All the News That's Fit To Print?

 

For years I have lived by the lines in the final (?) verse to the song, “Get Up and Go.” The verse sounds, “I get up each morning and dust off my wits/Open the paper and read the obits/If I'm not there, I know I'm not dead/So I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed.” I have sympathy with the sentiment; for years I have read the obituaries in the New York Times, and if I wasn’t there . . . I learned to read the newspaper with the New York Times, often folding it unskillfully on the number 1, 2, or 3 subway trains rolling under the streets of New York City. Now, I have the paper delivered five days a week and I have read it sitting the dining table with my breakfast. E. get the Sunday paper and on Shabbat I rest from the news. Well, mostly, I do, since I still follow events on the digital version of the paper, the on-line news outlets and commentary. I still check the headlines and occasional stories in The New York Times, CNN, and Politico, for example. For the past several years my time with the Times has decreased considerably as the reporting has in my opinion declined in quality. I suppose that with all of the active online outlets for news and comments the print newspapers have modified their presentation of the news by transforming it into personal, human interest stories. Instead of the first paragraph—as I once learned—defining who, what, when, where and even how, now opening paragraphs of a news item even on the first page begin as personal narratives concerning individual(s) whose situation focused the story on the eventual newsworthy. Since the online sources have instantly reported on the who, what, when, where and sometimes how, the newspapers now offer anecdotes to illustrate and/or explain the situation. One could read considerably through the printed column before one even knows what the newsworthy topic might be. I prefer my stories in bound editions acquired in bookstores and libraries; from the newspapers I want reports on what is going on in the world—who, what, when, where and sometimes how. I’ve now stopped reading the newspapers because I don’t want my news presented as short stories. Lately, I sometimes don’t even pay too much attention to the Times opinion columns. I’ve got some opinions of my own. But I had still turned to the obit pages. Until now! Here is the one that has put pause to my regular study of the obits, In the on-line obituary notices headlined prominently today is that of Robert Pickman, who died at the age of 74 years. 

Robert Pickton, Notorious Canadian Serial Killer, Dies at 74 

Convicted in the murder of six women (though he boasted of killing many more), he died of unspecified injuries after being assaulted in prison.

 

I thought to myself: What the hell? How does a serial killer who proudly claimed that he had murdered forty-nine women deserve the space for a prominently displayed and researched formal obituary in the New York Times? Especially since the Times has been running obituaries of folks whose deaths were at the time unrecorded by the paper because according to the Times they weren’t famous enough despite now reported positive contributions to society that they might have offered. Perhaps these deaths of remarkable people were unreported because the prioritized obituaries to be researched and printed were those of unremarkable criminal types. How is it that a serial killer merits a full obituary in the New York Times. To whom is the obituary addressed? What exactly does this obituary of Robert Pickton say about the newspaper and our times? 

Well, I will attempt one explanation. We have become a society in which criminals and very bad people have achieved the status of cultural icons. Pretty Boy Floyd. Bonnie and Clyde. The legendary Robin Hood. Dylan had once sung that to live outside the law you must be honest. That is only partly true: the wages of sin in this country are high. But I also know that heinous villains have not been honored with a formal obituary in the New York Times. On April 24, 1998 the death of James Early Ray was covered in a story on Page 1 and continued on page A25. Not on the obituary page. The death of Lee Harvey Oswald appeared on page 1. No obituary on the obit page. The death of Jeffrey Dahmer was reported on November 29, 1994, Section A, Page 1. No obituary on the obit page.  The death of Ted Kaczynski was reported on page 1 of the New York Times on June 10 2023. No formal obituary. An article reporting the suicide death of Jeffrey Epstein appeared on Augusts 10, 2019 but I cannot find an obituary in the esteemed paper.  Now we have a former President convicted as a felon whose face appears on the front page of every newspaper as he spews lies and vituperative insults at the justice system that found him guilty of thirty-four crimes against the people of the United States. Donald Trump was a friend of Jeffrey Epstein. Are newpapers that put Trump’s lies on the front page give him a platform and give his lies credibility. Is serial killer Robert Pickton really worthy of a formal obituary? Why? Is he now really a folk icon? What exactly is the New York Times supporting here?? 

I will be in the future more circumspect reading the obits. But if I’m not there, I know I’m not dead and go on with breakfast.