"Emo" Journos

(image via sharpshootertv)

We do so miss the dry, dispassionate Ontario-American accented reportage of Peter Jennings (The Corsair shakes head world-wearily and sips gamely at a glass of The Black Wine of Cahors). Gone now, alas, and never to return are the days of the WASPish restraint wafting over our communal airwaves that accompanied oh-so-perfectly the serene digestion processes of tens of millions of Americans' supping. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) Nowadays, journos are positively hysterical in their delivery.

There is a definite "Emo"-journo Zeitgeist in the Autumnal air, my friends. It begs after some old fashioned shadenfreude, or at least a shmear of Weltschmerz to get things back on track. Howie Kurtz of CNN's "Reliable Sources" tackles the emerging trend head-on, Ninja-style at the outset of his venerable program:

"HOWARD KURTZ, HOST (voice-over): The storm over the poor. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, journalists have discovered the poor and black residents of New Orleans left behind. Why have the media devoted so little attention to this other America? And does the sudden focus on the country's have-notes reflect a liberal point of view?

"Emotional journalism."

So true. Now, we have pseudo-journo Geraldo Rivera getting his panties in a twist over The Old Gray Lady and Andersen Cooper, unanchored, breaking traditional stone-cold teleprompting protocol. According to New York Magazine:

"He is a stew of emotion: dejection, regret, sadness, anger. 'I was really affected by the bodies,' he says, his voice cracking. 'I�ve seen a lot dead bodies before, and I�m not sure why these dead bodies affected me so much, but I sort of haven�t been able to stop thinking about them.'"

Now, according to FashionWeekDaily, the Fashion scribblers are becoming the fly-in-thew-oitment rather than the fly-on-the-wall:

"Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan was seen having words with Pierre Rougier, most likely about her second row seat; moments later, she was moved to a coveted front row seat alongside Vanessa Carlton �WWD scribes Jacob Bernstein and Emily Holt were overheard being Fairchild divas at last week�s Cartier/Vogue CFDA Fashion Fund party, where upon not being immediately recognized and ushered in, they announced to a publicist with heavy breath, 'We�re from W/WWD'; after waiting a few minutes, the PR flack apologized and explained that she got confused because she was dealing with a lot of the international press�"

More emo-journo FashionWeek "Heard" here.

Finally, from those intrepid Page Sixxies, "WHICH fashion writer is on 'probation' with his publication because he bullies his way into events and uses his position to grab freebies from fashion houses? One more infraction reported to his bosses and he'll be canned."