News to me

News to me

You have to admire our profession. We don’t (usually) give up when it comes to getting a story.

Reporters weren’t permitted to sit in on the so-called beer summit last night, but The New York Times (and other media) found a way to bring readers a slice – read on – of the story.

“Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden were in shirtsleeves,” the Times reported, among other mundane details that nevertheless set a scene. “Sergeant Crowley and Professor Gates wore suits.

“The four drank out of beer mugs. Mr. Obama had a Bud Light, Sergeant Crowley had Blue Moon, Professor Gates drank Sam Adams Light and Mr. Biden, who does not drink, had a Buckler nonalcoholic beer. (Mr. Biden put a lime slice in his beer. Sergeant Crowley, for his part, kept with Blue Moon tradition and had a slice of orange in his beer.)”

There’s more – and it’s instructive. Readers may not have a “need to know” such picayune details as which citrus slice floated in whose drink, but they do have a healthy curiosity.

I guess this fulfills the late Walter Cronkite’s dictum: “Get it first, but get it right.”

Too bad none of them were drinking He’Brew. That would have made it a story for the Standard….

RKB

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