Having served as a journalist for a decade, I favor the opposite of a Friday Night News Dump™. The best time to drop strategic news if we want press coverage to run throughout the week is between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, giving the rest of the day and Wednesday to break a few hearts, Thursday doesn’t even start, and then on Friday…
I was referencing a well-known song by the British band The Cure, there. But then you knew that.
Still. The Friday Night News Dump™ is one of my favorite scurrilous traditions built on the reporter’s need to have a rest each weekend. Audiences are distracted by making pancakes on Saturday mornings, and editors want something new by Monday.
People have dropped some bombshells lately. Three Fridays ago, U.S. Intelligence said Russia secretly offered bounties to Afghan militants to kill U.S. troops. Couple of Fridays before that, New York Times Executives took turns apologizing to quell a staff revolt after asking. Excuse me. Asking an Arkansas Senator to pen an opinion piece saying “send in the troops” to kill people protesting police brutality. The same day, the NFL commissioner said “we were wrong” over players’ kneeling protests. This past Friday, President Donald Trump pardoned Roger Stone.
Apropos nothing I’ve been enjoying the book Shadow State by Luke Harding, the Guardian’s former Moscow bureau chief, lately, for its suggestion that the U.S. President is an unwitting agent of Russia promoted by Vladimir Putin to destabilize confidence in Western democracy. 🤔
Lest we get overwhelmed with partisan outrage, the Wall Street Journal editorial board pointed out on Monday that Bill Clinton pardoned Susan McDougal, who went to jail for contempt rather than tell prosecutors what she knew about Mr. Clinton’s Whitewater transactions. He’d hinted he would do as much beforehand. I feel they’re drawing false equivalence between using a presidential pardon to cover up the moral weight of some *probably* illegal real estate transactions…and something rather more serious but then again, they’re the ones who had all weekend to think about it. 🤷🏻♂️
I’m just glad voters will have the chance to cast judgment on Mr. Trump in November’s free and open elections, which I’m optimistic will happen as planned. On a Tuesday.
P.S. Here are the links to some of the things I mentioned:
- Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says, NYT, June 26
- New York Times Executives Take Turns Apologizing to Quell Staff Revolt, The Daily Beast, Jun 5
- NFL On Kneeling Players’ Protests: “We Were Wrong,” Commissioner Says, NPR, Jun 5
- Of Pardons and Presidents, WSJ, July 12
- The Cure, Friday I’m In Love, Official Music Video. (I list it last because obviously, it’s the most important.)
