The American TV news media are the sources that most of us trust to bring us up to date on the goings on around the world. Said media, however, are becoming increasingly poisoned with trash that has no place on the airwaves.No, I’m not talking about the conservative slant of Fox News or CNN’s supposed liberal bias.
While the coverage may have a partisan viewpoint to it, it’s still news. There are other, much more insidious programs clogging the airwaves and rotting brains across the nation.
Take, for example, celebrity news shows. For every legitimate story that outlets such as “Entertainment Tonight” and “Extra” air – stories that could be found on other major news networks – they devote about three-quarters of the programming to stories such as Dom Deluise’s wedding or John Madden’s dog getting neutered.
Look, I’m not even sure who Dom Deluise is or what he does. All I know is that I don’t care what color his tuxedo is going to be. Yes, instead of airing an insightful news program or a new hit sitcom, major networks choose to air this. Have a headache yet?
Celebrity news takes on a whole new level of excessiveness in the midst of scandal. This summer, during the Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan debacles, all the cable news channels felt the need to air biographies on the disenchanted paparazzi queens. So, instead of seeing an expose about tainted meat in Iowa, we get to see Paris Hilton’s life story unfold in front of our very eyes. Look, I can concede that Hilton’s arrest and imprisonment should drum up minor media interest, but how much does the average American care that her dad gave her a crystal pony covered in gold for her 11th birthday? Probably zilch.
Celebrities aren’t the only ones getting unnecessary face time in lieu of actual news. Take “Nancy Grace” on CNN Headline News. On her show, Grace, a former prosecutor, gives a rundown of violent crimes nationwide. Not only that, but she feels the need to insert her own commentary into every news blurb. In her commentary, she bashes the criminals that the show covers, calling their acts such things as “despicable” and “horrifying.”
Hmmm. You know, I thought violent crimes were just peachy keen until Nancy Grace convinced me otherwise. Thank you for opening the eyes of America to the fact that murder and rape are bad and deserve to be stigmatized because until your show began airing, we were a lawless society devoid of any moral compass.
Look, I’m sure Nancy is a good woman who reads to her kids every night and sings the praises of monogamy, but do we really need her to assault us with the fact that violent crime is bad? Do we need someone to tell us what we already know? Seems like a waste of airtime.
Why do networks air these mindless shows? One word: ratings. Sure, it’s tempting to watch big words in a variety of font sizes fly across the screen on “Entertainment Tonight.” I’ve had a friend liken watching Nancy Grace’s venomous, albeit hollow, rants to watching a train wreck during the Second Coming of Christ.
It can be hard to turn away sometimes, but such empty programming won’t disappear from the airwaves until the average TV viewer begins to tune it out. Do your part, view smart.
David Hall is a sophomore news-editorial journalism major from Kingwood. His column appears Wednesdays.
