FAV Soundbytes

The Corner NRO (no link necessary) – referred to Delia’s Friday appearances re Pope B16 as “a breath of fresh air and sanity” and that CNN “just had a decent segment, because they had their religion reporter Delia Gallagher on the case, who actually understands religion and things.” So what did CNN do to follow up on this Rightwing KY-Jelly adulation? They sent Delia to Atlanta so she could sit right next to Rick Sanchez, Fred, et. al. during the weekend shows. Wow, they are really on TOP of things, aren’t they!

Uhm… I don’t think so.

I have said time and again that Delia (or her producer?) doesn't seem to have a keen, proactive sense about what is FAV-worthy. She has been reactive at best, and pandering at times, offering her insights only after something has already happened, been scrutinized, protested, headlined, written about... and becomes news.

CASE-IN-POINT:

10 September – Shep wrote “Delia, Where Art Thou”, not as a forlorn lament for Delia, but to hope that Delia gets her mojo soon. Of course, Shakespeare was more eloquent on this subject than I. Apparently, in Kathryn Lopez' world, this qualified as stalkerish. Whatever.

11 September – America commemorated the 5th anniversary of the attacks on the WTC, Pentagon, and PA, while Pope B16 was in Bavaria with nary a word about Islam extremism. If he really wanted to piss them off and trash their religion, this would have been a really good time to ruffle the Muslim Imams' lacy panties , but he didn’t. In fact, B16 kept his itinerary as planned:

Monday, Sept. 11 (Munich, Altotting, Marktl am Inn, Regensburg)

7:50 a.m. (1:50 a.m.), Farewell at archbishop's residence
8 a.m. (2 a.m.), Transfer in car to Bayern Kaserne heliport in Munich.
8:15 a.m. (2:15 a.m.), Arrival at Bayern Kaserne heliport.
8:20 a.m. (2:20 a.m.), Departure in helicopter from Munich to Altotting.
9:20 a.m. (3:20 a.m.), Arrival at heliport in Altotting.
9:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m.), Transfer in popemobile to Sanctuary of Altotting.
9:45 a.m. (3:45 a.m.), Visit to Chapel of the Miraculous Image at Sanctuary of Altotting.
10 a.m. (4 a.m.), Transfer in popemobile to sacristy at Altotting.
10:15 a.m. (4:15 a.m.), Arrival at sacristy at the parish house in Altotting.
10:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m.), Mass on the grounds of the Sanctuary of Altotting. Sermon by the pope.
12:30 p.m. (6:30 a.m.), Procession of the Eucharist, accompanied by the statue of Mary, from the grounds of the sanctuary to the new Chapel of Adoration, annexed to the parish church of Sts. Philip and James in Altotting.
12:45 p.m. (6:45 a.m.), Inauguration of the Chapel of Adoration.
1:15 p.m. (7:15 a.m.), Transfer by foot to the convent of St. Mary Magdalene in Altotting.
1:30 p.m. (7:30 a.m.), Arrival at the Convent of St. Mary Magdalene.
4:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m.), Transfer in popemobile from Convent of St. Mary Magdalene to the Basilica of St. Ann in Altotting.
5 p.m. (11 a.m.), Marian vespers with religious and seminarians of Bavaria in Basilica of St. Ann.
6:15 p.m. (12:15 p.m.), Transfer in car from Basilica of St. Ann to Marktl am Inn.
6:45 p.m. (12:45 p.m.), Arrival at Marktl am Inn. Visit to the Church of St. Oswald.
7 p.m. (1 p.m.), Transfer in popemobile from Church of St. Oswald to heliport of Marktl am Inn.
7:15 p.m. (1:15 p.m.), Arrival at heliport.
7:20 p.m. (1:20 p.m.), Departure by helicopter from Marktl am Inn to Regensburg.
8:20 p.m. (2:20 p.m.), Arrival at Nibelungenkaserne heliport in Regensburg.
8:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m.), Transfer in popemobile from heliport to St. Wolfgang Major Seminary in Regensburg.
8:45 p.m. (2:45 p.m.), Arrival at St. Wolfgang Seminary.


12 September – Somewhere between kissing babies, enjoying his hometown, hanging out with big bro, and visiting his little Bavarian cottage, B16 delivered his now famous lecture at the University of Regensburg - quoting Byzantine Emperor What’s-His-Name (from the really, really far side of medieval history) - to make a larger point on religious dialogue and rationalization. Zenit, Delia's former employer, released the lecture's English translation that same day.

13 September - News services picked up on this lecture and some already focused on that infamous quotation, selling it as “anti-Islam", sensationalizing it without really any reference to the larger context by which it was delivered. An Indian newservice alluded to the pope's lecture as a bitchslap against Islam- harbinger of louder soundbytes to come? That same day, I read Jeff Israely’s piece on Time – and I, with my limited brain function, already thought that this would be a big deal. I’m sure Delia would have known of the lecture and its possible consequences since she is a self-proclaimed Vatican insider with LOTS of contacts. Or maybe more importantly... BECAUSE she IS the FAVcorrespondent and she IS supposed to know these things?!!

But where was CNN’s FAV girl? Delia was on American Morning talking about… the Gallup/Baylor God survey.

14 September – The news of the Muslim outcry over the Pope’s lecture started trickling in, mainly from Islamic news wires. That same morning, Delia appeared again on her new American Morning timeslot, talking about… bleeping Vatican Art Collection?! Huh? Did she really say bleeping Picasso? It was my GF’s birthday, so to hell with FAV issues, I was busy making dinner (or ordering was more like it) - but this is totally beside the point.

15 September – The Muslim world was now definitely having a hissy fit over the quote of Emperor Something. Bearded men were now calling for the Pope’s head while their leaders were demanding a personal mea culpa from the head of the 1-billion strong Catholic Church. Three days after Pope B16 delivered his lecture, a tiny part of it has now become a full-blown grossly misunderstood deadly soundbyte. And finally, in her American Morning slot, Delia talked about the Pope’s lecture and its global consequences.

And Delia has been talking about the subject non-stop, while CNN is probably hi-fiveing itself for the "rational, brilliant take on the subject matter" as it goes on full papal woody alert.

And herein lies the main problem: Delia referred to our world as a world of soundbytes, yet she herself has been a contributor to its lowest common denominator. Whether agreeing to it or repudiating it is not the point. The point is that instead of just reporting the soundbyte, she should have created one. By intelligently reporting on the Pope’s lecture before it became a big, misunderstood mess, Delia could have preemptively had a discourse on its academic brilliance and larger rational meaning.

Delia has time and again proven that she only reports on peripheral things, only analyzes things after the fact, and only prepares packages on safe, popular, and inconsequential subjects. She has consistently failed to recognize relevant FAV news before somebody else had reported on it. She has continuously tackled only fluffy, pandering pieces. Forget about the Shep’s and the Friar's expectations of intellectual theological discussions – our existence is too inconsequential in the larger scheme of things – but with the opportunity that Delia has been given comes responsibility – a bigger responsibility than let’s say Hollywood Correspondent dude – and she owes it to herself and her audience to – FOR GOD’S SAKE (no pun intended!)– do something intelligent and brave.

The reality is that Delia's gig is not easy. I said that over a year ago. It will take a lot of courage and conviction to do it right, it will take a lot of feather-ruffling and lots of hits and misses. But at least it will make a lot of difference. Something that sadly, Delia Gallagher has not had the guts to do.