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“Liar Liar Pants on Fire”
Why...
Is watching 24 hour news reminding me of a primary school fight over break-time sticky buns?
If you try and explain to kids today that once we only had a news reader who told us the facts, leaving us to make up our own minds as to the substance, they look at you with utter incredulity.
The trouble all started with CNN and 24 hour news. Someone or something had to fill in the time between bulletins so what could be better or cheaper than an organised debate between opposing views.
Of course that’s about as exciting as watching toast get cold. However, screaming, shouting, abuse and the odd guest even flouncing out of the studio in a strop, is ratings gold. So out went decorum, in came the forum. In fact worse than the forum, more like the Colosseum with the collective audience giving the thumbs up or down as to who can live or die.
Who cares if fact takes second place to drama? Fuel to the fire was added with the relentless advance of digital media, where people’s inability to grasp basic facts is not a valid argument against them!
...and another thing
The inability to enter a studio for a debate without dragging your knuckles across the floor and then beating your chest is really just a more modern version of a custard pie fight. What amazes me is the lack of a vague grasp of reality by the presenters. They seem as ignorant as their guests, who in most cases if you shouted in their ears you would get an echo.
...and another thing
In the same way that legendary TV Executive Roger Ailes saw a hole in the market for a right wing agenda and created Fox News, is it pie in the sky to hope some other TV executive sees there is an opportunity to present 24 hour news with no commentary?
I accept that talking heads are cheap but with the proliferation of news outlets, instead of the Waldorf and Stadler exchanges (the two old men in the box at The Muppet Show) we might just get more news. Dare I say it, maybe even foreign news. It amazes me how parochial US media has become.
You are more likely to hear about a new implant into one of the Kardashians’ butts than the news of a war or election in any other country. Lifting the kimono on events outside the US might actually be of benefit to the global community!
In the meantime, I think panelist’s on news forums should be given a dummy to suck on to keep them quiet… until of course they spit it out in fury at an opposing view.
Stay safe.
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