Well, I sent out a response to the SPJ-L listserv to the one I made below, prompting a number of irrelevant responses.

One person responded that the operation in Kosovo was a NATO operation -- "totally within Europe, was not UN."

And this is relevant how? Clinton went to war without U.N. approval. NATO is really nothing more than a coalition of (sometimes) like-minded nations with a catchy acronym.

The missive also (I believe) prompted an e-mail from an individual who wrote:

Subject: All I can do is laugh
You call yourself a journalist?

Why yes I do. Why wouldn't I? Lessee, I've got a bachelor's degree in journalism. I've worked as a reporter, editor, design editor and a page designer for nearly 9 years. I write a wWeb log on an almost-daily basis. I think I fit the description of "journalist" to a "T." Unless...maybe there's some sort of requirement that I must have a certain worldview to be considered a "journalist."

So much for Alterman's thesis.