Dumbing Down and Tarting Up
This media thing has been increasingly a killer in terms of the on-going erosion (20 years?) and now potential destruction of what thinking people used to understand to be the most enlightened, benevolent, and farsighted form of government the world has yet seen.
We may be a bit fatuous in seeing ourselves that way. We've always been pretty full of ourselves, and the sorry Little Bush captures that perfectly.
But there's no doubt that whatever one might think about the "American Way," its egalitarian and we're-all-in-this-together motif is definitely not on the menu with the present pathologic demagogues. "Here's a finger in your eye, and how do I get mine" seems to be their mindset. "With us or against us." That is definitely not me. Is it Us?
I want to believe that for thinking folks, it is clear the major media have flat-out failed us, for a good long time. If you reject my premise, I ask that you sit through a segment of "Today" or competitors in the AM or any mainstream "news" show in the PM. (I'm counting on you actually being coherent and free-thinking.) Would you call the material truly important in terms of the big issues in the world these days? How much of it is sheer "entertainment" (typ. titillation) and how much is propaganda?
Frankly, I can't imagine trying to work through an issue like this without input from the folks in the trenches (e.g., see prior post!). This time around I'm featuring Mr. Rather:
When asked about his view of CBS Evening News during a radio interview with MSNBC’s Chuck Scarborough on Monday, Dan Rather said network execs had tried to boost ratings by “dumbing it down and tarting it up.”
The media firestorm that’s followed illustrates the very point–the larger point–Rather has consistently tried to make about the degradation of the mainstream, corporate news biz and the obliteration of the line between news and entertainment.
Watch as CBS dances, deflects and dodges the valid and valuable criticism levied by Rather and plenty of other media watchdogs. Les Moonves, CBS CEO, called Rather’s remark “sexist” and said, “Let’s give [Katie] a break.”
But it’s got nothing to do with Katie Couric. Nor does it really have anything to do with the messenger, Rather (whose colorful, native Texanspeak has gotten him into hot water in the past–much as it did for the late former Governor Anne Richards). It’s about the message.
Rather’s predecessor at CBS, Walter Cronkite–no fan of Rather himself–offered a similar take in a recent keynote address. According to the Associated Press, Cronkite suggested that the pressure for profits is “threatening the very freedom the nation was built upon.”
“It’s not just the journalist’s job at risk here,” Cronkite said. “It’s American democracy. It is freedom.”
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Rather has also described a culture of fear that permeates the newsroom. In an interview with BBC he said, “It is an obscene comparison–you know I am not sure I like it–but you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tyres around people’s necks if they dissented. And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tyre of lack of patriotism put around your neck. Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions, and to continue to bore in on the tough questions so often. And again, I am humbled to say, I do not except myself from this criticism.”
And, speaking to Moyers: “Fear is in every newsroom in the country. And fear of what? Well… a combination of: if you don’t go along to get along, you’re going to get the reputation of being a troublemaker. There’s also the fear…particularly in networks, they’ve become huge, international conglomerates. They have big needs, legislative needs, repertory needs in Washington. Nobody has to send you a memo to tell you that that’s the case…. And that puts a seed in your mind of, well, if you stick your neck out, if you take the risk of going against the grain with your reporting, is anybody going to back you up?”
-clip-
We may be a bit fatuous in seeing ourselves that way. We've always been pretty full of ourselves, and the sorry Little Bush captures that perfectly.
But there's no doubt that whatever one might think about the "American Way," its egalitarian and we're-all-in-this-together motif is definitely not on the menu with the present pathologic demagogues. "Here's a finger in your eye, and how do I get mine" seems to be their mindset. "With us or against us." That is definitely not me. Is it Us?
I want to believe that for thinking folks, it is clear the major media have flat-out failed us, for a good long time. If you reject my premise, I ask that you sit through a segment of "Today" or competitors in the AM or any mainstream "news" show in the PM. (I'm counting on you actually being coherent and free-thinking.) Would you call the material truly important in terms of the big issues in the world these days? How much of it is sheer "entertainment" (typ. titillation) and how much is propaganda?
Frankly, I can't imagine trying to work through an issue like this without input from the folks in the trenches (e.g., see prior post!). This time around I'm featuring Mr. Rather:
When asked about his view of CBS Evening News during a radio interview with MSNBC’s Chuck Scarborough on Monday, Dan Rather said network execs had tried to boost ratings by “dumbing it down and tarting it up.”
The media firestorm that’s followed illustrates the very point–the larger point–Rather has consistently tried to make about the degradation of the mainstream, corporate news biz and the obliteration of the line between news and entertainment.
Watch as CBS dances, deflects and dodges the valid and valuable criticism levied by Rather and plenty of other media watchdogs. Les Moonves, CBS CEO, called Rather’s remark “sexist” and said, “Let’s give [Katie] a break.”
But it’s got nothing to do with Katie Couric. Nor does it really have anything to do with the messenger, Rather (whose colorful, native Texanspeak has gotten him into hot water in the past–much as it did for the late former Governor Anne Richards). It’s about the message.
Rather’s predecessor at CBS, Walter Cronkite–no fan of Rather himself–offered a similar take in a recent keynote address. According to the Associated Press, Cronkite suggested that the pressure for profits is “threatening the very freedom the nation was built upon.”
“It’s not just the journalist’s job at risk here,” Cronkite said. “It’s American democracy. It is freedom.”
-clip-
Rather has also described a culture of fear that permeates the newsroom. In an interview with BBC he said, “It is an obscene comparison–you know I am not sure I like it–but you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tyres around people’s necks if they dissented. And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tyre of lack of patriotism put around your neck. Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions, and to continue to bore in on the tough questions so often. And again, I am humbled to say, I do not except myself from this criticism.”
And, speaking to Moyers: “Fear is in every newsroom in the country. And fear of what? Well… a combination of: if you don’t go along to get along, you’re going to get the reputation of being a troublemaker. There’s also the fear…particularly in networks, they’ve become huge, international conglomerates. They have big needs, legislative needs, repertory needs in Washington. Nobody has to send you a memo to tell you that that’s the case…. And that puts a seed in your mind of, well, if you stick your neck out, if you take the risk of going against the grain with your reporting, is anybody going to back you up?”
-clip-
posted by Sir Gumbo at 10:52 PM
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