If you ever get an e-mail from a journalist, there’s one portion of it you should pay attention to more than any other. No, it’s not the part where they’re asking you about all those dogs you’ve got wrestling in your basement; it’s the sign-off.
If it’s “Cheers,” you’re cool. You did OK. If it’s “Regards,” you pissed somebody off, and you better figure out how to fix things, quick.
We apply those same tenets here, every week.
CHEERS to Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander, for standing by his paper’s decision to feature a photo of two men kissing for their story on gay marriage in Washington D.C. and insisting that the image is no different from that of any other freshly married couple. (DW)
REGARDS to Meredith Viera, who in an interview with “Hurt Locker” stars, indulges herself in a truly odd moment of gay-baiting and asks if she should be “worried” about the fact that they hug each other. (DW)
CHEERS to a copy editor at that Gray Lady, The New York Times, for coming up with a strong contender for the upcoming 2099 “Best Headline of the Century” competition- “Ex-Congressman Describes Tickle Fights With Aides.” (RJW)
REGARDS to the New York Observer, which in efforts to identify and define a hot new urban trend, manages to offer shock at the discovery that not all gay men wear big signs around their neck advertising their sexuality. (DW)
CHEERS to the (former) staff of the tiny Manning (SC) Times for leaving to start their own weekly paper. A little healthy competition never hurt anybody. (They could start with trying to get the police officer who so blatantly said she doesn’t read a paper as a subscriber.)
REGARDS to the Jackson (MS) Free Press, “The City’s Smart Alternative” for not only supplying us with yet another “oh I just can’t do this insane unfathomable computer whizbangery!” article, but one that somehow made it into print without an editor ever laying eyes on it. (DL)
CHEERS to Variety columnist Peter Bart for basically calling out Australian news murderer Rupert Murdoch in his column. When the shootout comes, expect Murdoch to play dirty, Bart. (MW)
REGARDS to Variety itself for letting go of chief film critic Todd McCarthy, who had been at the entertainment industry paper for 31 years. It doesn’t help that the movie reviews have been some of the widest-read and best-respected pieces in Variety‘s pages. In the paper’s own parlance: “SHEET SEEKS BUX, NOW MORE SUX.”