Spin Cycle
It's possible that a seminal moment in the history of electronic
news occurred when a comedian confronted commentators ...
Not long after Jon Stewart --- host of the Comedy Central cable
channel's amusing newscast, The Daily Show --- appeared on CNN's
staid Crossfire and roundly scorched its principals in a
well-publicized confrontation over journalistic integrity (or
the lack thereof), the news network announced that Crossfire was
being cancelled. Ostensibly, the network said this move was due
to the departure of conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.
However, he wasn't the original 'right-wing' representative on
that show and there were surely more of that flock who would
have willingly stepped into the position. CNN has probably
assembled a litany of rationalizations for their decision to
dump the program, but none of them will dare to broach the
actual undertone of perception that would trump anything on
their list.
In this day an age in the USA, a comedy show is more adept than
a news show at presenting current events.
The crux of the matter is that contemporary electronic
journalism is just as subject to the Prime Tenet of Marketing as
any sales campaign would be, ie- to be successful, it is
imperative to 'sell the sizzle and not the steak.'
Viewing this contention from another angle, respected newsman
Ted Koeppel almost saw his redoubtable Nightline program shelved
in favor of yet another late-night talk show featuring a
comedian. Now that he's retiring, it's notable that the program
will shift directions anyway, seemingly to assume a 'lighter'
appearance in presentation to presumably better compete with the
entertainers.
The sorrowful corollary of this point is that not only do the
news operations overly heed the 'sizzle' mantra, so do many of
the organizations who feed them their details. In the battle for
dominance and perception, 'spin' is paramount.
Slanting a report to influence its perception has been in
existence since the dawn of time, when Reporterpithicus --- or
whatever version of man existed back then --- first related to
someone else what someone told him. The tendency to spin has now
evolved to where it has innately seeped into a troubling number
of major news organizations. Anyone who has viewed a moment of
Fox News can see for themselves how blatantly they have embraced
this trend to promote their conservative leanings. MSNBC seems
to be unusually beholden to the corporate world. CNN appears to
abide the techniques of spin so as to not have their ratings
erode any further.
Such policies clearly resonate in the minds and actions of their
reporters in the field. Most seem to blithely absorb the spin
given them by corporate and government spokesmen, given the bulk
of milquetoast questions that now populate press conferences.
Such practices and policies allow the Tucker Carlsons, Bill
O'Reillys and Robert Novaks of the world to run amok, apparently
encouraged to talk over any dissenting viewpoint as if they were
thinly-veiled Jerry Springer clones in a stodgier setting.
Add the consideration that so many of those corporate and
government spokesmen are so singly simple-minded about the
message they're spinning, and it's no wonder a comedy offering
like The Daily Show has risen in pop credibility to a level of
perception that rivals the news programs. With so many thin
platforms of substance just waiting to be skewered, Jon Stewart
and his staff gladly accept a veritable cornucopia of material
with every day's harvest of sound bites. The punch lines
contained therein seem to literally grab them by the lapels and
insist to be written.
If you want to confirm that point, watch an episode and see how
many times Mr Stewart merely needs to raise his eyebrows after a
sound bite in order to draw guffaws.
Toss in the fact that Comedy Central's video-to-mobile service
is better defined for content than any of the news
organizations, and The Daily Show is further cementing its image
as the 'cool' news outlet for the younger set of voting age.
It's notable that, in late-20th century American politics, when
media 'cool' was on the ascent, Democrats won elections. It was
true for John F Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and if
that party could ever find a leader, it might be true again.
One would think the Republicans might take a hint and go back to
the straight talk that struck enough of a nerve with voters to
put them in the majority. Currently, that would advisably
include an element of fallibility and contrition over recent
policies and events. It remains to be seen if anyone in that
camp is forthright enough to admit as much.
Otherwise, it's all but inevitable that the obfuscation of news
spin and comedy fodder will further lower the quality of daily
electronic information to a series of straight lines that grew
from Chevy Chase's Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live
portraying Gerald Ford as a bumbler to The Daily Show becoming
an A-list stop on the itinerary of any legitimate candidate.
With all due respect to that excellent comedy series, if such a
thing ever happened, it wouldn't be breaking news. It would be
broken news.