After watching the soon-to-be-released documentary, The [Pat] Tillman Story, LA Times sports columnist Bill Dwyre felt “mortified” and “ashamed” of his (and fellow journalists’) Pat Tillman coverage, noting that “heroes are a columnist’s best friend.” From Dwyre’s column Saturday:
Dannie Tillman [Pat’s mother] did what a nation full of high-paid, overblown journalists should have done. She went after the real story while the beautiful people on TV and the nerds with notepads broadcast and wrote morality plays. She got in the military’s face, in the government’s face. She didn’t let up. She was doing journalism while journalists were doing what we mostly do now — chase Web hits and take short cuts to higher profits.
A housewife got the real story, or as much of it as anybody probably will. Professionals trained to do so gathered moss and wrote slop.
(h/t, LAObserved)
What a ridiculous headline you added to an otherwise interesting and insightful story.
How about Tillman's MOTHER got the story right. Or maybe FAMILY of Tillman got the story right. She had the most interest by far, and relegating her to "housewife" does her a disservice. Dwyre did not do that. But you did.
#1 Posted by Thalia, CJR on Mon 26 Apr 2010 at 01:53 PM
Hi Thalia.
"A housewife got the real story" are Dwyre's words, from his column, which is why I've put them in quotes in the headline.
I agree Dwyre's is an interesting column.
-Liz Barrett
#2 Posted by Liz Cox Barrett, CJR on Mon 26 Apr 2010 at 03:03 PM