The Arrogant One
As I had previously mentioned upon returning from safari I was perusing the pile of newspapers in my study and saw the news that Robert T. Collins publisher of the Asbury Park press was retiring.
I then came across an article by Michael Riley. Michael Riley is a reporter for the press and sometimes Minister who writes a column that has a religious theme. For the most part I disagree with his line of reasoning and I usually find him to be insipid but he can on occasion be thought provoking. However, I digress. The column I want to talk about was Rev. Riley's ode to his departing publisher. There was one thing that really caught my eye. Riley reported that one day at a meeting with Collins, Collins said the following,
"I usually assume I am the smartest person in the room"
That quote struck me like a bolt of lightning. It explains a lot. What an ego, what hubris! Now we know how the APP got its holier then thou attitude. It came from the top down.
Lets hope that the new publisher is less arrogant
By the way my experience has been that people who have to say things like " I assume I am the smartest person in the room", usually are not.
As I had previously mentioned upon returning from safari I was perusing the pile of newspapers in my study and saw the news that Robert T. Collins publisher of the Asbury Park press was retiring.
I then came across an article by Michael Riley. Michael Riley is a reporter for the press and sometimes Minister who writes a column that has a religious theme. For the most part I disagree with his line of reasoning and I usually find him to be insipid but he can on occasion be thought provoking. However, I digress. The column I want to talk about was Rev. Riley's ode to his departing publisher. There was one thing that really caught my eye. Riley reported that one day at a meeting with Collins, Collins said the following,
"I usually assume I am the smartest person in the room"
That quote struck me like a bolt of lightning. It explains a lot. What an ego, what hubris! Now we know how the APP got its holier then thou attitude. It came from the top down.
Lets hope that the new publisher is less arrogant
By the way my experience has been that people who have to say things like " I assume I am the smartest person in the room", usually are not.
posted by Teddy Roosevelt at
5:18 AM
3 Comments:
There is no doubt that the APP is a poor excuse for a local paper. We can only hope that the new guy can turn it around. I doubt it.
Newspapers are now commodities. Even with a captrive market, there is no incentive to do better. (Not unlike airlines)There just isn't enough money in it.
BTW, I also consider myself the smartest guy in the room. Collin's problem was he assumed it, whereas, I know it.
Barry Goldwater said
"BTW, I also consider myself the smartest guy in the room. Collin's problem was he assumed it, whereas, I know it.'
Well you seem like a nice enough chap and all but I am sorry I can not change my position on that point.;)
I did a column about Riley a couple of months back in triCityNews. It's on RedJersey also. I've reprinted it below:
Michael Riley of the Asbury Park Press…
Left-wing Media Bias in a Local Flavor
It is better to hide ignorance, but it is hard to do this when we relax over wine. Heraclitus
A few months back I wrote about how various writers and columnists were doing blogs on the Asbury Park Press website, www.app.com. I knew eventually these blogs would reveal what the folks at that paper REALLY think.
I have this theory about journalism – objectivity doesn’t exist. Everyone has opinions, and journalists claiming objectivity are hiding their agendas in their work. I only respect a writer who tells me his leanings up front, so I can then go to a writer who leans the other way, compare the two, and figure things out for myself. Let me read Michelle Malkin (right) and Eleanor Clift (left) and I’ll be better informed than listing to Gibson, Williams and Couric.
Michael Riley is an ordained Baptist Minister, erstwhile church Pastor and now a feature writer/columnist with the Asbury Park Press. A few years back he interviewed me for a column he was writing about the Art of Persuasion. I remember becoming uncomfortable during the interview because, for a Minister, Riley seemed to bring up sex a lot. Not in a weird or perverted way, but I’m just not used to a Church guy bringing up sex out of the blue more than once.
I recently started looking at Riley’s blog. Lo and behold, in the 17 months he’s been writing it, Riley has brought up sex in 15 of those months. Most months he does so several times; in one month it was 25% of his content. Ok, that is a little weird. Honestly though, I really don’t care. To each his own. That doesn’t bother me as much as something else he wrote.
On June 14 Riley wrote on his blog that the reason he is a “social liberal” is because he is a “Christian.” He said, “The bedrock values of the Gospel seem to me to include mercy, forgiveness, tolerance and unconditional love of even the enemy.” According to Riley, he “throws in his lot with liberals” because they are closer to the Gospel than are conservatives.
That is an enormous revelation about Riley. Not only is he revealing his liberal point of view, but you have to conclude that as a Minister, since he bases his liberal belief on the Gospel, he holds this view not casually, but sternly as a Red State, tax hating, gun loving Bible belt Republican.
I make sure my column clearly avows right at the top that you are reading the work of a conservative. Everything Riley writes in the future should say “liberal” at the top. I’d trust him more if it did, rather than him feigning bland, unachievable “objectivity.”
MSNBC recently did an investigation of campaign contributions by reporters from 2004 to 2008, and here’s what they found: Reporters gave to Democrats over Republicans by a 9 to 1 ratio. 9 to 1. Left-wing media bias confirmed. Independent voters were shocked, conservatives yawned at what we already knew while liberals and the media nervously instructed, “Move along now, nothing to see here.”
Since it’s old news that the media are left wing stalking horses for the Democrats, I guess it should come as no surprise to me to find that Michael Riley is a liberal too (after all, the odds were 9 to 1 in favor of that).
What stands out about Riley though is the connection between politics and the Gospel in his liberal constitution. For a couple of decades in politics people have been discussing the role of “Christian conservatives.”
There is this theory propelled at us by media that GOP backwards is “Party of God.” The media portrays religious conservatives poorly as if there is something to fear from people of faith. Democrats routinely join the media in the negative portrayal of conservative Christians.
The funny thing is though, the Democrats are yearning to have a religious base themselves.
The recent Democrat debate on CNN showed all the Democrat Presidential candidates wearing their religion as conspicuously as the Pope’s hat. Apparently Democrats really don’t have a fear of religion in the Public Square and government. Run for your lives, ACLU. The parallel between religion and politics that Democrats have so condemned the past 20 years turns out to be exactly what they wanted for themselves.
That being the case, Michael Riley is almost a cliché for media left wing elites – hiding both his liberal bias and his understanding that a religious base in politics is a good thing.
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