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You are here: Home / Hurry the Revolution, Roger Simon is Bored

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37Comments

  3. 3.

    Suffern ACE

    I admit, the fault was mine. But I could not help concentrating on the fashion of the revolution, especially the jackets worn by the American newsmen. Their jackets were uniformly black or dark brown — perhaps the safest color to wear at night — and they were gorgeous: They had zippers and buckles and turned-up collars and, against the hellish red and orange lighting of Tahrir Square, they looked magnificent, as if making the statement: “Throw off the yoke of authoritarianism and accept democracy, and you, too, can dress this well.”

    I have a comment, but am at a loss for words.

  4. 4.

    Violet

    I can’t believe I went to Politico. Retch.

    People like Roger Simon really do believe they are the center of the universe, don’t they? Everything that happens, even revolution in other countries, should be done for their benefit and on their time schedule. Arrogance barely begins to scratch the surface of describing the rot of people like this.

    I did find this bit somewhat amusing, though:

    But I could not help concentrating on the fashion of the revolution, especially the jackets worn by the American newsmen. Their jackets were uniformly black or dark brown — perhaps the safest color to wear at night — and they were gorgeous: They had zippers and buckles and turned-up collars and, against the hellish red and orange lighting of Tahrir Square, they looked magnificent, as if making the statement: “Throw off the yoke of authoritarianism and accept democracy, and you, too, can dress this well.”

    I have to admit I always notice the jackets and khaki vests network anchors wear when they visit war zones or developing countries. It’s like the suits they wear in the studio aren’t “authentic” enough to be worn in less pristine locations. It’s all News Theater.

  5. 5.

    Dennis G.

    Wow.

    That is an amazing example of fail.

    And yet, it is also a perfect example of the prose coming from Pravda on the Potomac.

  6. 6.

    Violet

    @Suffern ACE:
    Heh. Great minds.

    I do always notice that news anchors dress in a certain type of “developing country attire” when visiting those locations. It’s almost insulting to the country they’re visiting. Why can’t the news anchors just wear a suit? Why the need to put on the khaki vest?

  8. 8.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Violet:

    Why the need to put on the khaki vest?

    I remember visiting CNN HQ a number of years ago, where they have a sort of museum. One of the items on exhibit is a jacket worn by Peter Arnett when he went into Iraq during the first Gulf war; it was specially modified so he could smuggle in $100k in currency.

    Needless to say, this was a long time ago, when CNN was in the news business.

  9. 9.

    Jay in Oregon

    I should have stayed in the boat.

    As it was, I literally could not read any further than the opening sentence:

    Am I the only one who finds it extremely suspicious that the revolution in Egypt was declared over exactly when U.S. viewers were willing to kick in their flat screens rather than watch another minute of people milling around Tahrir Square?

  11. 11.

    Poopyman

    @Jay in Oregon: Well, my response to his supposedly rhetorical question was “yes, it is just you”, and stopped reading. Did scan the first page for anything substantive, though.

    Wasted time.

  12. 12.

    giltay

    @Jay in Oregon: The start of that sentence is promising. Perhaps this could have been a critique of how news just goes away when it’s been around for a while, and we forget about it. Like pollution or wars or corporate crime, which are still happening, but we don’t talk about them because they’re not new, so not news.

    But then I read a little more and gave up, too. It’s one thing to point out that attitude, it’s another to justify it.

  13. 13.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Gin & Tonic: OT, but I had to add truly interesting peripheral point. In checking some facts about Peter Arnett for my post, I found that his daughter is married to John Yoo. Yes, that John Yoo. I wonder how the holiday dinner-table conversations go.

  15. 15.

    Another Commenter at Balloon Juice (fka Bella Q)

    Every single comment above is accurate. What an gigantic embarrassment. Though I admit I did not make it beyond the first graf. Ick.

  17. 17.

    geg6

    So a peaceful revolution sucks in Roger Simon’s world? Apparently there were too many well-dressed correspondents and not enough beatings and killings to keep him interested?

    Man, I’m reading The Hunger Games and thinking that today’s media would totally love it. Except for that one year, when it was in the desert and too many of the contestants just died of hunger and thirst and heat and not enough of them through graphic violence. That’s just boring.

  20. 20.

    RP

    @giltay: I didn’t think he was trying to justify it. In fact, I thought he was mostly making fun of the media. But it was still a stupid column because he didn’t saying anything substantive. It was just blathering.

  22. 22.

    Chris

    Most unintentionally ironic line in the entire article:

    But overnight, they all transformed into experts on Egypt. How did this happen? How did they go from experts on U.S. politics, which is mostly what they talk about, to experts on a country that may be more than 10,000 years old and has a very complex modern history? They may all be geniuses. Or else they know how to use Wikipedia. In either case, they spoke with what TV requires: absolute confidence, regardless of whether you know what you are saying.

    Of course, this doesn’t apply to the “instant experts” at Pajamas Media that gave us at least one or two articles a day about Egypt for most of that 18-day cycle. Most hilariously, the one and only Egyptian I saw interviewed there was a blogger who described himself as secular and pro-Bush (yeah, that’s a real snapshot of the Egyptian street).

