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# Reporter frets about state of pop culture
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/reporter-frets-about-state-of-pop-culture/
- Published: 2007-03-08T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:12:44.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: local, Downtown, #archive-import

*By ALISON TULLY Special to the Daily Press*

DOWNTOWN Sometimes uncovering the effects of popular media culture is like learning the right way to boil a frog.

“You can’t just put a frog in hot water, because he’ll jump right out,” said Gloria Goodale, an arts and culture reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, while speaking at the Main Library last weekend. “Any good French chef would tell you that you need to put him first in cold water and slowly turn the heat up, until the frog does-n’t notice.”

Goodale, an arts and culture reporter who has worked for the newspaper almost two decades, was on hand Sunday as part of the library’s series on “Women Moving Us Towards History,” a month-long celebration in honor of Women’s History Month.

Goodale’s frog reference served as a metaphor for popular culture: Once the water or culture gets racy enough, people or readers get used to it. She reported learning that lesson after her 12-year-old daughter had received a gift from Hustler magazine.

“She was given a pink coin purse that read ‘Hustler’ with a tag to suggest that she visit the Hustler Web site,” said Goodale.

The incident inspired Goodale to write an article focusing on the surplus of erotic and sexual imagery in society. She cited the piece as an example of one of the Monitor’s guiding principles: “To shed light, not heat.” Her talk at the library, entitled “Out of a Woman’s Life: A Newspaper,” was delivered by Goodale along with the Monitor’s Los Angeles Bureau Chief Daniel Wood.

> “The Monitor’s coverage is completely unbiased and fair.” — WE LIVE IN A SIMILAR WORLD TO WHEN EDDY FOUNDED THE PAPER; A WORLD THAT IS CHAOTIC AND FULL OF UNRELIABLE SOURCES.” Gloria Goodale arts and culture reporter, Christian Science Monitor

“The paper was created in response to yellow journalism — the kind of tabloid sensationalism that panders to the most primitive side of humanity,” Wood said.

Mary Baker Eddy founded the Christian Science Monitor in 1908\. Eddy, recently named one of the 100 most influential people by The Atlantic Magazine, started the paper at the age of 87\. The paper marked the end of her life-long commitment to exploring the connection between the mind and the body.

“Eddy’s vision remains relevant today,” Goodale said. “We live in a similar world to when Eddy founded the paper; a world that is chaotic and full of unreliable sources.”

The paper’s ability to rise above local interests to provide a larger, global perspective is one of many reasons why people choose to read the Monitor, she said.

Readers like Northwestern Sociology professor Charlie Moskos, 72, turn to the paper to get informed on topics like the war in Iraq.

Moskos, who has contributed to The Iraq Study Group and is still in contact with Multiforces Commander Lt. Gen. David Petraeus said, “When the general asks me what’s going on, I tell him about information I read about in the Monitor.

Monitor freelance writer Jill Carroll’s Iraq coverage is a good example of the kind of in-depth reporting the paper provides, according to Wood. Carroll was detained in Iraq for 82 days after armed men rushed her car and killed her translator. After being released, Carroll took a leave from the paper and is now a fellow at Harvard University. She recently received the Courage in Journalism award from the International Media Association. She declined to accept the award, however, because she didn’t want to become the story.

“Carroll is respected because she chose to live in the country for three years, where she learned Arabic and wore traditional garb to really try to understand it,” Wood said. “She learned the story by reporting from the ground up.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 8, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/030807.pdf?ref=smdp.com)