oracle
02-08-2002, 11:02 AM
Why We Talk About Reagan (http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=95001834)
The media can't see the truth about a great president.
BY PEGGY NOONAN
Friday, February 8, 2002 12:01 a.m. EST
A small band of former aides and friends of Ronald Reagan were all over TV this week talking about the former president on his 91st birthday. Our memories and reflections were treated with thoughtfulness and respect by the media. It wasn't always this way but I'm glad it is now, and I think there are reasons for it.
Journalists feel an honest compassion for Mr. Reagan's condition--everyone is saddened by the thought that this great man who was once so much a part of our lives no longer knows he was great, no longer remembers us. It's big enough to be called tragic: this towering figure so reduced by illness. Part of it too is a growing appreciation of Nancy Reagan, who is doing now what she did for 50 years, protecting him, protecting his memory and his privacy. Only now she does it 24-7 at the age of 78, and without the help and comfort of the best friend of her life: him. She told me some months ago how to this day she'll think of something and want to say, "Honey, remember the time . . ." Or something will happen and she'll want to ask him what he thinks. And of course she can't.
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It is also true--I am sorry to be cynical, but I have worked in media, have enjoyed and even shared its cynicism--that the hungry maw of every network and cable news show is hoping, on the day the former president leaves us, to get the Get. To get Mrs. Reagan on the air, or the former president's children, or his associates in history. The more sympathetic they are now, the better the chance they'll get the Big Get. And this is understandable. It's what news people want to do: Get the story.
Whatever the reasons, it's good to see Mr. Reagan's memory held high by those who admire and understand him, and have the arguments for his greatness heard with respect in the media.
But let me tell you why we make those arguments as often as we can. When I talk about Mr. Reagan, media people often preface my remarks, or close them, with words like this: "You adore him." Or, "You of course have great affection for him and so it's your view that . . ."
These are not unfriendly words, but they're a warning to the viewer: Take what you hear with a grain of salt. Needless to say the grain-of-salt warning doesn't come when the subject is, say, JFK or FDR or Martin Luther King, all of whom had friends, supporters and biographers who have spent decades advancing their causes with affection and respect.
And that's why those of us who talk about Mr. Reagan talk about Mr. Reagan, why we stick to the subject. After he leaves us the media may well conclude that they have no particular reason to listen politely when we speak of him. So we do it now.
And we do it because history is watching. Because young people are coming up. Because new generations rise and look at the past and think: Who was great, who was worthy of emulation, who can I learn from? Children whose parents have not for whatever reason led them or nurtured them sufficiently sometimes feel a particular need to look at the historical past and think: Who can I learn from there as I try to put together a good life?
...
Click here to read more (http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=95001834)
The media can't see the truth about a great president.
BY PEGGY NOONAN
Friday, February 8, 2002 12:01 a.m. EST
A small band of former aides and friends of Ronald Reagan were all over TV this week talking about the former president on his 91st birthday. Our memories and reflections were treated with thoughtfulness and respect by the media. It wasn't always this way but I'm glad it is now, and I think there are reasons for it.
Journalists feel an honest compassion for Mr. Reagan's condition--everyone is saddened by the thought that this great man who was once so much a part of our lives no longer knows he was great, no longer remembers us. It's big enough to be called tragic: this towering figure so reduced by illness. Part of it too is a growing appreciation of Nancy Reagan, who is doing now what she did for 50 years, protecting him, protecting his memory and his privacy. Only now she does it 24-7 at the age of 78, and without the help and comfort of the best friend of her life: him. She told me some months ago how to this day she'll think of something and want to say, "Honey, remember the time . . ." Or something will happen and she'll want to ask him what he thinks. And of course she can't.
<center>---------------</center>
It is also true--I am sorry to be cynical, but I have worked in media, have enjoyed and even shared its cynicism--that the hungry maw of every network and cable news show is hoping, on the day the former president leaves us, to get the Get. To get Mrs. Reagan on the air, or the former president's children, or his associates in history. The more sympathetic they are now, the better the chance they'll get the Big Get. And this is understandable. It's what news people want to do: Get the story.
Whatever the reasons, it's good to see Mr. Reagan's memory held high by those who admire and understand him, and have the arguments for his greatness heard with respect in the media.
But let me tell you why we make those arguments as often as we can. When I talk about Mr. Reagan, media people often preface my remarks, or close them, with words like this: "You adore him." Or, "You of course have great affection for him and so it's your view that . . ."
These are not unfriendly words, but they're a warning to the viewer: Take what you hear with a grain of salt. Needless to say the grain-of-salt warning doesn't come when the subject is, say, JFK or FDR or Martin Luther King, all of whom had friends, supporters and biographers who have spent decades advancing their causes with affection and respect.
And that's why those of us who talk about Mr. Reagan talk about Mr. Reagan, why we stick to the subject. After he leaves us the media may well conclude that they have no particular reason to listen politely when we speak of him. So we do it now.
And we do it because history is watching. Because young people are coming up. Because new generations rise and look at the past and think: Who was great, who was worthy of emulation, who can I learn from? Children whose parents have not for whatever reason led them or nurtured them sufficiently sometimes feel a particular need to look at the historical past and think: Who can I learn from there as I try to put together a good life?
...
Click here to read more (http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=95001834)