My Take on HBO Series "Treme"

In case you missed Part One, or are just looking for a little more info on the new hit HBO series...

My review was just published..

'Treme' Stew: Race, Culture, Politics...I invite you to take a look

http://ow.ly/1zZWH

Ridenhour Awards 2010—Humble Courage

Riding the rails back to NYC from the 2010 Ridenhour Awards at the National Press Club…my annual reconnection with the nation’s power center, old friends from New Orleans, and to why I wanted to grow up to be a reporter.

For me 2010 is a year of taking stock, of gratitude that hard work and persistence, and yes some solid reporting—is paying off.

Normally, I would board the train and be writing a review of the year’s awards, but this year I was up before dawn—preparing to write a print of review of Treme aboard the DC bound train--on the way to the awards—so by the time the ride back rolled around, I needed a little time to recharge. (insert two hour nap here--now back at computer)

Work has been as plentiful in the first quarter of this year, as it was sorely lacking in the last quarter of 2009. (Life is also very full, my pal Vincent and I just returned from a wonderful week at the new Vdara hotel in Vegas--more on that in a future bulletin)

I have picked up a new side gig where I cover labor issues in New York. The long time gig continues, and this month in addition to covering my usual states- New York and Nevada—I have been filling in for a co-worker and covering Washington State as well.

Then came the call from my pal Jarrett, who asked me if I could watch the new HBO Series Treme and review it with an eye to my knowledge of New Orleans and some of the bigger issues the drama touches on, as concerns post-Katrina New Orleans. So, work life is about as full and busy as one humble reporter can handle.

Humility is one trait that I will always remember when it comes to Ron Ridenhour—he somehow had the capacity to be both brash and humble at the same time,

When he was digging into really tough stories, he would be passionate about getting to the bottom of it, and yes about nailing “the lying mother F’s to the wall,’ but as to his own roll—he was just a reporter doing his job; nothing less, nothing more.

And so it was reassuring to hear Matthew Hoh, the Winner of the 2010 Ridenhour Prize for Truth Telling confess that he was kind of incompetent with his check book, and yes, he had just messed up with his longtime girlfriend—but, when it came to our nation’s ever increasing commitment to the war in Afghanistan-that he had little choice but to tell the State Department, “F-U, I don’t want this job any more.”

America’s premier Investigative reporter-Sy Hersh introduced him, and you got the genuine feeling that this was honor enough for Hoh; he confessed that he never expected to get an award for his actions. The former Senior Civilian Representative for the US Government in Iraq on September 10, 2009 became the highest ranking government official to resign in protest over our government’s foreign policy in Iraq.

The bottom line he explained was that our men and women in the military were putting their lives on the line to allow the people of Afghanistan to participate in free and fair elections. Hoh reckons at least 100 marines have died to support the Karzai regime since he stole the election. He wrote a four page letter to the Foreign Service outlining in detail why he could no longer support our military effort and resigned from one of the best jobs he ever had.

Letter writing to the US congress in 1969 was the very act that began the transformed of Ron Ridenhour from a soldier in Viet Nam—first to a whistle-blower seeking justice for defenses civilians massacred at the village of My Lai—and then into a long career as a distinguished investigative reporter.

In 2008, Bill Moyers noted that while Ridenhour won significant praise and a Polk Award for his courage and reporting skill, he still had a rough time making a living as a reporter—as Moyers noted, truth telling is often not rewarded or a sought after by those who run news rooms. If that was true when Ron was still among us more than a decade ago-it is now all the more so, as bigger and bigger corporations consolidate their control of more and more media outlets. One wonders, what corporate news honcho would be willing to take responsibility today for a “loose cannon” like Ron —no matter how big, or important the scoops he brought to table.

Ron briefly worked for me, when I was a news director in radio. It was a running joke between us that his print stories about cracks in nuclear power plants and corruption at city hall were all so detailed and so long that nobody could possible get all the way through them. I still feel a little guilty that as a young turk in radio, I figured what people could digest is what you should give them.

When I say Ron worked for me, he did radio versions of his print stories—and in return, I was able to get him use of one of our company gas credit cars. With that, Ron could fill his gas tank, and with me looking the other way, he could also buy some food at the gas station quick mart and a six pack of beer here and there.

Moyers was right; there are no big bucks in truth telling. But Ron cared about the stories he covered, I thought they were important, and the gas card was all my station manager would let me do in terms of paying Ron, so that is the deal we made. (Note: there is a funny Op-Ed Art Piece from the Times this week that captures he absurd lengths freelance reporters go to, in order to eke out a living at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/13/opinion/20100413_opart.html )

Each year I make the trip to the Ridenhour Awards, I feel a sense of renewal. It reminds me of the core values of why I wanted to be a reporter in the first place. It is an event that constantly tells truth to power.

The Ridenhour Awards also constantly remind me how small the world and my profession are. This year, former WCBS-TV Anchor Dave Marash presented the Ridenhour Book Prize to Joe Sacco the author of Footnotes in Gaza.

Marash was one of the brains behind getting my pal, the former Mets Right fielder, Ron Swoboda into broadcast journalism. Today, as I watched Marash ad lib his introduction to Sacco and wrap his mind around the complexities of the long conflict in the Middle East-it reminded me of why he was one of the few people in Television I ever wanted to try to live up to—he is sharp, witty, and insightful as ever.

Ron Ridenhour often bugged me to play handball with him more often, and indeed we played barely a month before the day he took the court with another fellow and collapsed and died. We were competitive on the court, and in the newsroom, but underneath the bravado were also good friends.

Randy Fertel makes a special effort each year to bring Ron’s courage and commitment back to life, and to explain why his actions and My Lai still matter. The main thing that strikes me, each year I come back to these awards and see another trio of courageous truth tellers awarded in Ron’s memory—is that Ron…. of all people, is the last person in the world who ever would have expected that anyone would have taken the time, and effort to remember him and his work this way.

And, so it was most reassuring for me, that the winner of today’s courage award was not only like Ron in that he dared to write a letter that told truth to power—but, that he also was quite humble about all the fuss being made about his actions. He just did what he thought anybody would do in his shoes—what he thought was right.