James Frey 2-2-2006

2, February 2006                   James Frey

It seems the U.S. media and public is very selective with ethical issues. James Frey, author of the best-selling ‘memoir’, ‘A Million Little Pieces, received Oprah Winfrey much coveted stamp of approval and made Frey and publisher, Doubleday, millions in book sales. When parts of the memoir were found to be fabrications, Oprah summoned Frey and a team of seasoned reporters to her show and pilloried Frey in front of her adoring millions. It is a pity that public interest and outrage are not proportionate to the crimes of deceit and mendacity committed.

Corporate leaders guilty of malfeasance usually escape such public attention using the power of the purse and political connections. Judith Miller, former reporter of the New York Times and Armstrong Williams were “hired guns” for the government publishing false stories to buttress failed domestic and foreign policy decisions.

Perhaps the greatest story teller in our recent history and his squad of ghost writers – President Bush and his coterie, should be vilified and for dragging us into an unnecessary war based on fictional accounts of WMD’s. Phil Donahue, the former talk show mogul, performed a great public service for his anti-war position but alas incurred the wrath of his network and was fired. Truth has consequences and falsehood is a growing cancer in our beleaguered nation.