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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWashington Post Stealth-Edits Reagan Obituary, Covertly Removes Tasteless Lead Without Note
Lois Romano, clearly a left-leaning journalist with an anti-Republican agenda if her Twitter feed is remotely any indication, is chosen by the Washington Post to write Nancy Reagans obituary. Like many obits for notable figures, this was written in advance to be ready for the moment (very common practice in print and broadcast journalism, no problem there)
Upon publication on WashingtonPost.com Sunday morning almost immediately following the announcement of the passing, some including me see Romanos obit as a trashing of Mrs. Reagan in Kitty Kelly-meets-Perez-Hilton-like fashion. Particularly disgraceful is Romanos opening paragraph the most important part of any column in terms of setting tone in which she wrote the following (emphasis mine):
A few hours later I write this column critical of Romanos obituary. The Mediaite column gets retweeted hundreds of times and has been read over 20,000 times on Mediaite at last count. Romano is clearly aware of the Mediaite column, as some appear to have sent it to her via social media while shes been active on her account.
Full: http://www.mediaite.com/online/washington-post-stealth-edits-reagan-obituary-covertly-removes-tasteless-lead-without-note/
ebayfool
(3,411 posts)I did laugh at the mediaite comment section, though!
snip/
Uncanny_Valley 4 hours ago
Joe Concha, this was a great article.
Now, please write one about the journalistic manure being produced 24/7 and hurled around at The Washington Times, The National Review, American Spectator, The New York Post and others...or maybe you only criticize the New York Times, The Wapo, and other liberal papers and can't touch conservative papers.
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Stonehenge Uncanny_Valley 39 minutes ago
Don't hold your breath; Concha is from the Bill O'Reilly school of journalism.
Lovebandit Uncanny_Valley 3 hours ago
Spoken like a true leftwing D1CKWEED...LOL
Uncanny_Valley Lovebandit 2 hours ago
Small-handed right-winger
Yup. The GOP has changed the American lexicon!
erpowers
(9,350 posts)I do not completely see what the author of this article is angry about. Everything said in the opening paragraph was true and most of it has already been mentioned even by people close to the Reagan's. The only thing I have not heard so far is mention of her strained relationship with her children and stepchildren. However, many people have, for years, been aware that at one point Nancy Reagan had a strained relationship with her children and stepchildren.
Does this author think certain details of Nancy Reagan's life, even if just about everyone knew about them, should not be included in her obituary? Does he think they should come later in the obituary?
alp227
(32,052 posts)UTUSN
(70,740 posts)But the definition of "gossip" does not equate with "UNtrue." Kitty KELLY's books are journalistically sourced and vetted. Her opening to her Nancy bio is classic: (paraphrasing:: ) Nothing in her birth certificate was true - not her name, not her date of birth, not her father's name..."
It was delish when Peter LAWFORD and other Hollywoodites told how Nancy's talent as a starlet had to do with that other, related profession/not-thespian, plus Nancy fulfilling her Climber crush with her SINATRA trysts. And this pic is chock full of dysfunction: Betty FORD seeking shelter from Big-Babs; Rosalynn being shunned the way the Boys shun Jimmy; Hillary appropriately glomming onto Ladybird; Big-Babs acting like she's the only Top Drawer one in the middle of trailer trash. And, of course, Nancy just HATING having to hang with the gals instead of the Boys.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)"No-Name Mediaite Writer Becomes Darling of Right-Wing Punditsphere for a Day"
I saw nothing factually wrong with the lede, although you can argue whether or not it was appropriate to lead off with the negative stuff, which is usually reserved for obits for bad people or criminals...
Either way, that blogger can go fuck him or herself with that manufactured outrage...
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)or harshness is a middle ground where truth can be expressed in a restrained manner, respectful of death and existence of mourners if nothing else. I'd err on the side of truth, though. Obama expressed truth in a balanced presidential manner when he "paid his respects" to the death of a justice at the Supreme Court but declined to attend Scalia's funeral.
AxionExcel
(755 posts)...not that I support much of anything at all that he advanced. To the contrary. But all the same, he was remarkably successful in his initiatives, moving them in the public and legislative sphere adroitly. But obviously Nancy's astrologer could not have had a darn thing to do with that. So don't even think it.
lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)If the obit was prepared some time before she croaked would that not give others at
the WaPo the opportunity to give their critiques and suggest any alternate input?
6000eliot
(5,643 posts)Was anything she wrote untrue?
DavidDvorkin
(19,485 posts)alp227
(32,052 posts)Especially since the Post serves the public with national/political news, Post owes explanations for visible edits