Politicians behaving badly, hardly real news
Why are we so easily beguiled by politicians seeking higher office and celebrities bent on self-promotion? And why do so many reporters follow them like hungry puppies hanging on their ill-spoken words?
Is it that news cycles have ballooned to 24/7 and election cycles encompass a full two years? More time for the politicians to say stupid things, more time for media sleuths to dredge up scandals, more money paid out for advertising.
In what could have been a pretty interesting news week, viewers, listeners and readers were subjected to the biggest bunch of hyped up nonsense in recent memory. The economy may be headed for a double-dip recession (or a second recession, since the first was said to have ended two years ago); North Africa and the Middle East are in turmoil; floods, tornados and wildfires have displaced millions of people. These very real stories were given short shrift while many newscasters focused on possible candidates, drop-outs and various pretenders to a presidential election that’s still a year and half away. Good grief!
It was a great week for NBC’s “Meet the Press” to be pre-empted by le tennis. The French Open offered, once again, the most breathtaking match for the men’s championship, if it’s possible to hold one’s breath for four-plus hours (with a short rain delay). Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer in the fourth set of a riveting final to win his 10th Grand Slam (Federer owns 16) and his sixth French Open championship.
I used the rain delay to switch to CNN’s “Reliable Sources” where moderator Howard Kurtz quizzed experts who alternately decried and defended the media focus on frivolity over substance.
One might say the downward trend toward scandal began when then president of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was accused of attempted rape by a chambermaid in his New York hotel. Strauss-Kahn, who had been considered a strong candidate to succeed Nicolas Sarkozy for the French presidency, resigned his IMF post, was arrested on charges brought by the maid and is currently under house arrest in a tony Tribeca home.
While it is true he has a reputation for womanizing, this is not given much notice in France where the French press viewed his treatment (he was handcuffed and had to do the perp walk) as in poor taste. Granted, he’s not the first man to stumble out of a hotel shower stark naked and wander into his room looking for his underwear only to be met by a maid with a passkey. Quel horreur! It is also true that women seeking a big payoff wrongfully accuse many wealthy and powerful men. Whatever happened in this case, there’s been enough said until the facts are known.
And then, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who actually found his underwear, decided to send a photo of himself wearing it to a young woman via Twitter. What a twit! Well, at least now we all know how to pronounce his name, a homophone for his, er, member. His attempts to justify this act defy credulity. The photo was taken out of context? He can’t possibly be running for anything except his life, or can he?
And just in case we’re all nodding off, there’s former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, telling every reporter on the planet that she isn’t running for anything. Well, she’s traveling the East Coast in a bus with her name splashed across the side and competing for coverage in Boston on the same day that real candidate Mitt Romney announces his bid for the Republican nomination.
I understand why reporters think she’s good copy; every time she opens her mouth her perceived IQ drops 10 points. What she describes as a family vacation visiting historic sites along the way resembles nothing so much as a rock band tour, without the music.
Her latest gaff involves a bit of revisionist history concerning Paul Revere. “He who warned the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms by ringing those bells, and makin’ sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.” This is verbatim, courtesy of the Associated Press. I couldn’t make this up.
But the best line about Palin came from Peter Sagal on NPR’s news quiz “Wait, Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me.” When Palin announced her summer One Nation tour, he asked, “How many wild animals in Alaska breathed a collective sigh of relief?”
Well, Sagal and Jon Stewart are supposed to poke fun at the pretentious and non-newsworthy. That’s their job. So can the rest of the real news guys get back to telling us the real news?
One who did just that last Sunday was Fareed Zakaria who presented in depth discussions with experts on the economy. I wouldn’t presume to try to explain it all but, if you missed it, you can read or listen at CNN.com/GPS. His latest feature in Time magazine, “The Job Crisis,” follows the same theme. The cover story, however, was “Sex, Lies, Arrogance; What Makes Powerful Men Act Like Pigs?”
In a time of both crisis and frivolity, Zakaria is squarely on track. Would that the rest of the media might follow.