Journalism Is Over

Tim Cavanaugh | April 25, 2005

Via Drudge: End Times sign #673: It's now a firing offense for reporters to drink on the job. Kalamazoo Gazette reporter Craig McCool and photographer Mairin Chapman have been canned for drinking beer while doing a story on "Beer-Pong."

[Editor Rebecca] Pierce, who could not be reached for comment Monday, seemed to indicate that the pair's transgression took on more severity because it involved their reporting on how heavy alcohol consumption can be dangerous. "It's a sad statement to our readers that our behavior in any way would obscure this serious and pervasive problem in our community," the editor added in the note.

Oh, well when you put it that way! Don't worry, though. The incredibly named McCool has purged himself through Maoist self-criticism:

The paper quoted McCool as apologizing for his actions. "I as a reporter need to be held accountable," he told editors. "The people in this organization work hard not only to keep the community informed, but to gather and dispense the news in a reputable and ethical manner. While reporting for the story in question, I forgot those ideals."

The great hard-drinking reporter trope was always mostly a myth, but jeez, what a bunch of pussies!

Comments

|4.25.05 @ 7:52PM|#

"The great hard-drinking reporter trope was always mostly a myth, but jeez, what a bunch of pussies!"

I've noticed that when a lot of guys get fired, they have the same reaction as a lot of us have to a break up--it's like a special kind of stupid. Give the guy a couple of weeks, and he'll probably look back with unbelief at the wus he was.

...And if this is what he was really fired for, shame on the Kalamazoo Gazette for firing him.

|4.25.05 @ 8:00PM|#

Just out of sociological curiosity, when did it become unfashionable for a guy to have a bottle of whiskey in his desk drawer?

|4.25.05 @ 8:00PM|#

What's up, posting twice?

|4.25.05 @ 8:38PM|#

So H.L. Mencken (were he around today) would hoist his trademark schooner of malt and duly get bounced on his ear. Christ, now I really need a drink...

|4.25.05 @ 8:45PM|#

"Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world."

Just don't look for that gal in Kalamazoo.

|4.25.05 @ 9:35PM|#

Honestly, I don't understand how most journalists do their jobs these days without throwing back a few during office hours- the job itself has become depressing, largely due to the incompetence of the industry's executives.

Read Tom Fenton's "Bad News," available in bookstores, both regular and online, to understand why they should be allowed to relieve their miseries with a litte Jack Daniels now and then.

|4.25.05 @ 9:50PM|#

Beer pong is a "serious and pervasive problem in our community"...

That statement is probably why they were fired anyways. I second the pussies remark.

|4.25.05 @ 10:15PM|#

oblomov81:

"Honestly, I don't understand how most journalists do their jobs these days without throwing back a few during office hours- the job itself has become depressing, largely due to the incompetence of the industry's executives."

Industry executives are incompetetant because journalists are drunk? Or is it the other way around? Please don't answer that.

|4.25.05 @ 10:57PM|#

I see someone beat me to the Mencken reference.

|4.25.05 @ 11:26PM|#

McCool, or MacCool, or mac Cumhail, is an ancient and honored name going back 1700 years, although the name is a little _less_ cool now.

Stephen VanDyke|4.25.05 @ 11:59PM|#

And then it kicks in... Dr. Gonzo really is dead :(

|4.26.05 @ 12:13AM|#

But yet, we have not seen:

"I as a President need to be held accountable," Bush told reporters. "The people in this country work hard not only to keep the nation safe, but to gather and dispense intelligence in a reputable and ethical manner. While advocating for the war in question, I forgot those ideals."

|4.26.05 @ 2:43AM|#

How the hell can you know if heavy alcohol consumption is bad for you if you don't give it a try?

Hell, I pity the Kalamazoo Gazette's food critic, who must be one skinny motherfucker.

|4.26.05 @ 5:26AM|#

So who made the decision to actually run such a story? Are they still employed?

If any newspaper powers that be think they've got a problem with employees drinking AS PART OF the job... They've got a surprise coming in terms of employees drinking ON the job. Have they never worked at a newspaper before? Every newspaper is made of equal parts coffee, alcohol and ink.

And I refuse to detail personal experience for fear of incriminating myself. I plead for a... I mean I plead the fifth.

|4.26.05 @ 7:24AM|#

Don't be too harsh on McCool, I think his tongue is buried deeply in his cheek. No self-respecting guy with a name like that could make those comments seriously.

|4.26.05 @ 8:03AM|#

"And then it kicks in... Dr. Gonzo really is dead :( "

Yeah, I was just thinking that. I recently picked up "Rum Diaries", and am enjoying it quite a bit.

If an employee's habit gets in the way of production, that's one thing. But to protect the sensibilities of a community? Give me a fucking break.

|4.26.05 @ 9:50AM|#

As a former hard-drinking journalist (and current hard-drinking lawyer)I add a hearty "fuck you" to the kalamazoo gazette or behalf of tropes everywhere.

|4.26.05 @ 9:51AM|#

So what's this beer pong thing?

|4.26.05 @ 10:01AM|#

"The people in this organization work hard not only to keep the community informed, but to gather and dispense the news in a reputable and ethical manner. While reporting for the story in question, I forgot those ideals."

What boring quotes... Couldn't the news editor have jazzed them up a bit?

|4.26.05 @ 11:30AM|#

Hmmm... First it was no smoking in the news room, now it's no drinking? What has the world come to? Pretty soon they won't let the photographers get high off the chemical fumes in the darkroom... Oh, wait, they got rid of that by going digital!

|4.26.05 @ 1:01PM|#

Come on, now...these reporters had a sacred duty to scaremonger, turn anthills into Everests, and otherwise spew paper-selling drivel. There's no way they could properly bebase themselves and their profession after having a few beers.

|4.26.05 @ 7:15PM|#

How about ether? is ether still OK? huh?