Phillip Morris Almost Wins a Pulitzer???

Journalism at a Low Point
by Max J.

I can't believe that Phillip Morris was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Thank God he did not win, or we would have never heard the end of it. The PD would have published an entire weekend series on the life and times of Sir Phillip Morris featuring his hobbies, photos of the place that he wrote his Pulitzer Prize winning column, and interviews with everyone who has ever know the new "Prince of the Plaza."

It was a strange description released by the Pulitzer selection committee: "Finalists: Phillip Morris of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, for his blend of local storytelling and unpredictable opinions, enlarging the discussion of controversial issues that stir a big city." What does that even mean? Could someone please translate that for me? What is an "unpredictable opinion," and how is that worthy of praise? Does it mean that this guy is so out of touch with most of Cleveland it is amazing that he has a job let alone a regular column at the only daily in the City? Or could it mean that he regularly criticizes African American culture, and yet he is in fact black? Or maybe it means that this guy is a shill for the corporate interests of Cleveland, which has for the most part abandoned the city.

A few recent examples: "How can Cleveland build better people and better families" in which he laments that there is crime in the city. Then "Coming state budget cuts will impose a cost on public safety" in which he runs through a litany of crimes against his colleagues at the PD and his revelation is that we are going to have tough times ahead. He gives the Governor of Ohio a pass on hiring a diverse cabinet with "The race of Gov. John Kasich's all-white Cabinet only matters if he fails to create jobs." Morris said, "For better or worse, he now approaches his job as something of an economist, not a sociologist. He's a bit of a maverick, which we need." I think that this is the heart of his "unpredictable opinions" in this example he is willing to allow the Governor a pass on representing a significant portion of Ohio if he will just bring us jobs. Morris goes on to talk about running the state like a business, which is one of the most tired and inaccurate cliches in the media.

Government is not a business. It is fundamentally figuring out how to take care of citizens without a concern for profit and loss. Government is about making unpopular decisions like increasing taxes when there are citizens with a mental illness who need a hospital near their family. The big problem is that these politicians are running government as a popularity contest that they are used car salesmen trying to disguise the bad news about the vehicle until the populace drives the car off the lot. Morris is great at pointing out the obvious, but is horrible at solutions. He does not seem to have a concept of the transfer of power away from the populists typically from Northern Ohio to the corporate interests of Columbus and Cincinnati over the past 20 years in the State of Ohio. He does not recognize how corporate anti tax politicians have wrecked this state over the past 20 years. In my opinion, Morris would be better received if he wrote for the Cincinnati daily. He is a libertarian in a progressive community.