Not Everyone Likes Art Harris

On a recent web stroll, I came across a blog by Atlanta-based writer Grayson Hurst Daughters, and read with particular interest her September 12th 2007 article, “When Big Media Met Little Media”. Daughters discusses an Atlanta Press Club event and a presentation made by every Howard K Stern fan’s favorite journalist, Art Harris.

I confess to regress and remember the day of March 22nd, 2007 when Art Harris wrote an article about this site in its heyday. The title was “Shocking News for Anna Nicole Mongers: Not Everyone Hates Howard K. Stern!” Oh, how things have changed, not only for this site, but for Art Harris. I would hazard to guess that more than a few journalists agree with Daughters observations during that particular event.

“I’m still ashamed and furious at myself that I sat through a reeking video presentation of his glorification of scum-celebrity culture (i.e.”exclusives”) without standing up and yelling, “Get that disgusting celeb-stink out of my face, you shameless bald-headed Big TV freak,” Daughters writes.

I first wandered into the Smith-Stern debacle wondering where are all the “real” journalists were. Where I could find an unbiased and true accounting of events surrounding the overly-hyped and often melodramatic Anna Nicole Smith story.

Art Harris seemed to be the ticket. At least at the height of the story, at least for a few articles. However, if you want to see the downfall of journalistic objectivity – if you want to see a former award-winning journalist pigeonhole himself as a talking head for only one side of the story, visit Art’s blog.

I don’t know who’s paying Harris for his lapdog dedication to the cause of Howard K. Stern in the media, since the majority of his stories never make it to the mainstream press, but somehow I just don’t imagine Harris, an unabashed self-promoter, donating weeks of his time to this overplayed and fading cause celebre, especially when there are much more current and popular stories to be had. Then again, it could be that Harris found his niche, and no small amount of ego-stroking, among the few dozen or so diehard fans of Stern, who sing Harris’s praises and feverishly link to his pro-Howard stories as if he were the last internet journalist standing up for their passionate cause.

Perhaps he is. After all, Harris has written no less than 128 articles detailing the life and death of Anna Nicole Smith, and the continuing legal struggles of her enabling, duffle bag carrying, one- client attorney. That’s dedication. And perhaps it would be admirable if Harris hadn’t purposely put on blinders to so many aspects of this ongoing saga, including the infamous “clown” video which clearly shows the state Anna Nicole Smith was in while she was pregnant.

“Acting?” Are the excuse-makers truly serious? While it’s largely understood by most that Anna was eccentric and that her behaviors were not always in the range of norm, the video, even 15 minutes of it, clearly shows a woman who was beyond “role playing”. Yet Howard K. Stern never did put the camera down, did he? Nor did he address the child who begged him to get help for the distressed and pregnant woman.

While Ford Shelley, like the majority of those involved in the story of Anna’s death, cannot be called a credible source, the video speaks volumes on its own, and Shelley’s daughter was hardly acting in some pre-arranged play.

As for proof of the supposedly undying love Howard had for Anna (and not the other way around), where is it? Outside of statements made by Howard, where is it, really? Has anyone seen or produced the alleged invitation to a legal wedding?

What about the break-up with the girlfriend that both Anna and Howard claimed as cause for Daniel’s depression? Has anyone, including “The Bald Truth”, verified her existence as a fact?

As quickly as controversial pictures hit the media, they were dismissed by Harris and his small legion as “playful.” More acting. Yet no one asked why. Why Stern would have encouraged, much less insistently taken those photos, which showed Anna in the worst possible light.

One might guess that pictures like that would have a purpose. At least one might question if they weren’t being taken as some sort of ammunition in a future custody case involving a presumptive father, at one time thought to be legally bullet-proof in the Bahamas. Could Stern have been angling for custody, as well as a hefty amount of child support, with the embarrassing number of disturbing photos and video he shot of Dannielynn’s mother?

It’s just a question, but a valid question, and just one of many that are left lingering in the sour aftermath of two preventable drug-caused deaths.

Art Harris, who seems to have become more of a fan-lover than a journalist, didn’t make much of an effort to disguise the pablum he was fed from Howard’s legal eagles. He didn’t get all sides to the story, nor did he use his powers as an “investigative journalist” to objectively ferret out the more evasive aspects to this story. Instead, his blog is rife with unobjective tales in which Stern is made out to be a lover, an underdog, and golden hero.

Harris’s blog contributors occasionally receive a bonus when Harris randomly scolds a dissenter or two. When the mood strikes him, those that aren’t mesmerized by his candy-coated spin can expect a dose of humiliation. In return Harris receives accolades from the fervent Stern fan club, who cry “WAY TO GO, ART!” or “GO HOWARD GO!”

Somehow I don’t think Harris’s work of late is going to be nominated for any prize, much less the Pulitzer nomination he so proudly hails from his more productive and illustrious past. Is this what’s called resting on one’s laurels?

Interesting to see, too, whom Harris has chosen to be his recently acquired new “international staff members”. “Mr (he-say-that-HKS-is-gay) Controversy” and forum moderator “Bahama Mama” – whom some believe to be a particularly melodramatic HKS blogger, who received a “promotion” – while others vehemently protest, saying Harris’s choice of online consorts is nobody’s business. Me doth think they protest too much, especially on a site that bills itself as “the truth, and nothing but the bald truth.”

Then again, one man’s truth can only go as far as he is capable of examining. In the case of Art Harris, his steadily myopic reporting is less truth than the story could provide – if one was, in fact, an objective journalist.

Grayson Hurst Daughters is an Atlanta based journalist and is the Founder/Writer/Producer of WaySouth Media, Inc,. whose work is producing and promoting “New Media”.