Mort the Mouth
Meet Morton Downey Jr., the grandfather of trash news talk shows.
If I understood him the first time, everyone could just suck his arm pit. Jesus freaks were "hypocrite murderers." Liberals were "pablum pukers." He was ascerbic and unconscionable way before Bill O'Reilly penned his first tirade.
Mort on his audience:
On his talk show, The Morton Downey Jr. Show, he even claimed to have helped John Lennon get his green card.
I'm posting this because I recently watched a recording of a meeting of national newspaper editors held at Columbia University, 1989. The roundtable, moderated by Fred Friendly (aka, George Clooney from Goodnight, and Good Luck), included such luminaries as Washington Post media critic Tom Shales, the editor of the Daily News, the creator of MTV, etc...
Sandwiched in-between Donahue and the editor of the Des Moines Register sat Downey, looking positively rumpled in his leaden grey suit. A hot pink tie hung lose around his gills, and despite the VHS's grainier qualities, you could almost smell the coarse cigarette smoke looming like death over his shoulders. He was Downey. He was an asshole.
Mort sat there taking the abuse of his journalistic betters. Until he said something unrefutable. "You know, you guys make news. I tell stories for the other 98% of America." It made me think about this New Yorker cartoon, with a man and woman watching TV, and the man says, "What'll it be, honey? Entertainment or entertainment news?" Look at the 24-hour news channels. My lord. "Pablum pukers" indeed, and not in the liberal sense. In the pukey sense.
Is good journalism snapping a photo of a woman when she first hears news that her son died in Iraq? Is it cozing up with Washington whags in order to get the scoop on the WMD snipe hunt? Is it enduring ethical scandal after ethical scandal until even Gary Busey would say, "enough is enough"? Is it whining and crying about the war on Christmas?
Or was Downey news? Smoking on TV during a time Americans were trying to come to terms with the dangers of tobacco. Smuggling himself across the border along with 46 immigrants just to show how easy it could be done. Were his on-screen antics and bastardized version of the news truly what people wanted to digest? Given the current popularity of O'Reilly, Limbaugh, and others of their ilk, I'd say it's relatively clear that Americans prefer their news loud, obnoxious, slanted, and sensationalistic.
In 1989, after his claim that he was attacked by skinheads in the bathroom of the San Francisco airport (they apparently drew swatsikas all over his forehead and shaved his head) was proved false, Downey was doney. He died 2001. His craptacular legacy lives on, for better or worse.
[Bonus: Downey sings!]
If I understood him the first time, everyone could just suck his arm pit. Jesus freaks were "hypocrite murderers." Liberals were "pablum pukers." He was ascerbic and unconscionable way before Bill O'Reilly penned his first tirade.
Mort on his audience:
Things were real swell for Mort the Mouth throughout the 80s. He and fellow satanic cult afficianado Geraldo ruled the airwaves, getting up in America's face and demanding they stop and smell the dried blood and sex fluids. Oh, you already have? But this time, reallllllly smell them."It isn't the rich people who come up and say, 'Oh Mort, you're just great,"' Downey once said. "It's the blacks and the ethnics and the blue collars, those guys with too much hair on their shoulder blades. They want some answers."
On his talk show, The Morton Downey Jr. Show, he even claimed to have helped John Lennon get his green card.
I'm posting this because I recently watched a recording of a meeting of national newspaper editors held at Columbia University, 1989. The roundtable, moderated by Fred Friendly (aka, George Clooney from Goodnight, and Good Luck), included such luminaries as Washington Post media critic Tom Shales, the editor of the Daily News, the creator of MTV, etc...
Sandwiched in-between Donahue and the editor of the Des Moines Register sat Downey, looking positively rumpled in his leaden grey suit. A hot pink tie hung lose around his gills, and despite the VHS's grainier qualities, you could almost smell the coarse cigarette smoke looming like death over his shoulders. He was Downey. He was an asshole.
Mort sat there taking the abuse of his journalistic betters. Until he said something unrefutable. "You know, you guys make news. I tell stories for the other 98% of America." It made me think about this New Yorker cartoon, with a man and woman watching TV, and the man says, "What'll it be, honey? Entertainment or entertainment news?" Look at the 24-hour news channels. My lord. "Pablum pukers" indeed, and not in the liberal sense. In the pukey sense.
Is good journalism snapping a photo of a woman when she first hears news that her son died in Iraq? Is it cozing up with Washington whags in order to get the scoop on the WMD snipe hunt? Is it enduring ethical scandal after ethical scandal until even Gary Busey would say, "enough is enough"? Is it whining and crying about the war on Christmas?
Or was Downey news? Smoking on TV during a time Americans were trying to come to terms with the dangers of tobacco. Smuggling himself across the border along with 46 immigrants just to show how easy it could be done. Were his on-screen antics and bastardized version of the news truly what people wanted to digest? Given the current popularity of O'Reilly, Limbaugh, and others of their ilk, I'd say it's relatively clear that Americans prefer their news loud, obnoxious, slanted, and sensationalistic.
In 1989, after his claim that he was attacked by skinheads in the bathroom of the San Francisco airport (they apparently drew swatsikas all over his forehead and shaved his head) was proved false, Downey was doney. He died 2001. His craptacular legacy lives on, for better or worse.
[Bonus: Downey sings!]
posted by Ricardo at 11:28 PM
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