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The Disintegration of our Nation's Media @ 6 December 2007 11:29 PM

by William Davis

Preface: In researching this essay, I came across a speech Edward R Murrow gave at the RTNDA convention in Chicago on October 15, 1958, and I am afraid to say that I have paraphrased much of Mr. Murrow’s speech, and I have said it not half as eloquently as he, and without his credentials. However, I hope we can all agree that it deserves to be said more than once, doesn’t it?

The United States is home to some of the finest and most prestigious news organizations in the world, thanks much to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. However, the country has seen an alarming decay in the general population’s knowledge of current events, despite an explosion in the availability of news. An increase in irresponsible reporting, sensationalist news, and business worries has led to a rash of public unawareness and misinformation, and it is sad to say that the biggest perpetrator of this trend is television news, which is unfortunately also the biggest source of news for Americans. A 2005 survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International found that the 74% of Americans consider one of their two main news sources to be television (two answers could be given). Polls all the way back to 1999 give approximately the same results, with television news capturing up to 82%, and never below 74%. In contrast, only 44% of Americans considered newspapers to be one of their main news sources, and 24% the Internet. These numbers provide a powerful insight into the ailment of American news.

Perhaps the biggest reason that TV news is not reliable news is in the business of television itself. Whereas most of the companies that publish newspapers were founded with a vision of reporting news, television news is (except for one major exception, CNN) produced by channels owned by entertainment companies. NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX are all primarily entertainment corporations, worried about their rankings and advertising revenues. They broadcast the news because they are public channels and as such are required to provide the public with news. In addition, TV news shows are rated and compared against each other, and so while you will never see Paris Hilton on the front page of The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, even CNN, the only major TV channel founded on the principle of reporting news, must resort to interviews with Ms. Hilton for a quick ratings jolt.

Yet another reason why TV news should not be used as one’s primary news source is that it cannot provide the type of in depth analysis newspapers can. A newspaper has the liberty to report on any story it wants and analyze it as much as it wants because if a reader isn’t interested, he can simply skip over it. On the other hand, television news shows must retain their audiences for as long as possible to bolster their ratings and so that when the news is over the audience will stick around for the real money-maker, the entertainment shows. In order to achieve this, TV news most often reports news that has shock value or is entertaining, such as the lives of the current socialites, and fails to give the public a real grasp on the complexity of any real situations that get reported on.

I am hardly the first person to voice these opinions; Edward R. Murrow gave a speech saying that TV was killing the nation long before I was even born, and one of today’s most popular TV personalities did it as well. Jon Stewart appeared on CNN’s crossfire on October 15, 2004 and appealed to the show to “Stop, stop, stop hurting America.” He told the moderators of the show that they have a responsibility as people to whom others listen to be smart, raise real issues, and raise the level of thinking in this country. And the moderators, Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson mocked him, and asked him who he thought he was to lecture them on morals and responsibility when he runs a fake news show on a comedy station. They totally missed Mr. Stewart’s point, however, that every show on TV might as well be ‘fake’ news; that even the ‘real’ news shows don’t do anything more than entertain and fall victim to as Mr. Stewart referred to it, “partisan hackery.”

Take as an example the presidential debates going on right now on every TV network. This is an opportunity for networks to force the candidates to say something real, with millions watching, listening, and paying attention. However, FOX chose to lead off their Republican debate with a question about Fred Thompson and his status as candidate, which was that he had still not officially announced his candidacy for the presidency and as such was not participating in the debate. This left open a prime opportunity for every candidate to pander to the residents of New Hampshire, and pander they did, every one of them. The next question was directed at Mitt Romney, who was accused of being soft on immigration because he, at one point, unknowingly had an illegal immigrant mow his lawn. FOX, as the moderator of this debate, had the opportunity, nay, the responsibility to ask important and hard-hitting questions and to challenge the minds of the candidates and of every American paying attention. Instead, FOX went for the cheap boost in ratings that came from everyone leaning into their TV for two seconds until Mitt Romney hit it out of the park, as anyone would, by saying that it was not his responsibility to check the citizenship papers of everyone who mowed his lawn, that it was the responsibility of the company which employees those people. Instead of helping the American people gain valuable insight into the philosophy of Mitt Romney, FOX instead helped him gain cheap points without saying anything.

This is a problem that will, and already has started to, plague this nation. Our nation depends on the free flow of information; it depends on people making smart decisions and analyzing many sides, not having pure-partisan opinions spoon-fed to them. Unless this country takes action and forces TV news to start reporting news thoroughly and responsibly, there will be few competent to pick our leaders, much less be our leaders. The country will be too distracted with the lives of the rich and the famous to take action and fix what they have neglected. This issue is not just about the disintegration of our nation’s media, but the disintegration of our nation as a whole.