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PDF versionQ & A: Sister Mary Ann Walsh
by Michael Sean Winters on Jul. 27, 2010
This week, Q & A is looking at the Shirley Sherrod episode. Yesterday, NPR's Michel Martin had some very smart observations and today, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of Media Relations at the USCCB offers some more smart commentary.
The question: What does the Shirley Sherrod episode tell us about race and politics and the media in the age of Obama?
Sister Mary Ann Walsh:
The tale of Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department leader dumped when a fringe group cooked up a story backed by an out-of-context video clip to accuse her of racism is a cautionary tale for the church. For sure, pseudo-journalistic efforts that set out to destroy reputations are not limited to politics, and damning words include more than the epithet “racist.”
Apologies from President Obama to the president of the NAACP, which too quickly jumped on the get-Sherrod bandwagon, abound. But a stellar career is smeared because of reckless accusations and shoot-from-the-hip responses from leaders you’d think would know better. Such yellow journalism is not new to the United States. Biased reporting raged in the late 19th century, when the New York newspaper war between Hearst and Pulitzer introduced yellow journalism into our vocabulary. Even before that, in the early 1800s, scoundrels used media to spread anti-Catholic diatribes via tracts such as the false and scurrilous tales of Maria Monk.
In recent days, new journalistic hit squads have emerged on the U.S. scene, even in the church. Where once only a few church newspapers engaged in character assassination, today these attacks seem ubiquitous. Part of the problem may be the editorless Web, where passionate self-righteousness, minus basic journalistic fairness, runs amok.
Perhaps the anonymity that characterizes much of Web interaction makes such assaults too easy. Talk radio that focuses on the heat of verbal sparring rather than the light of rational thought also abets media crimes. Character assassination is especially offensive when pursued under the guise of fidelity to the Church.
Journalistic travesty includes more than anonymous attacks. In June, a news agency pursued its agenda by inventing quotes and ascribing them to Cardinal Francis George. When first called on it, the agency defended the story. When top editors realized they’d done wrong, they still did not issue a public correction or apology.
Many such groups claim the word “orthodox” for themselves. They dismiss those who do not agree with them or their approach as “unorthodox.” People of a different opinion or approach are accused of setting up a “parallel magesterium.” These are serious condemnations in a church which holds fidelity to its teachings as paramount. Despite the fact that theology and canon law are matters of careful analyses, these groups bring the subtlety of a meat cleaver to church discussions. In what is not unrelated, many of these groups use such attacks as part of their fundraising apparatus.
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Kudos to those in the NAACP for recognizing when they’ve been “snookered,” as the organization said, and to Department of Agriculture for admitting it acted sans facts. Their actions are commendable and their situation offers a lesson for all: Truth is the primary casualty in a culture war - and it’s true both inside and outside the church.
Tomorrow's Interviewee: Professor Matthew Green from Catholic University's Institute for Policy research and Catholic Studies.
I note that Sister segued
I note that Sister segued from talking about race and politics to talking about 'the Church'. Perhaps the segue is illustrating that bigotry is as bigotry does.
Certainly her statement, "Character assassination is especially offensive when pursued under the guise of fidelity to the Church", is one with which there ought to be no disagreement.
Hopefully, Sister's statement is a reminder that the USCCB and its bishops too must make sure that what they say and write is not unintentionally or otherwise put forth and thus received as a character assassination of those who disagree with them.
Before we rush to cannonize
Before we rush to cannonize Ms. Sherrod for the shoddy reporting of Breitbart and to use it as a pretense to further reinforce suspicions about "conservative" media, let's be clear that she is not above reproach (she has publicly accused Breitbart of wanting to return black people to slavery and levelled some pretty base-less accusations against supposed GOP "racism") and also our own motives. Ms. Sherrod is not the racial healing prophet many are making of her, and that is NOT to dismiss the wrong done against her. The fact is that Jessee Jackson, Al Sharpton and other "civil rights leaders" have essentially defined the word "racism" out of meaning. So long as most Americans, particularly white middle-class Americans perceive a "race dialogue" to essentially follow the script written by Jackson et. al., race will remain the bogeyman it is today. And the White House's rush to dump Ms. Sherrod BEFORE any mention of her was made on Fox News reinforces the reality that Democrats know the tenuous relationship they have with the white middle class.
