Desperate Houseflies: The Magazine

Feel free to pull out your trusty fly swatter and comment on what is posted here, realizing that this odd collection of writers may prove as difficult to kill as houseflies and are presumably just as pesky. “Desperate Houseflies” is a magazine that intends to publish weekly articles on subjects such as politics, literature, history, sports, photography, religion, and no telling what else. We’ll see what happens.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

The Sound of America Getting Dumber

Just a brief note on the state of broadcast news, so called. I've been sitting here in my den at the computer for the past 45 minutes, listening to CNN from the other room.

An enormously important decision was handed down in a U.S. District Court in Detroit today. A decision that, whether overturned or upheld, is going to be historic. It could clamp down like a vice on executive authority in the U.S. It could open a gaping hole in our ability to defend ourselves from terrorism. It could lead to a constitutional crisis so severe, it makes the Watergate crisis look silly. One way or another, 50 yrs. from now, people will look back at it and say, "There's the turning point. There's when our society started becoming what it is now."

So in the first 45 minutes of the nearest thing to a real news program still aired on CNN, Anderson Cooper's 360 (and I have to stifle a giggle when I say that), they have said not one word about it. It's wall-to-wall JonBenet.

I have to admit it: I'm surprised. I should know better. I really should. And, in my defense, I normally don't even watch CNN. It hasn't been a real news organization in years. But there's nothing else on at 9:00 on most weeknights, so it's usually what's providing the background noise for whatever else I'm doing. All that to say I have very low expectations of CNN, and still I'm surprised. For me, today is a brand new low water mark for a network that used to be America's best, most reliable practitioner of broadcast journalism.

No wonder most Americans don't know anything about . . . well, anything that matters.

15 Comments:

Blogger Al Sturgeon said...

Yeah, but what do you think about the JonBenet case?
:-)
(Just kidding)

4:45 AM  
Blogger JD said...

I always had a theory that JonBenet was mad at her parents, scribbled out a ransom note, and committed suicide in such a way as to make them look guilty. None of the media have explored this possibility.

6:33 AM  
Blogger JD said...

And I would like to add, that I realize that is a very insensitive remark. I will deal with my guilt throughout the day.

6:33 AM  
Blogger Beta Bunny said...

I have to admit that I didn't know anything about this either - I had to go to NY times and search "detroit". Here's the story I found.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-security-eavesdropping.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

8:33 AM  
Blogger juvenal_urbino said...

Glad to hear somebody was covering it, Cap'n. Even though I'm sure you're right that I wouldn't agree with Fox's editorial perspective on the decision, at least their viewers know it happened.

Given all the studies showing that Fox News viewers are usually misinformed on key issues (present company excepted), we seem to be faced with a Hobson's choice: be misinformed on the things that really matter, or be uninformed of the things that really matter (CNN, etc.).

9:31 AM  
Blogger juvenal_urbino said...

JonBenet jokes are welcome in this thread, jd. No penance required.

9:33 AM  
Blogger JD said...

Thanks Juvenal!

12:44 PM  
Blogger Michael Lasley said...

Was Anderson Cooper wearing a flack jacket? Or standing in the middle of a storm or anything dramatic during his coverage of Jon Benet? I'd actually rather watch Fox News over CNN, even if I disagree with their "fair and balanced" view of things.

3:47 PM  
Blogger juvenal_urbino said...

The study I'm thinking of, Cap'n, was done by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. You could probably google some combination of that and "fox misinformed" and find the data. There have been other studies done finding similar results, as well. I think maybe the Annenberg Center did one.

does "misinformed" mean being ignorant of the relevant facts or drawing incorrect conclusions from the relevant facts?

In the case of the PIPA study, at least, it means holding as factual things that are counterfactual (e.g., that it has been proven that Iraq was behind the 9/11 attacks).

What is the origin of the phrase Hobson's Choice?

For all you stableboys, out there.

Was Anderson Cooper wearing a flack jacket?

Actually, the dashing dimwit wasn't there. I didn't recognize the fill-in's voice, so I don't know who it was, but he did seem to be standing in the middle of a street somewhere, because there was a LOT of honking and road noise throughout the broadcast.

4:29 PM  
Blogger juvenal_urbino said...

Maybe somebody was standing next to him, holding up a sign that said, "Honk if you'd like some actual news."

4:31 PM  
Blogger juvenal_urbino said...

You must not be from around here boy.

Bless your heart, Cap'n.

6:56 PM  
Blogger Michael Lasley said...

And Nancy Grace, correct me if I'm wrong, is now on SEVEN nights a week. So you get top shelf journalism every night of the week.

3:27 PM  
Blogger juvenal_urbino said...

I thought she was a Shakespearean comedy. "Shrews Gone Wild!"

8:02 PM  
Blogger Chris Benjamin said...

Hello all and forgive my impertinence. I just stumbled in off the street. A lonely bum befriended by Al Sturgeon.

I tip my hat to Juvenal for the insightful observations. I have been waiting for someone to question the mad lust our society (or at least our media) seem to have with the death of child. It's like the established press has become nothing more than one of those cheap True Crime tabloids of the 40's and 50's.

And my question has always been - by what criteria is this news story, as tragic and real as it may be, a national story? Same question I asked with the Winkler shooting. Tragic, wrong, painful for the folks in Selmer, but why is it the lead story on the national news? I think we all know the answer: Sex and violence sells papers. Welcome to the age of True Crime!

P.S. Props to you Capt. Midknight for the call to bring back Murrow! If only we had a nemesis of the same calibre as McCarthy - wait, maybe we do.

1:24 PM  
Blogger juvenal_urbino said...

by what criteria is this news story, as tragic and real as it may be, a national story?

Exactly. Welcome, Chris.

2:49 PM  

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