    As for the general tone of the article, again, I wish I could say I was surprised, but I’m not. Shame is a lost value in this country. I’ve read conservatives argue that the inferior social safety net in America is worth it because it makes life more “exciting;” I’m not at all surprised that these same people would turn away from foreign coverage because it was “boring.”

  23. 23.

    geg6

    @Chris:

    I’ve read conservatives argue that the inferior social safety net in America is worth it because it makes life more “exciting;” I’m not at all surprised that these same people would turn away from foreign coverage because it was “boring.”

    Like I said, we’re living in The Hunger Games. For real.

  25. 25.

    catclub

    @giltay: The population of Egypt is 85 million. How many in Tunisia?

    I am not surprised. Egypt really is the center of gravity in the Arab world. And they have hardly any oil.

  29. 29.

    Malron

    John, this story may have something to do with why Roger “Tire Swing” Simon suddenly announced Americans are bored with Egypt:

    Earlier this month, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch unveiled the iPad-only news publication “The Daily.” “This pioneering digital venture…establishes an entirely new category of delivery and consumption,” Murdoch said, adding, “I am especially proud that we have done so by building on News Corporation’s decades-old legacy of exceptional journalism.” So how is The Daily living up to those expectations? New York Magazine’s Daily Intel reports on a memo The Daily editor-in-chief Jesse Angelo sent to his editorial team telling them that “Egypt is over” (it’s not, actually) and advising that they go out and get some more newsworthy stories:

    Folks, Egypt is over – time for us to get focused on covering America. We need to get out there and start finding more compelling stories from around the country – not just scraping the web and the wires, but getting out on the ground and reporting.

    Find me an amazing human story at a trial the rest of the media is missing. Find me a school district where the battle over reform is being fought and tell the human tales. Find a town that is going to be unincorporated because it’s broke. Find me a story of corruption and malfeasance in a state capitol that no one has found. Find me something new, different, exclusive and awesome. Find me the oldest dog in America, or the richest man in South Dakota. Force the new White House press secretary to download The Daily for the first time because everyone at the gaggle is asking about a story we broke. Get in front of a story and make it ours – force the rest of the media to follow us.

    Maybe Simon’s auditioning to be on Murdoch’s new IPad infotainment app? We report, you decide.

  30. 30.

    Malron

    John, this story may have something to do with why Roger “Tire Swing” Simon suddenly announced Americans are bored with Egypt:

    Earlier this month, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch unveiled the iPad-only news publication “The Daily.” “This pioneering digital venture…establishes an entirely new category of delivery and consumption,” Murdoch said, adding, “I am especially proud that we have done so by building on News Corporation’s decades-old legacy of exceptional journalism.” So how is The Daily living up to those expectations? New York Magazine’s Daily Intel reports on a memo The Daily editor-in-chief Jesse Angelo sent to his editorial team telling them that “Egypt is over” (it’s not, actually) and advising that they go out and get some more newsworthy stories:

    Folks, Egypt is over – time for us to get focused on covering America. We need to get out there and start finding more compelling stories from around the country – not just scraping the web and the wires, but getting out on the ground and reporting.

    Find me an amazing human story at a trial the rest of the media is missing. Find me a school district where the battle over reform is being fought and tell the human tales. Find a town that is going to be unincorporated because it’s broke. Find me a story of corruption and malfeasance in a state capitol that no one has found. Find me something new, different, exclusive and awesome. Find me the oldest dog in America, or the richest man in South Dakota. Force the new White House press secretary to download The Daily for the first time because everyone at the gaggle is asking about a story we broke. Get in front of a story and make it ours – force the rest of the media to follow us.

    Maybe Simon’s auditioning to be on Murdoch’s new IPad infotainment app? We report, you decide.

  32. 32.

    Svensker

    Every day things just get more depressing. I just looked at Simon’s bio. All that cred and this is what he’s come to?

  33. 33.

    Chris

    Correction: I saw Roger Simon’s name and thought it referred to Roger L. Simon, the CEO and one of the writers at Pajamas Media. Looking at the bios, though, looks like this Roger Simon isn’t the same person.

  34. 34.

    Suffern ACE

    @Svensker: I think the worst is that all that cred just allows him to talk about himself and his friends. I know, Politico is supposed to be all “insider all the time and aren’t us insiders saavy,” but Roger Simon can go sit on a tack. His title is “Political” which means it is supposed to provide analysis of our poltics. But no, he can’t help himself but talk about the media and it’s performance. If he were a “Media Analyst”, that would be fine, since that is what media critics are supposed to do.

    But golly, isn’t there any information he could uncover that would provide us some insight into what happened in Egypt other than the insight that reporters were over there and people were also back here talking and talking? Something that wasn’t about the members of his class and how they looked?

  35. 35.

    giltay

    @RP: Ahh. I didn’t get that far; like others here, I stopped caring about one paragraph in.

    @catclub: But the two revolts are linked, and I’m interested in how both turn out. I understand that Egypt is larger and more powerful than Tunisia and probably a bigger story. I’m just saying that there seemed to be almost no news at all from Tunisia for the past couple of weeks.

