Joseph Planta's Commentary - thecommentary.ca

Tuesday, 14 December 2004

Andy Rooney's turkey talk

By Joseph Planta

VANCOUVER - If you're in London, Ontario and you want to contact someone in New York, you would think you needn't go through someone on the other coast in Vancouver, no? Thanks to globalisation today, you probably will. That 1-800 number on the back of your credit card is likely to be answered by some Indian half way around the world.

Nonetheless, I'm glad Sandra Barker of London, Ontario contacted me, because it got me involved in the interesting back and forth she had with famed television commentator, Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes fame.

In late November, I was surprised to get an e-mail from CBS viewer Barker. She wrote, "I love Andy Rooney, but I believe it is time for him to give up his day job." Intrigued I read the rest of the e-mail, as it was sent to my address here at THECOMMENTARY.CA. It seems that Barker had seen Rooney's editorial about Thanksgiving on CBS's Sunday Morning program. He had said something to the effect that there was nothing like Thanksgiving anywhere in the world, and that for Americans it was "exclusively ours."

Barker's beef was the fact that Rooney, though obviously well read, should have known that Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving too, pointing out several of the dishes that we Canadians consume in mid-October, just as the Americans do in late-November. She ended her missive: "Fess up Andy, and admit that you actually knew this."

For a moment, I was confused as to what to do. Surely, Barker knew that she could contact Rooney herself and vent to him directly, or at the very least his producers at CBS News. Perhaps she was wishing that her letter to be published on THECOMMENTARY.CA website; which in fact we don't do, because we rarely get many publishable letters to the editor. I decided to write Barker, to commiserate, and at the same time sympathise with Rooney, with whom Sandra and I both love. I wrote Barker back saying though it was an egregious misstep, having had some experience in editorialising, "sometimes facts can get in the way of subjective prose." I thanked her for e-mailing me, and that I would pass on her thoughts to Andy Rooney.

A week later, I received an e-mail from Andy Rooney, saying that someone who works with him said, on seeing a draft of his commentary, "Canadians have Thanksgiving, you know." Nevertheless, because Rooney wanted to get the piece done without making changes he told his colleague, "I know-but I don't think of Canada as a foreign country."

So, ever the dutiful messenger, I passed on the e-mail from Rooney to Sandra Barker. She wrote that from Rooney's reply, he is "too lazy to do his job correctly." She went on to say that accuracy in journalism should always be endeavoured, and that she was amazed that Rooney would ignore advice that was freely given by his assistant, "A little arrogant, don't you think?"

"Mr. Rooney should always remember that haste makes waste," warns Barker. This, by the way, is sound advice when you think of it. Whether the estimable Mr. Rooney would take the advice, we'd have to see, until his reply. Sure enough, last week, Rooney wrote back: "Sandra Barker is more right than I am. She sounds good, too. If it's any consolation to her, tell Sandra I'll be more careful with Canada in the future."

Well, Sandra, kudos to you for pointing out something that I hadn't even seen. As much as I used to love old Charles Kuralt, I'm never up early enough on a Sunday morning to see how Charles Osgood has been doing. As well, good on you for getting Andy Rooney's attention, and for Andy to promise he'll be more careful with Canada. At least we know that with one prominent American journalist, Canada won't be taken so lightly again.

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