The Jon Stewart-Christopher Hitchens dust-up from last Thursday has become something of a blogosphere cause cel&#232bre, and plus Jon’s on vacation again so yes, we’re weighing in, albeit without our usual obsessive transcribing. Honey, sometimes we just can’t.

But also, sometimes we don’t want to; because, though it was a mesmerizing segment in which yes, Jon did kind of hand Hitchens his heinie, it nonetheless wasn’t the kind of segment I like to see. Why? Because it’s supposed to be a dialogue and Hitch and Jon kept talking over each other! It irrirtated me that Hitch was being all Mary Poppins-patronizing with long intros and quips, and irritated me that Jon wouldn’t let him speak, dammit – especially after imploring him to “help me understand why I am wrong about Iraq” – and then not letting him. Because Hitch had a lot to say, and Jon should have let him say it, even if it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

But, you go to air with the debate you have (HA) and this was obviously a good one, even if it wasn’t conducted in accordance with the Robert’s Rules for which I yearn. And though Hitch was indeed very authoritative, particularly about pointing out that Iraq had legitimately satisfied the four possible justifiable conditions under which a state’s sovreignty may be challenged:

“One is repeated aggression against neighboring states. One is fooling around with a non-proliferation treaty. One is harboring gangsters and known international terrorists. And one is genocide, which if you signed the convention means you have to act (Ed. – not that it’s enforced in reality, obviously). Iraq had broken all four, more than once.”

…that is nonetheless a separate issue from what is going on now – and it was right that Jon addressed that. Because there’s why the war was started, and then there’s how it’s been executed. And it’s on this front that the administration loves to obfuscate and wave around September 11th so that we won’t see the tinfoil-plated humvees. Here’s a bit more transcript, from an unusually moved Wonkette:

Stewart: You hear people saying a lot of stupid [bleep]… But there are reasonable disagreements in this country about the way this war has been conducted, that has nothing to do with people believing we should cut and run from the terrorists, or we should show weakness in the face of terrorism, or that we believe that we have in some way brought this upon ourselves…[cuts Hitch off] They believe that this war is being conducted without transparency, without credibility, and without competence.
Hitch: I’m sorry, sunshine… I just watched you ridicule the president for saying he wouldn’t give –
Stewart: No. You misunderstood why… That’s not why I ridiculed the president. He refuses to answer questions from adults as though we were adults and falls back upon platitudes and phrases and talking points that does a disservice to the goals that he himself shares with the very people needs to convince.
Hitch: You want me to believe you’re really secretly on the side of the Bush administration…
Stewart: I secretly need to believe he’s on my side. He’s too important and powerful a man not to be.

Hitch found out here that, at least when you’re on his set, it helps to have Jon on your side too. But I’d rather he be on my side and let me hear Hitch out so I could shoot him down myself. I know, I hold Jon up to ridiculously high standards. Is it my fault that he meets them so often?

The storm may have passed but the aftermath may be even more daunting – this picture from this morning’s NYT homepage says it all. Romenesko reports that the Times-Picayune staffers have finally been forced off the beat due to rising water; TVNewser, with typically thorough coverage, writes at length about CNN’s Jeanne Meserve phoning in from the field and breaking down on the air in the midst of a litany of horrors:

It’s been horrible. As I left tonight, darkness, of course, had fallen. And you can hear people yelling for help. You can hear the dogs yelping, all of them stranded, all of them hoping someone will come.

Meserve’s descriptions are far more graphic and horrifyingly detailed, but I couldn’t bring myself to post them. The transcript is here; his post prompted a huge response and Brian has since posted an MP3 version. If you start reading or listening, you won’t be able to stop. It is horrifying, and gripping.

My choice of title for this post was not flip; there could not be a more ironic association for all of this than the song “Walking on Sunshine” by the above-referenced band; trust me, it hasn’t stopped going through my head. It is, though, one of the most upbeat and optimistic songs I could probably ever think of, so hopefully the time will come, soon, when it will be appropriate to link it.

