Goodbye CNN’s Michael Ware
It appears that celebrated CNN war correspondent Michael Ware will not be returning to the network after taking extended leave. According the blog ALL THINGS CNN, Ware — who had taken tie off to work on a book — has asked for additional time to deal with post-traumatic stress from his time in the warzones. “…unfortunately, when he needed more time off in order to deal with things, his request was denied,” the blog reported.
With his bad-boy reputation, and his roguish good looks (marked by a disjointed nose from his rugby days) Ware was CNN’s prototypical correspondent for the new age of journalism with attitude.
Unlike old-fashioned journosaurs, Ware did not bother to balance his CNN reports with possible alternative explanations for the facts. He sized up the situation, rendered a judgment, and delivered the verdict without apology. And he was right, far more often than he was wrong. A friend of mine at CNN bristled when I suggested Ware was not an objective journalist. “He didn’t toe the Pentagon line,” he replied, “He called him like he saw them.”
No argument there from me. That he did. But you don’t have the “toe the Pentagon line” to be objective. (And I understand objectivity is a SUBJECTIVE thing). The truth is reporters who are free from the constraints of muddying up their stories with contradictory scenarios end up with much sharper, edgier, and memorable stories. Michael Ware was very watchable. He was smart, and he was THERE. He was fearless in pursuing the truth, and when he convinced himself of what that truth was, he pulled no punches. Which is what made him great for CNN’s mission to stick out, not fit in with its coverage.
My personal opinion is you need some Michael Wares on your reporting staff, but his personal approach should be labeled news, opinion, and analysis.
The thing about Michael Ware, and others of his ilk, is that if he’s reporting a truth that rings true to you, it all seems pretty objective and fair. If you’re on the other side, you’re probably wishing a not-so-splashy, old-style reporter was including your side of the story, too.
I’m sure we’ll see more of Michael Ware in the future. Maybe even on CNN, who’ll probably be glad to take him back, even as it doesn’t want to pay him for anymore time off.
What do you think?
