Tonight Joel Osteen and his wife are appearing at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. I know this because the front page of Monday's Miami Herald ran a note about it, with the headline: A NIGHT OF HOPE WITH THE OSTEENS, which prompted me to write a letter to the editor:
"Newspaper readers know that when the book fair takes place there is no such thing as a boring book. And when Art Basel comes to town there is no such thing as a bad painting. And we accept this, with resignation, as the paper playing its part as civic booster.
"But that doesn’t explain the mini-headline in the Nov. 29 Herald: A NIGHT OF HOPE WITH THE OSTEENS. It sat above an item on the front page alerting readers to the fact that the religion-to-riches preacher Joel Osteen and his wife are bringing their “A Night of Hope” tour to Miami on Friday. When the title of a tour is so self-congratulatory, using it as part of your headline (without quotes or italics to set it off) is worse than lazy because it risks coming across as editorializing. You wouldn’t write A NIGHT OF HUCKSTERISM WITH THE OSTEENS, even though that may be a more accurate description."
The Herald didn't publish my letter. But a note in today's paper reads simply: "Televangelist Joel Osteen at the American Airlines Arena, 7 p.m." A small victory.
