By By Matthew G. Bisanz
From the title of this week’s column you might think I am a concerned parent or a prudish person angry about violence and sex on TV. That’s not what bothers me. What I care about is the prostitution of the news channels. The transformation of reliable, informative programs into mere rumor mills, devoid of critical analysis or complex thoughts.
Last week the main focus of news channels was the war in Iraq, the Libby scandal, the new Supreme Court nominee and the potential of bird flu. Now granted, all these problems are important newsworthy events that involve the future of most Americans. My issue is these are the only events being reported, when others exist as well. Rather than waiting until the indictment was handed down, the news channels turned the Libby scandal into a three-day marathon of “Guess Who”. They covered the prosecutor, the defense and all the involved individuals attempting to predict in advance who would finally be indicted.
In a nation starting to experience stagflation, with over 15,000 murders last year and almost a million people infected with AIDS, perhaps the news channels could reduce the time they spend conjecturing on a Bush pick or a grand jury indictment. These underreported events are large-scale issues with long-term consequences. AIDS may take years to develop and kill the million infected-the bird flu is supposed to be immediate, though no reported sick people exist. Stagflation takes many months to recognize and even then cannot be blamed on one individual, such as the war on Iraq can with President Bush.
That is the problem with hosts like Bill O’Reilly or Nancy Grace. They need someone to pin their issue on, because they don’t do critical research, which almost always shows there is never one individual to blame, nor one person who can fix the dilemma. The 2,000 soldiers dead in the Iraq war can be blamed either on Bush or Islamic militants, depending on your political affiliation. An easy issue to cover, but the 15,000 domestic murders cannot be blamed on one person or even one group of persons. Violent crimes involve the killer, the victims, society and thousands of police captains – they are complex issues.
These problems also have a larger impact on the nation than the war on Iraq, but they cannot be packaged into three-minute news rants by Christ Matthews ilk without leaving the viewer feeling empty, with no solution to the problem. Conjecture about a Supreme Court nominee has the plotline of leading up to the announcement, then confirmation of a person, and involves all the points and counterpoints by supporters and foes alike. Stagflation has a meandering plot line that jumps from economic announcement to economic announcement, and cannot be easily pinned on either the Democrats or Republicans. In short, the news media is like the teacher who shortens and changes her lessons so students don’t think too hard or leave with unsolved problems. Americans don’t want a 10-minute explanation about why their over consumption is hurting the environment and costing them money, instead they want a 30-second clip blaming the government for taxes or an Arab nation’s greedy princes for hiking up oil prices. People prefer shows with sex and violence and people prefer news that’s short, simple and complete after the segment ends – minimal thinking required.
“Desperate Housewives,” a show I’ve never seen, probably requires a 5-year-old’s concentration to watch. A well-done A&E documentary (and there are fewer and fewer these days) might require the complete attention of the viewer along with online queries afterwards for more information. Fox may be able to condense all the political news into a 30-minute “No Spin Zone,” but in those same 30 minutes a person could read the entire text of the U.S. Constitution and gain a far better understanding of the American political establishment than Bill O’Reilly will ever provide. News is an important part of American life and a necessity for every American; however, the news must seek to inform rather than repeat third-hand gossip and to educate rather than amuse. n