Telling? Journalists Not On Eagle Scout List

Chapomatic (Hat Tip) writes: The senator doesn’t like the new nominee for the Defense Department public affairs guy, because the nominee wrote an op-ed that Levin doesn’t agree with. ...“I think that’s a serious mischaracterization,” Levin continued. “It suggests what your approach will be to information if you are confirmed in this position.”

...That was when Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., jumped in. Inhofe, who volunteered that he has probably spent more time in Iraq than anyone on the committee, said he was rankled by a discussion he had with a field-grade officer in Iraq during one trip who told him that the media is distorting the picture of what is actually going on in Iraq. Inhofe suggested that the war in Iraq is being fought on television and in newspapers as much as on the battlefield. “More than half this battle is in the media,” he said. “They are winning that battle, and we have to do something about it.” (emphasis mine)

and Chapomatic quotes from Wizbang:

...Numerous times they (Al-Jazeera) had advance knowledge of military actions against coalition forces. Instead of reporting to the authorities that it had been tipped off, Al-Jazeera would pre- position a crew at the event site and wait for the attack, record it and rush it on air. This happened time after time, to the point where Al-Jazeera was expelled from Iraq. ...

In addition to being subsidized by Qatar, Al-Jazeera has very strong partners in the U.S. — ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN and MSNBC. Video aired by Al-Jazeera ends up on these networks, sometimes within minutes. The terrorists are aware of this access and use it —

The arrangement between the U.S. networks and Al-Jazeera raises questions of journalistic ethics. Do the U.S. networks know the terms of the relationship that Al-Jazeera has with the terrorists? Do they want to know?

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Among listings of impressively famous Eagle Scouts one finds Pulitizer Prize winners, authors, a CNO, the commanding general of U.S. forces in Vietnam, Walmart’s founder, accomplished musicians, scientists, attorneys (gulp), Cabinet members, Governors, a nominee for sainthood, many astronauts, athletes and an NFL coach, a philanthropist, a former CIA director, a former U.S. president, artists, poets and aviators, etc. One finds no top, male journalists, however (Walter Cronkite was indeed a Boy Scout, but not an Eagle). This seems telling because Eagle Scouts have records of early accomplishment and high ideals. The glaring absence of Eagle Scouts among top male journalists in the U.S. may say that high ideals are not emphasized in values promoted by media moguls. That would be a shame. Come to think of it, where are the Eagle Scouts in higher education?

True, a very few Eagles later went bad (one had a brain tumor), but all have a record of early accomplishments and high ideals.