff reporter James Bennet has almost no editing experience, but he’s the new editor of The Atlantic Monthly. That’s a title former managing editor Cullen Murphy earned many times over but never received. Bennet is the perfect choice for what is now, officially, just another Washington magazine.

By the way, Bennet might be great. But given the magazine’s award-winning track record going back to the early 1980s under editors Murphy, the late Michael Kelly and William Whitworth, it’s telling that owner David Bradley was unable or unwilling to hire someone with a higher profile in the magazine world.