Can Cancer Struggle Make Good Radio?

Like a lot of media reporters, I got to know Leroy Sievers when he took over as executive producer of ABC's Nightline. Unusually forthright about issues involving the show, he was a creative storyteller, great interview subject and even presaged all the behind-the-scenes blogs now deployed by network TV news departments with a widely-read email update that truly pulled back the curtain on decisions at Nightline.

Squeezed out of working on the show amid the tumultuous revamp that also, eventually, encouraged longtime host Ted Koppel to hit the road, Sievers spent a year teaching, volunteering with the Red Cross and helping Non-Governmental Organizations in Africa before planning to come back to the news biz.

But his cancer had other ideas. He thought he had beaten colon cancer five years ago, but problems with slurred speech last December ("I thought no one noticed...but a friend thought I was drunk when we went to the movies together," Sievers says now) led to a chilling diagnosis: six months to live.

All of this wouldn't have risen above the level of news business gossip if Sievers hadn't also decided to share his struggle with National Public Radio's audience, crafting a pair of evocative, emotional commentaries on his struggle with cancer that Sievers says brought more public response than anything he did on Nightline.

On Monday, NPR will unveil a ramped-up version of Sievers' reports, debuting the first of a series of monthly commentaries for Morning Edition, along with weekly podcasts and a daily blog, all contained under the heading, My Cancer.

"One of the things you face is quality of life vs. quantity of life," said Sievers, who now has a 13-month prognosis and inspiration from a friend who has survived 10 years with a similar ailment. "Do you stay on chemotherapy and feel (bad) all the time? Do I get those new eyeglasses I need? I haven't bought clothes, because I'm not sure I really need them."

Given all the tumult in the media industry these days, this is a story that seems too small for consideration, I'm sure. But Sievers' commentaries have been moving and compelling, and I think if you spend a little tiem checking them out, you may find the education about life with a terminal illness worthwhile.

Traitor or Truth Teller? New York Times in the Cross Hairs Again

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum echoed the administration's strategy for handling yet another national security scoop by the New York Times: play the liberal media bias/national security card.

"I think it would be hard to come closer to the classic definition of publishing the departure time of a troop ship in war time and inviting the enemy to shoot a torpedo at it than this," said Frum today on Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz's CNN show Reliable Sources. "Here's a program where there's no allegation of abuse....Yes, look, there are a lot of people in the government who are disgruntled about the Bush administration's approach, and they have taken on a program of sabotage and leaking, but it wouldn't work without the complicity of the papers. This is as big a media scandal as it's possible to be."

The NYT angered administration officials by denying their request to kill a story on how they have kept tabs on the international flow of terrorist money by examining records of wire transfers using a wordwide network of bankers. The bankers have defended handing over the info to the U.S., and conservative pundits have gone apoplectic over the exposure of another spying program they believe is necessary to hold terrorists at bay.

New York Times columnist Frank Rich responded by noting that the Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times also published accounts of the same program, and that the administration didn't begin to brief Congress about it, until they realized the newspapers were going to publish the story.

It's a classic conundrum for journalists, and one that I think the general public is often too dismissive of. Perhaps people assume their financial records won't be examined, but this Washington Post article examines the privacy implications of such a program.

Freedom of speech and privacy vs. security? This seems to be the question continually at hand as a secretive administration pushes more invasive surveillance programs and an aggressive press works harder to ferret them out -- facing subpoeanas for confidential sources and diminishing protection in the courts.

Supporters of the administration say the war on terror requires such measures. But this is a war with no geographic boundaries and no timetable. America-hating terrorists have existed for a long time: are we to accept secretive, undisclosed extensions of presidential and intelligence power until the last al-qaeda cell is vanquished? Or beyond?

I know that as a journalist I'm biased toward good stories and skeptical of government. But such revelations seem to me the only way to ensure such programs are implemented the way they are supposed to be. And, in the end, that's part of our job -- isn't it?

