Monday, December 19, 2005

TIME Magazine - RIGHT ON. Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono as persons of the year.



Time's choice of Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Bono as persons of the year could not have been more on the mark. While concern in the mostly mindless newsrooms of national TV swirls around celebrity crime, sex, party girls, politics, drugs and glamour (did I get the order right?), Time's reporting some real news about people making huge positive change in a challenged world.

Newsweek, for example, had a good Gates article but relegated it to the "Society" pages and wasted too much ink about their "royal treatment" rather than what may eventually rank as the accomplishment of the century - the Gates foundation which has already saved over a MILLION lives! In the modern death math since 9/11 that's THREE HUNDRED Trade Centers filled with people...saved!

Bravo Time - you got this exactly right - though I do fear this story, and the thousands of other stories about how those who have almost everything are working for those with little in extremely effective ways, remains lost on the many seriously math-impaired journalists and fine fellow Americans.

This helps me retain my respect for at least some aspects of modern, market driven journalism. Seeking catchy hooks and entertainment value has trumped story significance, but not .... this .... TIME.

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