Regained Respect
Bob Costas sometimes drives me a little crazy when he's anchoring the Olympics. But I have to give him some credit for refusing to guest-anchor "Larry King Live" on Thursday because he didn't like the angle the show's producers had decided to pursue that night - an hour of interviews with relatives of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway.
Said Costas "I didn't think the subject matter of Thursday's show was the kind of broadcast I should be doing. I suggested some alternatives but the producers preferred the topics they had chosen. I was fine with that, and respectfully declined to participate."
Not that the Holloway case isn't news, of course ... but the cable-news fascination with it has gone overboard in a big way. There are so many more serious and impactful stories out there that deserve discussion and aren't getting it that endless discussions, analyses and dissections of every aspect of the Holloway disappearance do get more than a little tiring.
Good for Costas for taking a stand. I hope CNN invites him back for future appearances.
posted by JBD @ 11:26 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Whether it's lousy government or cable-news, I still maintain it's not their fault. It's ours. If folks demand 2 hour White Papers on Social Security, health care and terrorism, we'll get 'em in spades. But we'd rather watch OJ, Natalie, BTK or Condit- it's easy. For the life of me, I don't understand it but that's how we cast our votes in the marketplace of ideas.
A small caveat to my first comment. Yes, there's still a role for leadership in our society. But it's difficult to lead Americans because we've grown accustomed to our autonomy, we're too busy in our personal lives and there's a cultural bias against authority. Leading Americans has become akin to herding cats- it's a very tough job.
cakreiz - Absolutely. It's sad, but true.
Phil - I definitely need some more non-sports exposure to Costas - I'll have to see if I can catch some of the HBO show sometime. I agree though, good for him for standing up and speaking against the grain. We need more of it.
I agree that the reason the media report endlessly on silly, sensational topics is because we, as a people, eat it up and pay them to do so. My understanding is that we always have.
I have two main worries about the current news media. The primary one is shoddy reporting. Reporting with no context, no analysis, and no verification of claims. You don't need a reporter to write down quotes from the powerful. A tape recorder can do that. The other is the blurring of lines between entertainment and news. I honestly don't know what the responsibilities of a Liddy, Limbaugh, or Franken are. Are they simply entertainers who are there to please the true-believers? Probably. But millions of people get all of their world information from these people.... Maybe we just say it is the listener's fault that they don't pursue better sources and wait for the societal fall-out.
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