Re: The jacket returns

[Dib9@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/15/01 4:38:16 PM Eastern Daylight Time, RokprtMike 
writes:

<< It is rough being under those lights for hours with a jacket on. Who sits 
behind their desks at work with their jackets on? I dont.
 
 Mike >>

You've missed my point.  

There was good reason for Jennings to take off his jacket.  He was "under 
those lights for hours" and was on the air for over 14 hours straight.  My 
complaint about Dougherty was that he (or whoever suggested he lose the 
jacket) was trying to suggest that he was working under the same conditions 
as Jennings or the network reporters that were on the scene in NY, when he 
was not.  Dougherty was safe in his air conditioned studio like he is every 
day doing occasional drop-ins.  

I'm sure Dougherty doesn't wear his jacket around the office, but he usually 
pulls it on when he heads to the studio.  Why didn't he do that this week?  
To paint the visual image that he was the local Peter Jennings, broadcasting 
life under tough conditions for hours on end, which was not the case.    
Continuing to broadcast without a jacket on Wednesday and Thursday confirms 
that it was not an accident in the middle of a crisis, it was a calculated 
decision.  

It wouldn't bother me if a journalist never wore a jacket.  What bothers me 
is that a purported journalist is worrying about image in the middle of a 
national tragedy.

-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine