This Is Not News

Once again, the American news media tried its hardest to not air real news stories this week. While I can understand wanting to whore yourself out to celebrity crushes and tabloid rumors, trying to make a headline out of President Bush’s dress rehearsal interview with American troops in Iraq is crossing the line. Anyone out there who can spell their own name knows that the triviality of Katie Holmes’ pregnancy and Kate Moss’ addiction is not news, but the media can really confuse people when they throw the president’s name around.

Yesterday, before President Bush conducted a live video conference interview with troops in Iraq, a white house staffer prepped the soldiers on the questions Mr. Bush would ask. Because the interview would be recorded and air live on the widely popular C-SPAN, the White House wanted to make sure the troops said the right things. This is understandable given the recent decline of public support for this war and its president. The folly was apparently made when this dress rehearsal between the White House employee and the soldiers was recorded. I suppose they were trying to fool America and sneak one by us. Please.

We learned in 2004 that Mr. Bush’s campaign rallies had guest lists and planted question-askers, and with the rising violence and casualties in Iraq, we should care less if soldiers practiced their answers to Bush’s questions. Shame on the news media for making this story take up more airtime than the tens of thousands now left for dead in India and Pakistan.

As I’ve written about the situation in Darfur, what the media airs has great consequences. When television news directors choose one story, they by default don’t choose another story. I understand that these men and women have tough choices to make. The news media business is a multi-billion dollar one. Sponsorships, commercials, ratings and viewer loyalty all matter. Individuals choose where they go for their news, whether it’s to an online source, a 24-hour news channel, or the familiarity of a local anchor. These directors fight over you and I, because just like the Super Bowl and Everybody Loves Raymond, increased viewership equals increased advertising dollars, which makes the owners of these outlets very happy.

But the blame is not to be placed squarely on who chooses what stories we see. We, the American public, who have to have our Desperate Housewives and our Conan make a choice about what is popular. One of the best things about American capitalist democracy is that we can have 200 channels of digital TV pumped into our living room or bedroom or den or kitchen or bathroom, or in some cases, all of the above. AND…there's nothing on.

A grass-roots movement whereby we stop watching Entertainment Tonight, Taradise, and Celebrity Justice will quietly push these shows off the air, like the shows the Seinfeld alum tried to make after their run with Jerry. The ‘real’ stations and their 6-oclock news will follow suit, and soon we’ll all be happy watching people die by the thousands in Africa and Asia while we forget about presidential interview practices and scientologist weddings. Or will we?

George Clooney is starring in a new movie, released today, about the showdown between newsman Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joe McCarthy. The underlying issue is one that still lingers today: the internal battle between television news’ desire to make money by entertaining us and its duty to inform the public of important news, which is less profitable. I haven’t yet seen the film, but plan to, and will write about it here afterwards.

The debate will rage. News directors will make the decisions based on a variety of factors unknown to you and me. But we make the decisions that are very known and very personal. In this sense, we make the news, not FOX, not CNN, not NBC, and not NPR. We make the news because in America’s capitalist democracy, the consumer determines what sells. The advertising industry is worth what it is because it does a heck of a job telling us what we need and what we want. But the individual, with unflinching determination can boycott and protest and win. The news media is no different than Wal-Mart, Exxon, or McDonald’s.

As an afterhought, there’s another reason the Bush dress rehearsal isn’t news (apologies to all my Bush-loving readers and friends): even though it was the soldiers that rehearsed the interview, you could give the man several run-throughs, practices, tips and pointers, and he’ll still sound like a mix between the star of the third grade play trying to remember his lines and the grandfather who is never quiet sure what story he told you last. Cheap shot, I know, but then again, that's not news, either.