Comments

[formerly mr anonymous]

if i had a nickel for every blog, newspaper series, radio report or tv confessional by news reporters w cancer and other fatal diseases who decide to live out their days by telling their stories to readers, id be .... well, you can finish my thought.this 'final days' genre is always sad, depressing and, of course, ultimately life affirming as the doomed inevitably come to grips with the real 'meaning of life' etc.i suppose some people can gain insights from these kinds of maudlin reports. however, i find them more than a bit self indulgent. millions of poor people get fatal diagnoses every day, but they dont have access to media where they can publicly engage in personal therapy to help them get through.then when these poor reporters inevitably die after leaving behind their final dramatic thoughts, they are, well, always simply forgotten.harsh? yes. but am i wrong?

[Clark]

Seems to me that anybody facing a limited number of days is entitled to be a little "self-indulgent," and are far more concerned about how they're going to spend those days than whether they will be "simply forgotten" when it's over. Here's hoping you don't get a dread disease so you won't know what it's like.

[Anonymous]

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/karl-rove/st-petersburg-times-best-newspaper-in-america-182902.php

[Eric Deggans]

As regular readers of the comments section will note, Formerly Anonymous is quite the cynic. I understand your point of view, my friend. But if millions of people are diagnosed with fatal illnesses every day, why wouldn't media give voice to some of them to tell their own stories? And if some of those afflicted are journalists -- also known as professional storytellers -- why wouldn't news outlets let these folks spin the last, great story they may ever present?I used to think I was the most cynical guy around, Formerly, but you once again have left me in the dust. I think these stories, when told well, are illuminating and compelling, and that's why news outlets keep offering them.

[Eric Deggans]

Just saw a post by my pal -- and cancer survivor -- TV critic Aaaron Barnhart. He suggests something I wish i had thought about addressing in my pieces -- allowing listeners to contribute their own thoughts on cancer struggle a la NPR's "This I Believe"...a very good suggestion, and one i wouldn't be surprised the very smart folks at NPR snap up soon...http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/06/but_not_as_in_m.html

[Jillabuster]

I have written at length about this post at my blog, jillabuster (jillabuster.blogspot.com/), but I will keep my comments short here:Speaking as one of the "millions of poor people (who) get fatal diagnoses every day, but don't have access to media where they can publicly engage in personal therapy to help them get through. . ." that "formerly mr anonymous" refers to in his post to Deggan's blog, I say,You don't speak for us. You don't speak for the legions of friends and family who are going through our cancer journey with us. And since you don't have the nerve to sign your real name, "formerly mr anonymous," you don't even count as one person to me. So lay off all us cancer patients, buddy. Go find a puppy to kick.

[formerly mr anonymous]

to the above poster:im sorry that you misconstrued the point of my comment on the deggans blog. but i would imagine its easy to miss the forest for the trees when dealing what what youre going through.specifically, my point referred to whats become a genre in the media - emphasis on media - of reporters, writers, editors etc - chronicaling their cancer fights as a form of therapy for mass consumption. again, i was only referring to this type of writing when packaged for newspapers, radio, tv etc, as eric mentioned in his post about a radio reporter.i have nothing against anyone blogging on their own, publishing memoirs or whatever about their struggles.again, i was reacting to what has seemed to become an epidemic of these chronicles in the public prints and airwaves, avenues accessible only to those who work fr the these media outlets. indeed, i was implying that perhaps the better, more democratic, place for these diaries are blogs such as yours etc. i was referring to what, in my opinion, is almst an abuse of privilege by afflicted media people who use their public conduits as therapy.you may and probably do disagree with me, but i wanted to clarify my point, in any event, lest i be labeled a dog kicker. cynic, i do plead guilty to.

[Eric Deggans]

One other thing i would note -- besides thanking Mr Anonymous for being diplomatic in his response to Jillabuster -- is that journalists and columnists often translate their personal experiences into compelling columns.Chris Rose of the New Orleans Times Picayune earned a spot as a Pulitzer finalist with evocaive columns on delaing with Katrin'as aftermath that echoed the plight of the city. One of the stories i'm personally most proud of is a piece I wrote about my family's conflicted feelings when we discovered my wife was pregnant after 10 years of thinking we were infertile. Art Buchwald is doing some of his best work in years outlining his own near-miraculous recovery from a fatal illness.So as cynical as some may get about journalists writing on their own personal plights, I think the quality work we get from such effort makes up for the self-indulgence factor...