From the Editor—
In his marvelous book James Bond: The Man and His World, Henry Chancellor referenced an often cited story of 007 creator Ian Fleming as young reporter with Reuters on assignment to cover the Metropolitan-Vickers trial in the Soviet Union. [1-4]
“As the events unfolded,” Mr Chancellor wrote, “Fleming took great pleasure in competing with other journalists to get his copy home first
Though he was certainly the most inexperienced among them, he developed an ingenious system of throwing his scribbled bulletins out of the window of the courthouse to a boy waiting down below, who ran them over to the cable office where they were sent to Reuters before the other journalists had even left the courtroom.
Equivalent to the modern day Tweet.
I confess to having been caught up in the excitement of breaking news over the course of my career.
When Daniel Craig replaced Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, my instincts as a marketing guy told me that watchmaker Omega would be foolish not to leverage the opportunity to feature something different for Casino Royale. Successfully breaking this story meant not just seeing this opportunity for the product placement partner, but developing sources that wouldn’t occur to watch collectors or James Bond fanboys. [5-11]
In this case, finding the woman behind a well-established website called “Dedicated to Daniel.” Loved the actor, little background on the four-plus decades old movie franchise with which he was about to be associated. [12]
Writings on the latest “James Bond watch” choices have little in common with the horological searches and historical connections they once enjoyed. With few exceptions, “breaking news” on the latest wristwatch selections involves little more than cut-and-paste content from official supplier press releases. [13-17]
Notwithstanding this — and in the face of “citizen journalists” armed with smartphone cameras and access to making live postings to social media accounts — no outlet is going to win almost any contest based on speed. That doesn’t keep publishers from trying, of course. Unfortunately, the mechanisms are gone by which newspapers went from readers’ hands to birdcage linings, replaced by next editions where corrections that needed to be made could be made. On the Internet, even the most bush league mistakes last forever. [18,19]
For Saline Journal, I’ve always given priority to content that isn’t being covered elsewhere, or not covered in a way that other news sources appear to be missing. That’s why you see a lot of connect-the-dots references here, often providing context often revealing a bigger picture. Or features that look “behind the scenes.” [20,21]
On top of that, the editorial team and I are regularly told that readers consider a third or more of our articles published within the last six months as “current.” Another ten percent say “a year or more.”
While hardly considered “history” by standards of our local Society or The Saline Reporter, it is definitely a perspective that we keep in mind when we prepare to run articles — especially ones on complicated, emotional, and polarizing subjects. [22,23]
I suggest that it’s something that Ian Fleming came to embrace when he aged into his fifties, as replacement for his literally over-the-transom approach taken as a twenty-five-year-old. With an eye toward the future, he eschewed “Russians” in favor “SPECTRE” as signature foe for his thrillers. [26]
Thus, unlike many other authors’ creations first introduced sixty-seven years ago, the legacy of Mr Fleming can boast ongoing major motion picture premiers to this day.
References
- “James Bond: The Man and His World” Henry Chancellor (2005) Henry Chancellor.
- “Ian Fleming” Ian Fleming.
- “The Metro-Vickers Crisis: Anglo-Soviet Relations between Trade Agreements, 1932-1934” GL Owen (January 1971) The Slavonic and East European Review.
- “The Russian Assignment” Ian Fleming.
- “Daniel Craig” IMDb.
- “Pierce Brosnan” IMDb.
- “James Bond: Fictional Character” Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- “Original ‘James Bond’s Choice’ Omega watch ad, 1997” Dell Deaton (February 17, 2012) James Bond Watches Blog.
- Omega Watches (home page).
- “Casino Royale (2006)” IMDb.
- “‘Casino Royale’ James Bond Omega watch definitively identified!” Dell Deaton (March 8, 2006) James Bond Watches Blog.
- Dedicated to Daniel (home page).
- “WatchTime feature article — ‘Discovered: James Bond’s Rolex,’ part 1 of 9” Dell Deaton (December 22, 2012) James Bond Watches Blog.
- “‘How I Found the Original James Bond Watch,’ Part 1 of 3” Dell Deaton (February 16, 2010) James Bond Watches Blog.
- “James Bond Wore the Quartz Revolution” Dell Deaton (June 1, 2015) Vimeo.
- “Discovered: James Bond’s Carte Blanche Breitling watch” Dell Deaton (July 5, 2011) James Bond Watches Blog.
- “Vintage Omega Chronograph Caliber 321” Remmert van Braam (2016) Bond Lifestyle.
- “The rise of citizen journalism” Kate Bulkley (June 10, 2012) The Guardian.
- Internet Archive: Wayback Machine (home page).
- Example: Articles tied to “Year-end report on Bixby Marionette Trust disposition outlined steady, important forward progress” Dell Deaton (December 11, 2019) Saline Journal.
- Example: “With countdown to competition now in single digits, today marked one of the longest days yet for SHS robotics team” Dell Deaton (February 27, 2019) Saline Journal.
- Saline Area Historical Society (home page).
- “Saline Reporter” Central Michigan University: Digital Michigan Newspapers.
- “No Time to Die (2020)” IMDb.
- “No Time To Die Trailer” James Bond 007″ James Bond 007 (December 4, 2019) YouTube.
- “The Messy, Improbable History of SPECRE” Chris Klimek (November 6, 2015) The Atlantic.
