Network News Stories
Writing at Media Matters, Eric Boehlert points out the consequences of a media that concentrates more on making up stories than on actual reporting:
I think when journalists wallow in that nonsense for so long and pretend it’s newsworthy and important, the coverage of a truly important story (e.g. what the media have now identified as the Republican candidate for president trying to lie his way into the White House) comes across as just another trivial pursuit. For news consumers, it comes across as just more forced cable chatter because there’s no seriousness left in the entire endeavor.
[snip]
They’re good at speculating for weeks on end about who might be selected as a candidate’s running mate and what that hypothetical matchup would mean on Election Day. They’re good at ruminating about polls. They’re good at trying to read politicians’ minds.But now we’re seeing the dire consequences — when the press wants to inform voters about outrageous campaign conduct (like the Bridge to Nowhere, McCain’s untrue claim that Obama plans to raise “your” taxes, or even in the margins the lipstick fiasco), the press no longer wields the same authority, in part because the political press has consciously folded its work into the larger entertainment culture.
I think Boehlert’s right. My father, who pines for the days when you could trust the New York Times to tell the unembellished truth, now says he won’t read the newspapers or watch television news. “All they do is make up stories,” he says. “There’s no actual factual reporting.”
This morning I got to experience that vacuum myself. I forgot to pay my Comcast bill, so the Intertubes at home were down. Instead, I turned on channel 17, one of the local stations, where I learned that Democrats and Republicans drink different alcoholic beverages, and they drink differently too. According to the bartender at the swanky Russian Tea Room in New York, Democrats are more likely to drink “mixed drinks, something fruity or pink”, while Republicans drink their liquor straight. Oddly, no one this bartender met seemed to drink beer, but that may be because the sample is so weighted toward the very wealthy: I don’t know many people who can afford to shell out $25.00 for a cheesesteak (warning, pdf). I also learned that Democrats are leave better tips, are more likely to propose a toast, and have better pick-up lines. The latter makes sense, since Democrats have the social skills to make pick-up lines possible (even if they are limited to “Ms. Lewinsky, take a memo”), while Republicans have to skulk around in men’s rooms, where they offer blow-jobs to strangers. That’s when they’re not trying to pick up teenagers, or busy getting robbed by prostitutes.
All of this “information” I learned from the “news” “team” at channel 17 was as interesting as it was useful. That is to say, I learned nothing about the race, nothing about the differences between the two candidates, and nothing about the differences between the two parties.
It was nothing but a story, with less substance even than Hansel and Gretel which at least teaches children not to talk to strangers and to avoid houses made of gingerbread.
The only thing I learned was that I’d better pay my Comcast bill.
September 19th, 2008 at 4:44 am
[...] Brendan wrote a fantastic post today on “Network News Stories”Here’s ONLY a quick extractOddly, no one this bartender met seemed to drink beer, but that may be because the sample is so weighted toward the very wealthy: I don’t know many people who can afford to shell out $25.00 for a cheesesteak (warning, pdf). … [...]