Oprah and the Wrath of God

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People who follow books know that the memoir genre is oversaturated. So it may be time for a shakeout. It may be that people who publish what is nonfiction--book publishers, newspapers--will start to hire fact checkers. (Anyone looking for a job? Prospects are rosy right now.)

Still, not everyone has taken Oprah's side. Her detractors seem to have multiplied overnight-among her own fans. If Frey got his just desserts from Oprah, Oprah is getting lambasted at her website. This place where Oprah-lovers congregate is a surprising place after the show. More than 12,000 posts have piled up in 24 hours, a rapid-fire volume of opinion. Many defend Frey and say Oprah is the one who's wrong. More precisely, they say she is an egomaniac who shredded a vulnerable man. Oprah's fans are saying she needs to have compassion--they're used to her going easy on the troubled. But is the author Frey her, or anyone's, victim?

Though vulnerable is not a word that fits her, Oprah runs a certain risk. There is a tension between Oprah as champion of "everywoman"--with better shoes, as she likes to say--and Oprah as too big for her nicely tailored britches. Suddenly her own roots, her own American dream story--born in modest circumstances, a victim of abuse who rose to self-made billionaire, a story that "resonates," to use Oprah's word about Frey's tale--have been obscured. One day she represents for many the American dream, the next she is for some an egomaniac.

I worry about neither Oprah nor Frey. Oprah will outlive this. Unlike Martha Stewart, Oprah didn't do anything wrong. She's not going to jail. On her show with Frey, Oprah made an interesting distinction between lying (Frey's) and mistakes (hers), a distinction that may be too subtle for all but ethicists. She made a mistake in initially backing Frey, but he

. I would hope that if publishing, or the media more generally, gain more fact checking and transparency, that will serve the public good. We all need more truth, and more publishers of truth.

Personally, I want to believe in Oprah. I'm tired of trying to figure out who's conning me, from the president to the novelist who says his research is true to the telemarketer. I think Oprah has her finger on a weary, confused, distrustful hunger for truth.

Oprah has said that TV is a place of accountability--no secrets--and this week she held Frey accountable. The truth does matter. I'm a journalism teacher, and I teach my students something simple: Tell the truth. It's the best defense against libel. The truth is also easier to remember.

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