E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Conservative media need a literary voice
A large excerpt:
But do read the whole thing

In Athwart History, Buckley writes about politics, of course. But he also writes about sailing, Beethoven, "what to do about sloppy dress," the role of beauty in politics, skiing, rock and roll, and Catholicism. He did profiles of Malcolm Muggeridge, David Niven, John Dos Passos, Evelyn Waugh, Churchill, and Princess Grace, among others. Buckley could also push back against his own side, as when he criticizes Ann Coulter for what he saw as her excessive defense of Joseph McCarthy.

Let me give a specific example of the price I think the right pays for not fostering talent that can produce honest and poetic long form journalism of the type that Buckley practiced. This summer is World Youth Day, the semi-annual gathering of hundreds of thousands of Catholic youth from around the world. With a new pope and the Church at a particularly interesting point in its history, it is an event that cries out for a competent, literate and soulful journalist to tell the story. The event takes place this year in Rio, a dynamic city that lends itself well to journalism.

But for the Weekly Standard or Breitbart to send such a journalist would mean an investment in the future, like a record company executive putting resources into a talented but not famous band. And the conservative media has no interest in such an investment when Ben Shapiro kneecapping Piers Morgan is where the action is. Who wants the next Hunter S. Thompson when Hannity's ratings are so good?

So here is what will happen with World Youth Day. Major media like the Washington Post and New York Times will cover the event, but the reporters doing the coverage will view the event through the prism of liberal orthodoxy. Conservatives will then react to the liberal coverage, and complain about there not being enough conservatives in the media. They will then find the next Michelle Malkin, and promptly make her a star on Fox.

For a fraction of the price of creating a new conservative star, you could send an actual writer to Rio to do the story that the New Yorker will not. But then, for many conservatives it's more fun, not to mention lucrative, to throw tantrums.
Posted by: badanov 2013-03-09
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=363813