When The Press Hijacks Your Life

You may remember seeing the original headline  — “First Female Gondolier”.  After over 900 years, the canal-laced city of Venice, Italy could claim its first woman gondolier.  Or could it?

“What happens when doing what you want to do means giving up who you really are? … On the winding canals in the hidden parts of Venice, we learn about the nearly 1000-year old tradition of the Venetian Gondolier, and how the global media created a 20-year battle between that tradition and a supposed feminist icon. ”  That’s how National Public Radio’s program Radiolab describes its June 15, 2017 program “The Gondolier”.   At one time, this news item circled the globe, yet it was completely misleading.  I don’t want to spoil an ending that may be a total surprise, but this story with the simplistic headline once again proves the adage “Everything is more complicated than it first appears.”

See for yourself by listening to the podcast at http://www.radiolab.org/story/gondo/ .  The photo by Alex Hai is from the website.

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