« Most Inspirational Movies of the Century | Main | Dean Says US Won't Win In Iraq »
November 28, 2005
Thoughts on the Thanksgiving Parade "News"
Being Thanksgiving weekend, the news was a bit slow in US politics. The big story seemed to be that Matt and Katie failed to report the news that the M&Ms balloon was involved in an accident that resulted in two injuries. The big question of the weekend was whether Matt and Katie, as representatives of the "news" division of NBC, should have broken away from coverage and told the story of the accident.
Lot of folks believe that they SHOULD have broken away for the news. The general argument is that as members of the "news" team, they had a responsibility to cover this as news. I disagree. My main argument is that Matt and Katie are NOT members of the "news" team at NBC. The NBC Today show isn't really a news show at all. It is merely entertainment posing as news. If it were news, then the focus would be on the news of the day. Today focuses on many things, with the news serving as a sidebar. That NBC has the Today Show falling in the News Division is a mistake on the part of the NBC organization.
With that in mind, NBC was right to NOT cover the balloon accident news as news during the broadcast of the parade. The real culprit here is that the modern network news mentality has moved far away from telling the news. Today's network news is a product, sold to a news-consuming audience that craves lightweight coverage. Knowing their market, the big-three networks now focus on fluff, activism, and scare tactics for the flagship broadcasts. The morning shows, aimed at the housewife and retiree crowd, have been dumbed down to not only what the networks believe those audiences can handle, but what the ratings say will sell.
Ratings are a major problem with the network news. Focusing on ratings means taking the focus away from telling the news of the day accurately. To do their jobs properly, they'd have to ignore the ratings. That isn't going to happen.
As for the parade broadcast, I didn't watch it. If I had, I wouldn't have been watching to see breaking news about accidents and injury. I'd have been watching to see actresses lip-syncing christmas tunes as they passed in front of the NBC booth. It's that simple.
Instead, I was watching "Greg the Bunny" on IFC.
Posted by Lockjaw at November 28, 2005 8:25 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.lockjawslair.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/283
Comments
I hate to disagree with you, but NOTHING on TV is directed to the retiree crowd! Whatever attempts are made fall far short of what we need and want.
Posted by: Mom at November 28, 2005 12:36 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)