Just because the book‘s been out for ages doesn’t mean that the stories our embeds get from the front lines are any less compelling. In today’s NYT, Michiko Kakutani uses her own voice to praise that of the Chris Ayres’s in “War Reporting for Cowards,” his memoir of a soft, neurotic, coddled reporter suddenly roughing it in Iraq (which reminds us of the story of a similarly-unprepared reporter being up and sent to Iraq – but the Times didn’t cover that one). Kakutani is clearly impressed with Ayre’s self-deprecating humor but also with his rendering of the realities of service; it’s pretty powerful to juxtapose the survival tip he picks up in his “Surviving Dangerous Countries” training course (“carry a Ziploc bag in our backpacks, for severed fingers or toes”) with his appreciation of the simplest, simplest luxuries back home (” I sang in the shower this morning because the water was hot and because no one was trying to kill me”). Powerful stuff.

Over at WWD, Sara James reports that Vaity Fair scribe and Dever City Magazine 5280 exec editor Maximillian Potter has returned from his two-and-a-half week embed in Iraq’s Al Anbar province, travelling with (and protected by) “the selfless men of the Marines’ Detachment 4 of the 5th Civil Affairs Group,” a unit that included his childhood friend Tim McMenamin, chief warrant officer second class.
Sounds like Potter’s pieces will be gritty must-reads (and possibly controversial since he cops to a more hawk-like stance now, telling James that “I am convinced that regardless of how the U. S. got to where it is in Iraq, we absolutely must stay until we get the training wheels of civilization screwed on that place”).

Whatever the conclusions, the important thing is for the stories to keep coming out – between the constitutional crisis, Saddam’s upcoming trial, the continued insurgency and the reality of the U.S. presence there, there’s really nothing about Iraq to be fatigued about, actually.

It’s worth remembering, too, especially now that we’ve officially reached a milestone, of sorts: more journalists killed in two years of the Iraq war than during the entire conflict in Vietnam.

We’re glad Potter and Ayres are back safely and are sharing their experiences – here’s hoping for the safe return of our other colleagues over there.

UPDATE: And while we’re worrying about them over there they’re worrying about things over here: Newsweek just sent out a story by correspondent Michael Hastings in Baghdad who reports on a batallion of National Guardmen from Louisiana, anxiously trying to get information on their Katrina-ravaged homes and families from Iraq (not surprisingly, they’re watching Fox). The men have only eight days remaining in their tour of duty – but who knows if they will even have homes to go to. It’s an interesting perspective on life over there, and over here; Hastings quotes a soldier with as good a closing line as any: “It’s the perfect f–ked-up ending to a perfect f–ked-up war.”

After literally months of rumor and speculation – the kind that top Village Voice brass won’t comment on, certainly – it’s the kind of lede that must feel pretty good, even if the outcome sucks:

The Nation’s two largest alternative newspaper publishers have been in intense negotiations over a merger that would create an 18-paper chain controlled to a significant extent by venture capitalists.

Tim Redmond, the terrier who has been sinking his teeth into this at the San Francisco Bay Guardian, had unearthed the proof: Village Voice Media indeed be merging with the New Times – and they’ve got the draft May 27, 2005 merger agreement to prove it.

The salient points:

• An 18-paper alternative press chain will be created

• Control will lie with the New Times: it will have 62 percent of the merged entity and Village Voice Media will have 38 percent
• This will be reflected in the Board as well: the New Times will have a 5-4 majority, including Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin, the executive editor and CEO of New Times respectively, and New Times chief financial officer Jed Brunst and two other New Times picks, including one New Times venture capitalist representative
• Village Voice Media CEO David Schneiderman will also sit on the board, along with seats representing his three investors
• Schneiderman will receive a $500,000 bonus for “his work on the merger”
• This will surely not make Robert Christgau and co. very happy
• The Village Voice union contracts (recently the subject of much squabble and dissention) – will be honored (presumably however cheaply “honored” may be defined). But according to SFBG, “other employees may not fare so well”: they have a source that says “I believe the rest of the VVM corporate staff (essentially finance people) will be let go.”
• The resulting company will represent 14.2% of the membership of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies “and would give one chain operation control of some of the biggest media markets in the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Denver, Seattle, Phoenix, and Houston”
• Closing is set for November 30, 2005

