2002 Column Archives
Next Time
By John Sammon
Mar 2, 2002, 16:28

I had a rare opportunity to tweak the nose of a liberal corporate giant, Time Magazine, without even trying, by simply reporting the politically incorrect truth.

Time Magazine did what was billed as a "Pulse of America" story about Highway 50. Called the "Backbone of America," Highway 50 runs right across the middle of the country from New York to California.

The idea was to load up a bus with Time writers, journey along Highway 50, and interview so-called average Americans along the way on what they thought about the country.

I was a reporter for a small newspaper in Carson City at the time. Carson City is on Highway 50. We were excited about this visit by a big-city, big-magazine group of alleged sophisticated urbanites.

I was to do a story for my newspaper on the visit by Time personnel. But there was a problem. I repeatedly called Time officials (they had phone service), asking where in Carson City, which hotel, they planned to stay.

They ignored my calls.

When the Time bus reached Western Nevada, it left Highway 50, the Backbone of America. The group instead went and stayed at a hotel in Reno.

Reno isn't on Highway 50.

Understandably, the hotel owners in Carson City, who were looking forward to the visit and its imagined publicity, were angered. I did a story on their disappointment.

The Time bus left Reno, headed south, and finally arrived in Carson City, stopping for a one-hour rest. They were on their way to an Affirmative Action Conference in Sacramento (liberals love Affirmative Action).

The head Time writer folded up his laptop computer, exited the bus, and stretched. He saw the newspaper with my article in it for sale at a news stand, and bought a copy.

Time Magazine was not happy with my article.

I got a call from their New York office. The woman on the other end of the line in New York icily told me, "your article was unfortunate."

"Why?" I responded, incredulous. "There isn't anything in it that isn't true. I think your idea to stay overnight in Reno was unfortunate."

She was unable to get me to admit error or express regret for the article.

My boss, the news room manager, then got a call from the Time New York office, complaining about the article, and about me.

Me, a nobody, had made Time Magazine angry. Think of it.

My boss defended me.

Later, I managed to talk by phone to a Time employee, lower on the chain of command, who was riding on the bus. In a rare moment of candor, he sheepishly and secretly admitted, "yeah, I thought the idea to stay in Reno was stupid, but they wouldn't listen."

Liberals who control the news media have an arrogant paternalism all their own.