Stay tuned. On deck, I have had my fill of The Singularity for now. Ran into Sam Brown on PBS Newshour.
Sam is hilarious.
…Obituarists, more than most scriveners, are a special journalistic breed. They never have to come up with story ideas or worry they’ll run out of subjects to write about. Their articles are delivered with ready-made endings that happen to appear in the lede, or first paragraph. There’s no need for follow-up. They are, as the TV commentator Jeff Greenfield says, “the only kind of journalist who knows with certainty that sooner or later his story will run.”…
…The greatest compliment I received as a news reporter was from a prominent New York civic leader. He told me I had “a healthy disrespect for everyone.” But obituaries also demand a degree of empathy not required of, say, political reporting or restaurant reviews. And being exposed to death daily can take its toll. In these days of warp-speed communications, sometimes obituarists call a source for confirmation or background, only to realize we’re the first to inform the person that a friend or family member has died. Some people phone us in advance to say a relative is mortally ill. One can only say “Sorry for your loss” so many times in one day before they begin to feel as if they’re calling a list of Bernie Madoff’s swindled investors to commiserate.
Still, the reporter is intruding on a profound moment of grief, particularly when the death in question was unexpected or premature. A parent or a spouse may plead to return the call in a week. We have to gently explain that deadlines wait for no one, especially now with online news sites that define immediacy in minutes, and that this is their opportunity to put the person’s life in perspective, a kindness to the departed and to the family, too. Journalists enjoy a reputation for being hard-boiled and cynical, but writing obituaries is not a job for the faint of heart, nor the heartless.
Alden Whitman, the New York Times’s first and most famous full-time advance obit writer, regularly interviewed people for their advance obituaries—in advance. Fondly referred to as “the Angel of Death,” he was known for sometimes lulling his subjects into submission by telling them he was merely updating their biographies, although most were either sophisticated or egocentric enough to submit agreeably if not eagerly. (Those who prefer a varnished, self-congratulatory version of their life story can always write or commission an autobiography to preempt an independent final verdict—and they do.)
Roberts, Sam. Are They Dead Yet?: The Art of the Obit (pp. 4-6). (Function). Kindle Edition.
BACK ON TASKS
