If you spend most of your time writing about TV and the media, then you become accustomed to cranking out things which have a very short shelf-life.
No matter how popular the television show or how snappy the interview, most TV pieces are irrelevant within days. I’m used to idea, but it’s nice to know that every so often, some small bit of reporting has a long-term impact.
On Wednesday, many local PBS stations will be carrying the new Bill Moyers special "Buying The War." And even although I haven’t seen it, it apparently contains a brief reference to some reporting I did in the spring of 2003.
The reporting was a series of pieces on Phil Donahue and his exit from MSNBC. And while I wrote a number of media pieces before and after, these seem to be the ones that really resonated with readers.
Feb. 25th, 2003: The Surrender Of MSNBC
February 27th, 2003: Commentary: Donahue Responds
March 5th, 2003: Battling For The Soul Of Phil Donahue
If I may toot my own horn a bit, I beat everyone on this story. The mainstream press was playing catch-up for a week, and the reporting was eventually referenced in everything from books to Vanity Fair and the Nation.
I spoke with a producer for the special a couple of times by phone about the memos, but I’m not sure what (or if anything) is mentioned in the final cut of the show.
As to why I didn’t continue with this type of reporting...well, this was a time before blogads and Google adSense. I spent a lot of time on the pieces, and burned through a lot of bandwidth. But it didn’t put much money in my pocket. And with a baby on the way, well, sometimes real life intrudes into the best of intentions.
And in one unrelated complaint, it didn’t help my frame of mind this morning to see The Washington Post’s Tom Shales credit the reporting to the NY Times.
Sigh.