I could not agree more with
I could not agree more with this reply. Ms. Sherrod's heroic conclusion to her story about the white farmer was to send him "to his own kind" - a white lawyer.
Watch the video and you cannot come to any other conclusion about Ms. Sherrod or her audience. There's nothing taken out of context - it's all there to see. Ms. Sherrod is ingrained with a privileged-minded, reverse bias that easily places whites under suspicion. Add in the NAACP's recent dubious resolution condemning the Tea Party movement of shouting racial slurs during a healthcare demonstration and for me anyway, their credibility is quickly shrinking.
While the Obama administration might have acted a little too quickly, for once, they did something right by firing Ms. Sherrod.
Why doesn't Sister Mary Ann
Why doesn't Sister Mary Ann Walsh include "Kudos" to President Obama and his news spokesman for their apology when they realized that they too have been taken in by the "yellow journalist" reports from fringe groups. Sister Mary needs to remember that the USCCB have also been snookered by some extreme catholic conservative organization in regard to the health care legislation.
Great point Sister. I am
Great point Sister. I am sorry you didn't add Dr. Ken Howell as part of this commentary. He too was unjustly fired, before all the facts were in. However, one remains after all the facts are in. That one being Sister Carol Keehan. She proves that you CAN speak against the beliefs of an organization like the Church and still remain in power.
Bryan Shaver
Surely you jest. The good
Surely you jest. The good sister is not in any way interested in defending anyone like Dr. Howell who has a CLEAR understanding of the Magisterium-- you know, the orthodox one. (btw, why is it that we should take to heart the opinions of a publication that cannot get the spelling of Magisterium correct ? Its like a bad joke.)
As for Sr. Keehan-- it may be a little early to celebrate her "victory". I seriously doubt the whole affair is going unnoticed in the Vatican...and then there is that pesky Last Judgement thing.
Sister Carol Keehan has done
Sister Carol Keehan has done more harm than good by not aligning herself with the Gospel.
Pretty shoddy analysis.
Pretty shoddy analysis. First, one should note that it was not the media that fired Sherrod. And even the NAACP, which had the entire tape, did not clarify what she had said.
Second, you fail to mention the reason for her firing by government officials was that "she was going to be shown on the Glenn Beck show." But Beck never intended to air the video as he recognized it was out of context. And Beck was the first one — before even the government — to insist on her restatement.
So the irony that was missed was the actions of the Obama administration.
Furthermore, as other posters have pointed out, the article does not mention the firing of Ken Howell. It would seem to me this is a perfect time to address a similar situation, a parallel situation. Only Mr. Howell has not been reinstated.
If one is going to direct media relations it would seem a better grasp of the media is needed.
With regard to the "subtlety
With regard to the "subtlety of a meat cleaver":
That's the point, Sister. Case in point: women's ordination. You know, there was this pope, John Paul II, who wrote an apostolic letter in which he stated that women's ordination wasn't up for discussion any longer. When people want to persistently pretend that is is still up for discussion or that they don't need to listen to the pope, then it's either time to join the Episcopalian Church or to quit smugly feigning indignation at those who point out the obvious with regard to what the Church has, is, and will continue to teach on such points.
Enough meat cleaver for you?
I see comments are now being
I see comments are now being censored at this allegedly "liberal" news organ. Figures. No wonder you're going out of business.
O my. Sr. Walsh buys into the
O my. Sr. Walsh buys into the Saint Shirley narrative as told by the state-run media? Sad evidence of how naive and ill-informed the UCCB must be.
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