From: jay.thal (jay.thal@TCS.WAP.ORG)
Date: Sat Aug 26 2000 - 17:05:05 CDT
Upon opening my Scouts-L digest this morning I read several messages
under the title: "Clinton's signature dropped from Eagle Scout
Certificate".
My first response was to correct a relatively minor error regarding the
years when President Ronald Reagan's did not address the BSA Jamboree.
Then my ISP went off-line for its weekly clean-up before I was able to
address the issue of "Zillions" - a greater number by far than the stars
Carl Sagan used to speak about.
I will not get into the controversy over the legitimacy or lack thereof
of sources. People will differ where the lines exist between
journalism, commentary, and propoganda. But hyperbole does irk me when
it is portrayed as "news".
The article by David M. Bresnahan from <worldnetdaily.com> cited sources
from Salt Lake City and BSA. It offered perspective but not depth which
I would expect of an "investigative" reporter. It would be nice to have
data validated, and know the true nature and breadth of this groundswell
which forced BSA into action.
Of course the "story" is an old one, so why is it so suddenly being
"discussed" again?
So I asked myself: who is this Bresnahan and what is this
<worldnetdaily>? It's easy enough to find out and form your own
opinion. Bresnahan has many bi-lines on the <worldnetdaily> site - but
IMO they are virtually all opinion pieces written from a specific
perspective - but hardly "news" or "reportage". The site itself has a
perspective, as well.
I am not saying that these are illegitimate perspectives, but they are
not news and I'm not sure that they should be consuming the bandwidth
under such a guise.
YiWWSWd,
Jay
