CSotD: Street view
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You're not going to get a lot out of today's CSOTD without going to the actual site, Cartoon Movement, because there you will find 10 pages of Sarah Glidden's reporting from Occupy Miami, of which this is only the first.
Let me assure you that it is worth the trip and, not only does 10 pages not seem like a lot of content, but it seems like just the right amount.
Fancy that.
One of the trickiest parts of journalism is getting the quantity right. On one hand, you need to bear in mind the old vaudeville rule, "Always leave them wanting more," and, on the other, you have an obligation to provide information and there's always that one more piece that you want to share.
Glidden not only hits the happy medium, but she does something even more rare: She reports in a tone that, while it certainly has a sense of identity, is universal.
That is, you have no doubt that it is Sarah Glidden showing you these things, any more than you would doubt that your guide was Ernie Pyle or Nellie Bly, were that the case.
And yet, although she maintains a tangible identity, Glidden reports from a viewpoint of "Here's what I saw" rather than "Here's what we're doing." It is a rare and immensely valuable talent.
We have entered a period in which people don't see that Glenn Beck and Michael Moore, that Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly, are simply two sides of the same counterfeit coin, that, if your goal is to assemble the facts and make up your own mind, getting your news from MSNBC is really no more effective than getting it from Fox.
The Echo Chamber cheerfully serves all customers, and the Internets contain enough tubes that you can readily find multiple sources to confirm your beliefs and to assure you that, yes, Snowball caused the windmill to fall down. Or that he didn't. Whichever you want.
Is any reporter neutral?
Of course not. But the conclusion is not the popular "so to hell with trying," but, rather, the old-fashioned "bear it in mind."
Having just cited two, let me use them as examples: Ernie Pyle was the GI's best friend, and he was clearly telling stories that reflected well on them. And nobody has ever summed up Nellie Bly better than her biographer, Brooke Kroeger, who explains that "every story Nellie Bly ever wrote was about Nellie Bly."
But there are limits and there are rules, and much of the observational journalism emerging these days actively, almost passionately, advocates for one side or another. It's been a little hard to find reports that don't either confirm the opinion that OWS supporters are spoiled, ill-groomed slackers or the point of view that any efforts to impose limits on demonstrations are symptoms of a fascist police state.
Granted, the pepper spray and the drumming circles don't help. It's easy to reach for the low-hanging fruit, if you're in a hurry and don't much care about getting it right.
Which is why, in this cacaphony of self-confirming truths, the quiet observations of Sarah Glidden are such a welcome relief.
I don't want to be sold anything. I just want to have a look around.
Glidden provides that look around.
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