    Although now that Mubarak is gone, my local news has started reporting on Yemen and the UAE and Kuwait.

  36. 36.

    brantl

    If he were capable of shame, this would be a deeply, deeply embarrassing piece.

    The evidence is in; he’s NOT.

  37. 37.

    El Cid

    @Gin & Tonic:

    One of the items on exhibit is a jacket worn by Peter Arnett when he went into Iraq during the first Gulf war; it was specially modified so he could smuggle in $100k in currency.

    I wonder if they demanded the vest back when he was smeared with lying about the US’ bombing a civilian bomb shelter filled with innocent people in the first Gulf war and subsequently fired.

    As the Reaganite right wing media attack dog “Accuracy In Media” wrote as it launched a hysteria campaign against Arnett,

    As our first reporter to broadcast propaganda for the enemy in time of war, Peter Arnett has earned the Saddam Hussein Prize for Propaganda. Many journalists who couldn’t recognize propaganda when they saw it praised Arnett’s work for Saddam.

    Likewise, the DOD and Gulf War cheerleaders seized on any bullshit that ‘proved’ that all the reporters who visited and inspected the charred remains were duped and missed the clear evidence of secret command and control chambers on hidden levels that no one saw, as confirmed by the same Chalabi-pushed / Wolfowitz source / FoxNews valued commentating bullshitter who lied about knowing Saddam’s WMD details. (Source georgewbush-whitehouse DOT archives DOT gov/ogc/apparatus/crafting DOT html = moderation defense.)

    Khidir Hamza, former director general of Iraq’s nuclear weapons program, stated in his book, Saddam’s Bombmaker, that during the Gulf War:
    __
    “We sought refuge several times at the [Amiriyah] shelter…. But it was always filled…. The shelter had television sets, drinking fountains, its own electrical generator, and looked sturdy enough to withstand a hit from conventional weapons. But I stopped trying to get in one night after noticing some long black limousines slithering in and out of an underground gate in the back. I asked around and was told that it was a command center. After considering it more closely, I decided it was probably Saddam’s own operational base.”4

    There you go. Proof that all the pro-Saddam commie pinko ‘journalists’ were besmirching our fair reputation as super-accurate super-truthful smart bombers targeting only the absolutely correct targets.

    Of course, Arnett was right. “He” in the sense that he reported the same damn thing as every other ‘foreign’ correspondent like the BBC and other nations’ who entered after the slaughter of hundreds of civilians and found no evidence at all for it being anything but a bomb shelter.

    Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the bombing (Google Ray McGovern and Amiriyah and Valentines) of the air shelter, and the fierce coordinated propaganda attack by the US government and much of the media against those reporting it correctly. (Interestingly, George Fwill and Sam Donaldson, among others, said that Arnett’s reporting appeared accurate.)

    Twenty years ago, as Americans were celebrating Valentine’s Day, Iraqi husbands and fathers in the Amiriyah section of Baghdad were peeling the remains of their wives and children off the walls and floor of a large neighborhood bomb shelter.
    __
    The men had left the shelter the evening before, so their wives would have some measure of privacy as they sought refuge from the U.S.-led coalition bombing campaign, which was at its most intense pre-ground-war stage.
    __
    All of the more than 400 women and children were incinerated or boiled to death at 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 13, 1991, when two F-117 stealth fighter-bombers each dropped a 2,000-pound laser-guided “smart bomb” on the civilian shelter at Amiriyah.
    __
    It was one of those highly accurate “surgical strikes.” The first bomb sliced through 10 feet of reinforced concrete before a time-delayed fuse exploded, destroying propane and water tanks for heating water and food.
    __
    Minutes later the second bomb flew precisely through the opening that had been cut by the first and exploded deeper in the shelter creating an inferno. Fire rose from the lower level to the area where the women and children were seeking shelter — and so did the boiling water. Those who did not burn to death immediately or die from the bombs’ impact were boiled or steamed to death in the intense heat.
    __
    The bombs hit toward the end of a month-long bombing campaign to “soften up” Iraq before the U.S.-led ground invasion to drive Iraqi troops from Kuwait deep into Iraq. The aerial bombing had begun on Jan. 17, 1991; the coalition flew over 100,000 sorties, dropping 88,500 tons of bombs. U.S. government documents show that the bombs were targeted on civilian as well as military infrastructure. They were very accurate…
    __
    …Human Rights Watch noted later in 1991:
    __
    “It is now well established, through interviews with neighborhood residents, that the Amiriyah structure was plainly marked as a public shelter and was used throughout the air war by large numbers of civilians.”
    __
    A BBC correspondent, Jeremy Bowen, was among the first TV reporters to arrive on the scene. He was given access to the site and found no evidence of military use. The Pentagon later admitted that it had known that “the Amiriyah facility had been used as a civil-defense shelter during the Iraq-Iran war” from 1980 to 1988.

    But, hey, war is about adopting whatever line the government’s pro-war line is. And if those civilians fried in a clearly-marked bomb shelter didn’t want it, they should have overthrown Saddam Hussein.

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