Poor Andy Rooney.
He gets a little recognition for a lifetime of hard work and suddenly everyone is saying that he doesn't deserve it because he expressed his opinion. "A few minutes with Andy Rooney" is one of the only segments on television that you can always expect honesty from the talking head.
Rooney was announced as the winner of The Walter Cronkite Award of Excellence this year. The yearly award is given to an outstanding journalist, but many people are saying that Big Andy doesn't deserve the award because of his derogatory comments about female sideline reporters at football games.
Why did everyone jump on Rooney's case for that? Whether or not it was a good thing to say, he probably figured nobody would hear about it. After all, he was on "The Boomer Esaison Show" when he said it.
It is good that Cronkite will recognize someone for his merit and not hold his beliefs against him. It's Rooney's right to say what he wants, and it is important to respect that. You would have to be kind of bonkers to send an "offensive reporter" threatening letters and call him out for a duel.
Whether or not it makes them bonkers, people are still going to criticize Rooney. So let's imagine that the award would not go to Rooney because the public outcry is so loud that the school can't help but retract it. Now to whom is Cronkite supposed to give it?
I think a very logical choice is right under our noses: Jeffrey Hoodzow. You may be thinking, "Who the hell is Jeffrey Hoodzow?" If you're not thinking that, then thanks for reading, Jeff.
Jeff Hoodzow is responsible for the police beat that you read every day in The State Press. He broke the lid off of the Spring Break scams which swindled hundreds of dollars out of students, and he was all over Brad Kennedy' story when Kennedy brought his gun collection into the ASU law library.
The Zow, as many people like to call him, has had an amazing career in journalism so far. He has been active in the field of journalism since age 16. That really doesn't compare to Andy Rooney's experience of over 60 years in the field, so it looks like we'll have to scratch The Zow off the list. He still has some work to do.
Who's next? Why not Geraldo Rivera? He certainly is a big name who has done some work in journalism. He's been in the field for a long time. It isn't 60 years in real time, but it feels like a really long time.
Geraldo was a correspondent in Iraq until he started acting like Geraldo, and the troops asked to have him removed. It would really be a sad day if we had to give an award to Geraldo.
If we had an award for those who spread sensationalism, speak with awkward pauses and get into fistfights with racists, Geraldo would be at the top of the list. However, this is an award for journalism, and I'm afraid Geraldo would not beat Rooney.
This is only a partial list. There are plenty of journalists out there worthy of the award, but Rooney is certainly one of them. Until somebody can dispute his contributions to the profession of journalism, his comments should be placed on the backburner, and we should honor what he has accomplished.
Chris Fanning is a journalism sophomore. Reach him at chris.fanning@asu.edu.
