My first news judgement

I heard a radio piece this week from Robert Krulwich that was characteristically wandering, about an MIT student's recollection of the first time she started thinking like a scientist.

It got me thinking of the first time I started thinking like a member of the effete, East Coast, liberal media elite. Another way to put it: What was my first-ever news judgement?

I think I can pinpoint not just the year, but also the month and in all likelihood the day. It was when "Baby Jessica" McClure (now Jessica Morales) fell into a well in Midland, Texas and gave America a glimpse of just how much the media could saturate a story, given the chance.

I remember watching the news the day after she was rescued (it would have been Oct. 17, 1987) and the newscaster ended the story with: "... and the White House says First Lady Nancy Reagan stayed up last night until Baby Jessica had been rescued."

I could recognize fluff even at age nine. I thought, "What a dumb way to end that story."