Words to Remember: Our New President Speaks

The numbers are in.

A.C. Nielsen says 37.8 million of us watched the inauguration of President Barack Obama on television. In terms of televised inaugurations, that's up there. But, it's not even close to the 41.8 million who watched Ronald Reagan take the oath 28 years ago. This may help to give it some perspective: In 1981, there were 226.5 million of us here in the U.S. -- the current U.S. population numbers about 305 million.

Here's a statistic that's even more interesting though: There were 70 million hits on websites to watch the inauguration. While comparing website hits to TV viewership is like comparing apples and oranges, that 70 million figure is still impressive; especially since a lot of people were at work that day and unable to watch on television. The internet as a source of news is clearly here to stay.

That got me thinking, though, about the inaugural address itself.

I was just 10 years old, living in Washington, D.C., when John F. Kennedy was elected and took the oath of office. On a freezing cold, sunlit day in January, that new president delivered his first inaugural address. The news media covering the speech embraced a short phrase that seemed to sum up the challenge of the times and the legacy of the man himself: "My fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." Actually, I always liked another line from that speech. It said: "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. ..."

There have been other great lines from inaugural addresses. In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt spoke to Depression-weary Americans and told them, "This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

So, what words would we come away from the Obama inauguration with?

The President's 27-year old speech writer is Jon Favreau. Jon, with co-writers Adam Frankel and Ben Rhodes, was the one who resurrected the theme from Obama's 2004 Senate race in Illinois: "Yes, we can". So, what gem would they give us in the President's first official address to the nation?

While some have suggested that the President's speech failed to deliver on moments of greatness, I think it did stir in many of us a sense of pride and a recommitment to the work left before us as Americans. Specifically, I liked these phrases:

- "Today, I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met."

- "Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiousity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history."

But, I think the best of the lines came at the conclusion of the speech: "Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we took that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

It may not have been the greatest inaugural speech ever given, but watching hundreds of thousands of Americans waving American flags on a sub-freezing day in January couldn't help but make you proud to be an American, especially given the significance of the occasion.

It was also pretty good TV.

Downing Bolls

Dangerous Dogs

I got an email this past week from a viewer reacting to a story that we reported last Friday about an attack by several pit bulls on a horse and a pair of young calves. Sadly, the injuries were so bad that one of the calves died.

A viewer wrote to ask why the City of Abilene will not pass a law to ban pit bulls and all dangerous dogs? He wrote, "I am so tired of hearing of people and other dogs being attacked and killed while being on their own property. It's as if pit bulls have more rights than people. I recently took my two small children to a city park and was forced to leave because some other people arrived to have a cook-out with two very large pit bulls. I was furious that my children could not play at a park that I faithfully pay taxes for." The viewer went on to complain that the City of Abilene has been slow to respond to complaints about pit bulls and that owners for the most part have been irresponsible. It concluded with this statement: "These dogs should be outlawed and this should be a no brainer!"

Let me begin by saying the City of Abilene has addressed the issue of dangerous dogs with a local ordinance. Our city is not alone. In 2007, the State of Texas enacted Lillian's Law, named for Lillian Stiles, a 76-year old woman that was attacked and killed on November 26, 2005, by a pack of six pit bull-Rottweiler mixed-breed dogs. Lillian's husband, Jack, was inside their home watching a football game and was unaware of the attack until a passerby alerted him. A few hundred yards down the road, authorities found the empty dog pen behind a three-foot fence. The owner of the dogs, Jose Hernandez, was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide. The sponsor of Lillian's Law, El Paso Senator Eliot Shapleigh, wrote: "In hundreds of horrific cases across Texas, the very young and old have been attacked, even killed by packs of pitbulls. With this bill, we send a strong message that we will protect people from dangerous dogs."
Lillian's Law charges a dog owner with a third-degree felony if the dog causes serious bodily injury to a victim in an unprovoked attack. A third-degree felony is punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a possible $10,000 fine. The crime would be a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, if a victim dies a result of an unprovoked attack. It got its first real test last year when a seven-year old Breckenridge boy was fatally mauled by a pair of dogs. The owners of the dog were found guilty and are currently appealing the verdict.

The majority of such cases involve domestic dogs.

I know dog owners who treat their pets like members of their family, traveling with them and making them part of every family outing they go on. Should the city pass an ordinance outlawing pit bulls? People get bitten by dogs and cats all the time, but I see no movement to ban those pets from our city. While I completely understand and for the most part share the viewer's concerns for the safety of his children, I think that the City and State have addressed the problem in a responsible way. It becomes incumbent on the owner of the pet to control his pet. If he is unable to do so, legal punishments are clearly in place to deal with the problem. Rather than banning any breed of dog in our city, perhaps we should be more considerate of others and simply leave the dog at home, especially if there is reason to believe there could be a problem.

Those are my thoughts: what are yours?

Downing

Who's To Blame?

An interesting story hitting the internet this week...
It was an Associated Press story about media coverage of the market meltdown. A survey conducted by Abrams Research found that a majority of journalists surveyed (62%) felt the media dropped the ball in reporting the story. The journalists surveyed were mostly from organizations such as CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and others. One member was particularly critical of himself, "I blame myself in part, he said. "I wrote about many of the components of the bust, ... but failed to put it together and see how really, really bad things would get."
It brought back memories of another time that the media had to deal with an economic meltdown. It happened in my budding days as a young radio news reporter. It was the 1980's and lots of Abilenians were leaving their jobs to go to work for Nucorp, an oilfield supply company. These were folks that had spent years building careers. Abilene's economy (and that of the State of Texas, for that matter) , was booming and it was all based on oil and gas. Yet, in the back of my mind, there was this nagging question: what happens if all of this ends? "End, it's never going to end", we were assured. There's enough oil and gas in Texas to last thousands of years. Suddenly, there was a glut of oil worldwide, and the oil boom went to bust. It was like someone throwing a bucket of cold water on you when you've just gotten out of bed.
We in the media didn't do a whole lot of business reporting back then: at least, not like we should have. Mostly we did stories about grand openings and ribbon cuttings. A lot of our news came from the chamber of commerce and news releases prepared by PR firms. But, that was okay because folks liked it that way. They didn't want to hear negative news: just "good" news. When the bottom fell out of the oil market, we all learned a valuable lesson. We found out just how interconnected we really were, from the banks, to the suppliers, to community non-profits that enjoyed the windfall the industry brought. We weren't looking at the bigger picture (and even if we were, no one wanted to hear about it).
There is an old adage that says what we fail to learn from history, we are doomed to repeat. In an age when economic realities are forcing more and more media outlets are cut staff and delegate their reponsibility to others, one can't help wonder who'll be asking the bigger questions, such as "What does it all mean?"
Those are my thoughts. What are yours?

Downing Bolls

Greetings KRBC viewers and TV neophytes.

"Dish It To Downing" moves to an exciting new platform in 2009 ... the internet. In addition to our weekly visit on KRBC's 6 pm newscast on Friday, I'll be checking in with you on this blog and I'm looking forward to "talking television" with you. I'm always interested in what you have to say and between us, we may find some interesting ground to cover each week.

Our big news this week, Uncle Sam says he's out of money for the digital conversion boxes. Remember those little red cards you sent off for that would save you about $40 bucks on the purchase of a converter? The word out this week is that there is no more money allocated for the program and still about 100,000 folks out there that may lose TV next month. The powers that be suggest you get on a waiting list for the coupons as soon as possible. Meanwhile, if you have the cards, don't wait to use them...they're only good for 90 days.

Downing