Spin City

Admittedly, I am probably the largest fan of the urbane, yet witty Garrison Keillor. He doesn't know this, and I'm sure he would be unimpressed, as his followers are no doubt legion. Ergo, I am but one of the many. Still, his keen insight into the American mind often moves me to take up arms against both the politically insipid and the emotionally uninspired among us, as some of my own writing occasionally reflects. Topics of interest to Garrison appear to run a gleeful gamut from subjects political to cultural, often peppered with just a smidgen of wistful satire. He writes with a degree of curious introspection to the subject at hand, and with the timing and meter of a fine swiss watch. In general, I tend to follow him via his posts to the Salon.com website, where he keeps company with other writers of modern-day significance.

Today however, I stumbled across his syndicated editorial on the Chicago Tribune website, under the title "Come, all ye faithful". Given the season, I rightfully expected an article on Christmas, and was not disappointed. It was full of his typical plain-spoken, Minnesotan observations of life and the realities just below its often over-commericalized surface.

Since I'd never seen Garrison's writing in the Trib, I pulled up his posting on Salon.com to see if the Tribune article was independent of his regular writings there. I found the same article there. However, I was surprised to find it under a decidedly different title, given "Don't like Christmas? Get a life".

Clearly, the Chicago Tribune website is meant to parallel their print publication, and the guidelines for content are most likely driven by the same standards, quite likely market demographics. Chicago is clearly positioned within the midwest (as is Garrison), therefore, reputedly populated with a somewhat right-leaning Christian base. Is that why the Tribune editor gave this article a title with such a strong tie-in with the holiday? On the other hand, Salon.com tends towards a more secular, intellectual center.

Sadly, I find myself in thin company these days when the issue of 'slant' comes up, even here in Chicago. You mention it with respect to a newspaper or other print media, and you're as likely as not to get commentary about how square the pages of the paper were cut, rather than an astute observation about political control and influence of the media. Although some of the local intelligencia wax rhapsodic for the days of Walter Cronckite and Chet Huntley, seemingly bereft of the realization that slant is as old as the Inquisition itself.

As Shakespeare queried, "What's in a name?" In truth, Garrison can be equally as ascerbic as some, and more so than many. And the 'Get a life' remark was indeed within the article itself, in response to those who find themselves and their views outside the scope of a predominately Christian focused holiday. However, given the dramatically differing titles, I am curious as to which title, if either, he himself wrote for the piece. And just how much latitude editors have with respect to 'naming pieces'. And how often such liberties are exercised. I suspect we may never know.

Garrison's recent post can be found here at Salon or here, at the Trib. Apologies if either of the links fail at some point in the future.