Press decry Benedict's lack of sound bites

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Not many sound bites: New pope’s discourses defy simplistic headlines

By John Thavis

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI has once again weighed in on pro-life and family issues in a way that offers clues to the style and substance of his still-young papacy.

To judge by media reports, the pope’s talk June 6 to the Diocese of Rome was no less than a declaration of war against gay marriage, abortion and birth control. Newspapers plucked out phrases like “anarchic” and “pseudo-marriages” for some zinger headlines.

But that’s one of the problems with Pope Benedict: Often, his well-reasoned discourses don’t break down easily into sound bites and headlines.

As one veteran wire service reporter recently lamented in the Vatican press office, the new pope is hard to write about because short citations don’t do justice to his complex arguments. You can’t just cherry-pick quotes.

That was especially true when. . . .
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Eucharist Good!
Abortion Bad!
Pray More!
Sin Less!

(Just trying to fill in the blanks for the press! 😃 )
 
Remember the old story about silent Cal Coolidge? – at a state dinner as usual Cal was being silent and taking it all in – his dinner seat mate said, Mr. President I made a wager with a friend that I could get you to say more than two words tonight – will you oblige? Cal looked at her and said “You lose”.

What the press doesn’t grasp is that in the Church what you do often says more than you need to use words for —and as JPII reminded a couple of bishops one time, what you don’t do as well.
 
Oh,dear it is going to take dissenters a long time to try to attack his valid points isn’t it:rotfl: :rotfl:
 
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stumbler:
But that’s one of the problems with Pope Benedict: Often, his well-reasoned discourses don’t break down easily into sound bites and headlines.

As one veteran wire service reporter recently lamented in the Vatican press office, the new pope is hard to write about because short citations don’t do justice to his complex arguments. You can’t just cherry-pick quotes.
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In other words half the press doesn’t know what he’s talking about and the other half will have to come out of Harry’s Bar and do some work. Tuff!
 
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HagiaSophia:
In other words half the press doesn’t know what he’s talking about and the other half will have to come out of Harry’s Bar and do some work. Tuff!
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I have thought for a long time that much of the press’s liberalism could be explained by simple laziness and, to put it indelicately, stupidity.

What’s the old aphorism? “The only requirement to be a general feature reporter is general ignorance.”
 
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stumbler:
What’s the old aphorism? “The only requirement to be a general feature reporter is general ignorance.”
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A lot of reporting is done by staff backgrounders such as one international talking head who during the march to Bagdhad was on the ground for 30 minutes, retired to his 5 star accomodation in Saudi and had his staff call him with dispatches which he sonorously read to the American public. Blech.

If you ever catch the 5 press members who appear each Sunday, there constant compalint about their compatriots is their laziness in reporting, in digging out stories. Most of them sit in the hair spray room waiting for printed copy these days.

I still can’t figure out in this day of TV why we sit and watch a man/woman at a desk “reading the news” to us. I mean it’s not exactly like radio is it?
 
Oh poor babies…does this mean journalist will actually have to write stories and do background on all their stories since everyting isn’t going to be handed to them??? WOW what a concept! Maybe they should have a class in college about this…

Beckers
 
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