The only thing that’s surprising about this, of course, is the magnitude of the leak from the notoriously secretive parties – Redmond’s got a whole whack of documents along with the draft Merger Agreement, including a memo from Schneiderman worrying about the New Times dead weight and draft bylaws for the merged corporation. Still, it’s sad to think of what might be lost. Ah, well. Anyone who is not notoriously secretive and would like to drop us a tip, please do so at FISHBOWLNY@mediabistro.com.

Exclusive: Internal Village Voice documents detail plans to create 18-paper alt-press chain [SFBG]

Over at TVNewser, our assiduous Katrina-blogging brother has posted this unbelievable screengrab of Anderson Cooper, looking wetter than even we’d want. Poor Anderson! You’re so intrepid! Anderson is hanging tough at the Mississippi Bridge in Baton Rouge; on the road in the eye of the storm, CNN wondertruck “Hurricane One” has apparently been totalled. Quail before the awesome power of nature, Jon Klein! Seriously, I reiterate: I hope everyone remains okay. These roving reporters are half brave, half dedicated, and half stupid. The other half are better at math than me. Grammar, too.

Today on GMA, Charlie Gibson had an “exclusive” interview with Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor – still technically a sitting judge, mind you, at least until a certain hunky Presidential nominee is confirmed – about her soon-to-be-released children’s book “Chico,” the tale of a girl and her horse. Aw. Great get for GMA – although an unfortunate day for it,Katrina-wise. It would have been a big score for GMA (today’s “Today” sked was nothing to crow about) but for the obvious Katrina coverage (see TVNewser for a comment on how NBC brought out their big guns to location for the coverage). According to Charlie Gibson later in the program, SDO was very concerned about the hurricane and the fate of New Orleans. We were, too, which is why we DVR’d the interview and are only writing this now. Upshot: Katrina aside, nice exclusive for GMA. Yet another indication that they’re hungry and that Today shouldn’t relax anytime soon.

Dream a little dream of these nuggets, gang:

…we bring you possibly the most niggling correction ever,* yet one that speaks deeply to the hipness of the Times: the correct spelling of “Ying Yang Twins.” Kelefa Sanneh, you can man-crush on the lead singer of Death Cab For Cutie all you want,*** but that errant “T” just cost you in my book.

Oh yes, the other way we’re making Justice Roberts proud: we never, ever giggle. Just kidding, tee hee.

*We’ll fight you for it, Mnookin
**Fishtern Maureen Miller brought this to our attention after other Fishtern Annie Karni mentioned Jay-Z’s predilection for the man-hug.
***Clearly angling for a coveted Fishtern position, our new best friend Phil Bump actually brought this item to our attention and provided the screengrab. Aw, Phil Bump, you make a girl giggle.

Jeffrey Kofman just reported on GMA from New Orleans – it looks like the worst of it is over there and apparently Katrina’s been downgraded to a Category Three (yeah, a breezy balmy Category Three. Sheesh). Even so, there’s been quite a bit of damage – part of the roof ripped off the Superdome (but Brian Williams and his cellphone are on it), half the city covered in 5-6 feet of water, “total structural failure” reported on CNN, which can’t be good. This is just an update; for in-depth coverage of the coverage, I once again direct you to TVNewser, who has details on the Carol Costello/Chad Myers on-air dust-up and Steve Harrigan’s sturdy footing over at Fox. We do, however, have this link to a CNN video of Rob Marciano being blown around in Biloxi. Can I just say that all the reporters out in the field are quite brave, if a little nuts. Be safe, everyone!