BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Tuesday, November 23, 2004
CRIMSON AND WINGO. In case
you haven't been following this, Harvard University and the Boston
Herald are engaged in some serious eye-boinking.
It started last Thursday, when a
Harvard senior named Jared Seeger wrote a piece
for the Crimson
devoted to the proposition that the Herald "is a really bad
newspaper." Among other things, Seeger wrote that the Herald's
editorial page "is where inane arguments go to die"; that columnist
Howie Carr has "lower[ed] the 'acceptable' bar so that it is
physically touching the floor"; and that "the newspaper pushes its
right-wing agenda under the guise of honest journalism."
Seeger's column brought an angry
response from Herald staff reporter Jules Crittenden, who
wrote
a letter to Seeger that's posted on Jim Romenesko's media-news site:
"While it is regrettable that we have offended your sensibilities,
you must recognize that when you go boldly forth to make your mark in
the world, your limo driver will need something to divert himself
while your Lordship is engaged in loftier pursuits."
Crittenden's response drew its own
response,
from Michael Woods, of Boxing
Digest. Even though you
might think Boxing Digest and the Herald would be
sympatico, Woods came to the defense not of Crittenden but of Seeger.
"While Seeger formulated a reasoned thesis about the paper's
deficiencies, having obviously spend some time dissecting the
personnel and their tendencies, Crittenden resorted to cheap shots
based on stereotypes," Woods wrote, adding that Crittenden's tone
"helps proves Seeger's points."
Finally - or maybe not - the
Herald's page-one splash on Monday was "HARVARD HOOLIGANS,"
subheaded "Cops vow crackdown on rowdy, drunken fans." On page four,
reporter Tom Farmer tells the
sordid tale of drunken fans
near the Harvard-Yale game on Saturday, much of it stemming from a
decision by the Boston police to grant to Harvard's student union a
one-day liquor-and-entertainment license for student
tailgating.
Monday's Boston Globe ran a
short
inside story by
correspondent Michael Busack on the same incident that identified two
of those who were arrested as Yale students and five as Harvard
students. That turned out, uh, not to be the case: today the
Globe ran a correction - not yet online - saying that the two
Yale students weren't actually arrested and the five Harvard students
weren't actually Harvard students. Never mind.
No correction in today's
Herald, which didn't identify the Yale students, and didn't
specifically say the other five were Harvard students - even though
the entire story reeked of ... well, what was that front-page head
again? HARVARD HOOLIGANS!
Still, this
story from today's Crimson
shows that Harvard deserves plenty of blame for what happened on
Saturday. Here's the best part:
But Undergraduate Council
President Matthew W. Mahan '05 blamed the ban on kegs for the
extent of hard liquor consumption. He said he never told Evans
that students would only be drinking beer.
That's right. If only the kids had
been chugging beer instead of Jack Daniel's, everything would have
been just fine.
And I believe the ball is now back
in Harvard's court.
RATHER ODD. Let's see. Dan
Rather made a fool of himself over the phony Bush National Guard
documents because of a report he did for 60 Minutes. That
incident has made CBS the laughingstock of television news, which is
really saying something. So Rather is going to step
down as anchor of the
CBS Evening News in March - and keep right on working as a
correspondent for 60 Minutes. Is everything clear? And what is
the frequency, Kenneth?
posted at 1:31 PM |
7 comments
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link
7 Comments:
RATHER ODDAnd what is the frequency, Kenneth?I love a good classical allusion. Thanks Dan.
At least Rather is going to be *reporting* instead of presenting the work of others in the future?
-- Bill R
You might do well to remember that the guy who accosted Rather, and said, "What's the frequency Kenneth" is the same guy who, some time later, shot an NBC employee to death outside the Today Show studios. That's the frequency, dumbass.
Here are some REM lyrics from "What's the Frequency Kenneth?"
"I was brain-dead, locked out, numb, not up to speed."
Tell the editorial writers at the Phoenix that this is how I feel after reading their blather each week.
Something wrong with shooting an NBC employee? I thought the only crime at NBC was Matt Lauer's hair.
Rather will be doing what he does best -- inventing news.
Arrogant a__holes from TWGU. Stop the presses! (I particularly enjoyed the Crimson story of the future State Dept. employees from New Canaan and Darien who were busted for cocaine). Party on, Garth!
In other news, Harvard's facilities expansion into Allston and Rather's contemporaneous decision to leave his ego to Harvard Medical School have been dismissed as "mere coincidence" by spokesmen...
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
