With deference to Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, I love rock ‘n roll. I’m a child of the 50s, came of age in the 60s, and listen to little else than 1970s classic rock music. I used to subscribe to Rolling Stone, the magazine of, by and for rock ‘n roll, but then I grew up, started paying attention to local, national and world affairs, and left all of that other, childish stuff behind. Rolling Stone was good for music reviews and behind-the-scenes looks at rock icons, but not much else. I needed to be informed! 

These days, I read the Orlando Sentinel’s printed newspaper and the online versions of both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. I listen loyally to National Public Radio’s news and talk programming. I want to know what’s going on in the world, and television news has become, well, an oxymoron.   

So, from which of these otherwise reliable and well known media outlets do I learn about the enormous schism that exists between the administration and it’s military apparatus regarding the war in Afghanistan? Why, from Rolling Stone, of course! 

I may be making light of this pathetic performance by our so called mainstream media, but really, Rolling Stone?  When did Rolling Stone become a bastion of investigative journalism? Why did Rolling Stone’s writer get the story that these other perennially Pulitzer-worthy chronicles of our times simply missed?   

Actually, a cursory review of the past few years reveals that much of the most in depth, non-pop culture journalistic output has come from places like Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and, yes, Rolling Stone. I refer readers to the archives of these excellent periodicals for evidence that in the new world order that is our media landscape, it’s not the historically dependable and reliable sources we should necessarily count on to provide the role of the so called fourth estate. It’s these others. 

And, all I have to say about that is God Bless rock ‘n roll!

Tags: Afghanistan, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, National Public Radio, New York Times, Orlando Sentinel, Pulitzer Prize, rock ‘n roll, Rolling Stone, the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 at 10:00 am and is filed under Current Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.