Confronting the Media
Tucker Carlson’s top story last week was his debut on “Dancing with the Stars” followed closely by the story that Brittany Spears had given birth to her second child. After fifteen clever references to “Oops she did it again,” Tucker spent a few minutes delivering hard news. That was shortly followed by 22 minutes of discussion on his performance on the previous night’s dance-off. As students of academia we scoff at the mention that this is considered a newscast. We reply that newscasters should be devoted to delivering hard-news stories and reporters should leave the fluff to Entertainment Tonight. Yet, stories about where to find the biggest pizza in town often end up on top during sweeps week.
For years Americans have been discouraged by the network’s slogan, “if it bleeds it leads”. Instead Americans have asked for more positive newscasts that offer a solution-oriented approach to news stories. The network responded by issuing Katie Couric, the perky morning-news host, a seat at the 5:30 news slot. The excitement has quickly worn off and after a few days on top, CBS News with Katie Couric is now in dead last among network newscasts. Americans must have gotten over the idea of perky news.
The days of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite have long past and many Americans are searching for an alternative. The idea of an anchor that speaks his/her mind is exhilarating. Both Murrow and Cronkite realized the importance of objectivity, but knew that issuing an equal argument to both sides of argument was not always feasible. However, when anchors today speak their mind like Keith Olberman or Bill O’Reilly we cry foul. Journalists are lambasted that they are not being objective and offering both sides of a debate. Perhaps, during Olberman’s monologue on 9/11 he should have given reasons why it was good to still have a hole in the ground.
Americans ask for news instead of fluff, but then watch the fluff. Americans ask for happier news, but then watch the high-speed chases. Americans ask that journalists speak their mind, but yell that they are not being objective.
So I ask you, “Do Americans really know what they want?”
For years Americans have been discouraged by the network’s slogan, “if it bleeds it leads”. Instead Americans have asked for more positive newscasts that offer a solution-oriented approach to news stories. The network responded by issuing Katie Couric, the perky morning-news host, a seat at the 5:30 news slot. The excitement has quickly worn off and after a few days on top, CBS News with Katie Couric is now in dead last among network newscasts. Americans must have gotten over the idea of perky news.
The days of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite have long past and many Americans are searching for an alternative. The idea of an anchor that speaks his/her mind is exhilarating. Both Murrow and Cronkite realized the importance of objectivity, but knew that issuing an equal argument to both sides of argument was not always feasible. However, when anchors today speak their mind like Keith Olberman or Bill O’Reilly we cry foul. Journalists are lambasted that they are not being objective and offering both sides of a debate. Perhaps, during Olberman’s monologue on 9/11 he should have given reasons why it was good to still have a hole in the ground.
Americans ask for news instead of fluff, but then watch the fluff. Americans ask for happier news, but then watch the high-speed chases. Americans ask that journalists speak their mind, but yell that they are not being objective.
So I ask you, “Do Americans really know what they want?”
posted by Kyle at 11:08 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home