And then again...

The great Lenny Bruce was often called down for being too honest, too real. But as he said, there is no "what ought to be; there is only what is." 

That's why my flabber was gasted when a reporter for NBC, in Tucson covering the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie's mom Nancy, asked the sheriff if he really believed the 84-year-old was alive.

I guess he's gotten used to inane questions over the years, but I try to imagine someone asking Charles Lindbergh if he thought the searchers would find his baby, or a reporter asking the Apollo 11 crew if they thought they would make it to the moon. Reporting involves facts, not conjecture, guesses, or hopes. Of course, everyone wants the woman to be found unharmed, but just ask what the sheriff does (and does not) know for real. Journalism is the recording of daily events - the first draft of history, as it has been called. Someone's ideas as to whether a woman is safe or not are not based in fact.

BUT I have to say that something good has already emerged from that sad apparent kidnapping. Craig Melvin, Savannah Guthrie's co-anchor on "Today," announced that he will forgo the chance to serve as anchor of the Olympic broadcasts from Italy to stay stateside as his broadcast partner remains in Arizona waiting for news. This is an assignment that would have increased his visibility on a global scale, but he's thinking more of the woman who shares the anchor desk in happier times than of his own career advancement, and I think this is the sort of selflessness that we rarely see, but should see more often.

It's always in the darker moments that we see the real people. Good for him!