The time has come, the old Vietnam era hippie protester said, to speak of many things…
And what this aging radical wants to speak about today is pulling the plug on cable and network TV news.
ALL OF IT.
Yes, this is about the recent election and my complete dismay at what happened and what we, as a people, have come to.
No, it is not about fixing blame on a single institution for the state of our union, but rather an examination of one of the symptoms of the cancer rotting away at our democracy, turning the United States of America into a third world banana republic.
There are a couple of lines from Thorton Wilder’s play The Matchmaker, which later became the popular musical Hello Dolly, that sum up the root cause of all the misery in the US and the world today…
“Money is like manure; it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around encouraging young things to grow.”
“Money is like the sun we walk under. It can kill or it can cure.”
In other words, like a pile of manure that rots and stinks money breeds corruption.
As more and more of our electronic media fell into the hands of corporate giants like Comcast, Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, and CBS/Viacom, the fear was journalists and editorial boards would be dictated to, that editorial policy would be set by CEOs, and we all would be told, 1984 style, what to think, do, and say.
In reality what’s happened is far more perverse. Corporate demands for higher earnings and greater returns from news organizations have driven the demand for more and more revenue from advertising sales.
Advertising revenue is dictated by audience size.
Viewership is increased by employing two techniques; A, making news programming less dry and factual (i.e., more entertaining), and B, catering to the demands of increasingly polarized audiences.
This has led to news being reduced more or less to telling audiences what they want to hear instead of what they need to know.
In terms of political election coverage, what you end up with is a series of horse race stories, shouting matches, and an endless stream of baseless accusations thrown out by one or both sides of an argument, which rarely, if ever, are challenged by journalists.
This is known as “false equivalency,” the equalizing of, say, two presidential candidates, one a grossly unqualified, racist, misogynist, homophobic bigot and the other with a messy email problem and the best resume in the business for the job at hand.
Informed voters generally see through this, but willfully under-informed and uninformed voters take it as validation of their belief that all candidates regardless of party are just as corrupt as one another.
Host of the MSNBC program Meet The Press and MTP Daily, Chuck Todd.
The idea that both sides of an issue must be presented as a simple difference of opinion is ludicrous and absurd in the extreme. This is especially true if the best argument one side can make is to not put forward their ideas but rather denigrate the opposing side as much as possible.
I’m a self-taught journalist and if, for some strange reason, I ever found myself teaching journalism anywhere in the world, I’d FAIL any student who tried to put forth this malicious logic as a case for defending their chosen profession.
Chuck Todd, Chris Matthews, Andrea Mitchell, and the entire team of MSNBC Road Warriors—Jacob Soboroff being the worst of the lot—all failed miserably at even the most basic tenants of sound journalism this past election cycle.
In the beginning they gave Donald Trump, at the time a moderately successful reality TV show personality at parent network NBC, billions of dollars of free air time. After all, he was, as he proudly proclaimed, “ratings gold.” That, however, was not their greatest sin.
Once it became apparent Trump was serious about seeking the Republican Party nomination and eventually the presidency, they gave him and his spokespeople equal weight and credibility in the discussions of the day, never seriously challenging them on the veracity of their arguments, his qualifications to take on the most significant job on the planet, or questioning the motivations of those paid to hurl salacious accusations at his opponents.
Host of the daily MSNBC program Hardball, Chris Matthews.
Not once during the dozens and dozens of hours I spent watching MSNBC and its crack team of reporters did I ever hear an MSNBC journalist ask Reince Priebus, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Kellyanne Conway…
“Do you sincerely believe it is not in the best interest of the nation to stand up to your members and say that Mr. Trump–because of his complete lack of knowledge, political and diplomatic skills, myriad legal problems, divisive personal views, and pending legal problems–should not be put forth as a candidate for the presidency of the United States?”
And the follow-up corollary, “Can you not understand how your refusal to do this can be seen by so many Americans, and the leaders and people of nations around the world, as being little more than a craven attempt to hold on to power and protect your own self-interest and not that of the nation as a whole?”
I singled out MSNBC for this story because I am most familiar with their programming. However, everything said here can be equally applied to nearly all remaining network and cable news operations, all except one.
On FOX News, from what I could stomach seeing of it, reporters managed to grill Democrats and supporters of Hillary Clinton with the zeal, skill, and determination of a young prosecutor out to make a name for himself.
Standout MSNBC political journalist Joy Anne Reid.
At the same time, I do not mean to suggest that everyone at MSNBC is a completely failed journalist and or commentator. Joy Reid is a stand out when it comes to standing up to political bullshit and manipulation by paid spokespeople. So, too, are MSNBC stars Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, and Chris Hayes.
Nevertheless, on the whole, our corporate bottom-line, revenue-driven media is responsible for equalizing the character, talents, polices and positions of the candidates in this past election. While entirely legal it is yet another example of the corrosive, corrupting effect of money on our union and democracy.
What can we do about it?
Turn it off.
Turn it all off.
This problem is created by the addictive nature of building wealth and the compelling need to pile profits higher and higher, not unlike the aforementioned manure. Deny this malignancy its food supply by denying it a mass audience and it dies.
Turn it off.
Turn it all off.
