WELCOME to the debut of “The Truth Is!”, a blog of reporting and commentary that aims to be informative, thoughtful and provocative. At least initially, the blog will have a strong heartland flavor by virtue of the connection of a number of us to Cowles family journalism. I am former editor of the Des Moines Register’s opinion pages. Another contributor, Michael Gartner, is former editor of the paper; he later served as president of NBC News. Another former Register editor who has agreed to contribute, Geneva Overholser, is director of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg school of journalism. Followers of the blog will have access also to the work of Herbert Strentz of Des Moines, a close Register and other newspaper watcher who once headed Drake University’s journalism school. Bill Leonard, a longtime Register editorial writer, will add insights.

“The Truth Is!” will be supervised by my daughter, Marcia Wolff, a communications lawyer for 20 years with Arnold and Porter (Washington, D.C.). Invaluable technical assistance in assembling and maintaining the blog is provided by my grandsons Julian Cranberg, a college first-year, and Daniel Wolff, a high school senior.

If you detect a whiff of nepotism in this operation, so be it. All of it is strictly a labor of love. —Gil Cranberg

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Gilbert Cranberg: NRA’s PHONY PRESS CONFERENCE


Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association spokesman who delivered the organization’s reaction to the Newtown massacre – let’s put armed guards in classrooms – devoted much of his December 21 so-called press conference to bashing the press.  At times he addressed the press directly, as when he referred to “the shocking headlines you’ll print tomorrow morning.”  But mostly it was an all-out assault: “Rather than face their own moral failings, the media demonize lawful gun owners, amplify their cries for more laws, and fill the national debate with misinformation and dishonest thinking that only delay meaningful action and all but guarantee that the next atrocity is only a news cycle away.”

So the NRA bears no responsibility for gun carnage, it’s the media’s fault.
LaPierre exited the gathering as soon as he quit talking.  No questions allowed.  This is a press conference?  The press was present in large numbers.  It just wasn’t allowed to speak.  Among the questions it could have raised are the NRA’s ties to the video game industry, which glorify guns and violence.  LaPierre described the industry as “a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and sows violence against its own people.”

The New York Times reported recently that the NRA benefits financially from contributions from the video game makers (as well as from manufacturers of firearms).  If true, LaPierre’s press conference would have been the ideal forum to address the issue.

It is dishonest to promote something as a press conference and then disallow questions by the press.  The press should have nothing to do with such charades.  It should refuse to lend legitimacy to them by attending.  By all means, report what is said and done at such gatherings.  However, when the press is prevented from raising questions, in no way can it be termed a press conference.

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