Cloned Baby Coverage Fell into Media’s Laps During Dullest Weeks of News
It’s not often I wish I were back in south Florida, but this past holiday season I missed not being among the
crowd of reporters who showed up in Hollywood on Dec. 27, where members of a sect that believes space
aliens cloned all life on earth claimed to have cloned at least one human baby.
Believe me, there is nothing like the camaraderie of the news media when they are covering this kind of
news conference. The constant jabbing of elbows into ribs, the snorting, chuckling and outright guffawing
make the act of taking notes Herculean. Ramp up the degree of difficulty five or six levels by throwing in the
challenge of asking questions without bursting into laughter.
Now, media pundits have worked themselves into a lather dissecting the coverage, asking such rhetorical
questions as:
* Should the news media have covered this event?
* Were reporters skeptical enough in the coverage?
Please, the news reports could not have been more skeptical — unless they had put warnings on the stories
like: “The people quoted in this report may have given this news conference while on day passes from the state
mental hospital.”
The fact that the news conference was packed probably had more to do with the timing of the
announcement than with the group making it. The two dullest weeks in the news business are Christmas week
and New Year’s week. Schools are out, most government is shut down, businesses are not doing much that’s
newsworthy and criminals are mindful of the season. Readers are tired of stories about shopping and Santa
Claus. Short of interviewing each other, journalists are looking for some news.
Sometimes, any news will do.
A group whose leaders dress in Star Trek-like outfits and are outrageous enough to make this kind of
scientific claim fit the bill.
Pssssssst!: Cathy’s coming back; pass it on.
That rotund body of angst will be back on the comic pages of The Tribune soon. Editor James E. Shelledy is
in the process now of deciding what comic to toss out to find Cathy a space for her daily bout with the anxiety
of modern life and relationships.
According to Shelledy, the strip had more readership than he thought and, at the least, they were articulate.
Gay Priest?: It is sometimes what is left out not what is put into an article that proves controversial. An e-mail
from one reader pointed out:
“The Tribune had an article on Christmas Day about Father Mychal Judge, the former chief chaplain for the
NYC Fire Department, who was killed in the 9/11 attacks. Two points: I find it somewhat objectionable that the
author of this piece linked his potential sainthood with the fact that he ministered to all these low lifes
(alcoholics, homeless, lepers, etc.) in which was included the classification of ‘gays.’ Can you imagine the
outrage if you had named ‘blacks’ in the same context?
“However, the most objectionable point of this entire article is the fact that Judge himself was gay, which
was not even hinted at! That fact alone is the reason his possible sainthood is somewhat controversial.”
Judge was the Roman Catholic chaplain who rushed to the World Trade Center and began administering to
victims. He was killed when a chunk of crumbling building hit him in the head as he held one victim in his arms,
administering his religion’s rites of the dying.
The Associated Press article said, in part: “Judge’s canonization would be a true miracle on 31st Street, where
the Franciscan brother divided his time between the friary and the firefighters at Engine Co. 1/Ladder Co. 24.
Officials of his church and order have not been keen on the idea.” But the article fails to articulate the nature of
the controversy.
A search on Google.com indicates that Judge was apparently openly gay but celibate. He was given an
award by the Notre Dame gay alumni group. The idea of sainthood is often murky at best outside the world of
Catholics. Simply saying something is controversial without explaining why is a poor substitute for good
journalism.
When addressing topics having to do with religion and spirituality, newspapers must realize that readers’
beliefs are a matter of intellect and gut. Coverage should reflect that.
As to lumping gays with the lepers and alcoholics, Judge probably would not have minded; he was a
recovering alcoholic and was not shy about discussing it in public. Hanging out with alcoholics, drug addicts
and lepers would not make Judge controversial.
Jesus was known to hang out with those types, too.
