So there I was minding my own business when the talking heads on CNN said something that actually caught my attention. As a child of the 70’s and 80’s, I use TV as background noise; it’s on, but most of the time not really actually paid attention to (especially when, as today, I was busy tinkering with nitrocellulose issues).
The show in question was, I believe, “In The Arena” starring some anchor guy I didn’t know, with two experts I didn’t know. The topic under discussion was “News of The World,” the hacking scandal, the newspaper folding up, and just how evil Rupert Murdoch is. All that just sorta scooted right past my consciousness. But then the expert “Phil” said something that did register. He was bemoaning current “tabloid culture,” and mentioned that last night he’d seen a reality show that starred two twins who were building weapons for the defense industry. This, clearly, was a reference to “Howe & Howe Tech.” Expert “Phil” pointed out that the show was “not interesting” and seemed to have a big problem with the fact that the show featured non-celebrities.
One can debate whether or not the show is interesting (of course, the show *is* interesting. Compare H&H, where they actually build *actual* tracked, high-speed armored and armed vehicles for Army contracts, with, say, “Pimp My Ride,” where everything that’s done is, in the long run, kinda useless). The guy’s biggest problem, though is that he seemed to think that showcasing people who do actual, real-world stuff is cheap tabloid-crap… it would seem that the only people who should ever get their own shows are “real” celebrities. You know, the people who, in a real-life emergency situation, would be the first one to be eaten.
Bah. The more shows like “H&H,” the happier I’ll be. Another good one is “Sons of Guns” which follows the staff of Red Jacket Firearms as they restore old firearms… and more importantly, invent wholly new ones. The suppressed 12-gauge shotgun (based on the Saiga frame) was pretty freakin’ awesome. Shows like these, which show actual people doing actual work and actually advancing the actual state of actual art are pretty much the antithesis of tablid journalism… so long as the story the shows tell are reasonably accurate.
So, after the “experts” had their say about how horrible tabloids are, and how tablid journalism is this terrible thing that they don’t want to have anything to do with, the host of the show moved on to the second topic of the evening:
Casey Anthony.
Snerk.
Oh, and by the way:
Current TV CEO Not Worried About Keith Olbermann’s Ratings Drop
The show saw its ratings shrink by nearly a third during the week of June 27, averaging 93,000 viewers in the key 25-54 demographic.
Let’s say that again: 93,000 viewers
Contrast that to the ratings for Glenn Beck’s final show, which aried last week: 2,175,000. Remember, Beck’s ratings have fallen substantially, and that’s supposedly one of the reasons why his Fox show was cancelled. Because 2.175 million viewers just ain’t enough.
11 Responses to “Journalistic Hypocrisy”
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93,000 viewers. The magazine “Locus” has many more subscribers than that.
Heck, I think that there are even some so-called “semi-prozines” in the science fiction field that have more issues than that.
And his ratings for his rantings are dropping? Good.
I get a kick out of Murdoch, because he has the cold purity of a Great White Shark’s appetite about him.
He is quite literally willing to do anything that ups Newscorp’s profits one way or another.
On the other hand, he’s not original; all he did with his papers and Fox News was recreate the Hearst news empire, right down to the invasion of Iraq being his version of the Spanish-American war, and with the fixation on violent crime and sexual scandals that Hearst pioneered with his sensationalist yellow journalism becoming what O’Reilly made into the backbone of the second half-hour of his show, after the ranting against the evil Democrat’s was done… except Hillary Clinton strangely enough, who Murdoch liked, and did a limited amount of campaigning for president for.
But then came the Golden Day – Rupert saw the movie “Network” and looked for his own Howard Beale… and there was Glenn Beck – mad as hell, and not going to take it anymore.
Next, if “Palestinian Terrorists” kill Glenn Beck during his visit to Israel, the ratings will go through the roof. 😀
> He is quite literally willing to do anything that ups Newscorp’s profits one way or another.
That’s the man’s job.
> On the other hand, he’s not original; all he did with his papers and Fox News was recreate the Hearst news empire, right down to the invasion of Iraq being his version of the Spanish-American war
With the exception being that Hearst *invented* stuff about the Spanish, while Fox did not invent stuff about Iraq.
Additionally, Murdoch did not make “News of the World” into a tabloid rag of nasty yellow journalism; it was like that for a century and a half, apparently.
“With the exception being that Hearst *invented* stuff about the Spanish, while Fox did not invent stuff about Iraq.”
…and those weapons of mass destruction went where exactly?
>>“With the exception being that Hearst *invented* stuff about the Spanish, while Fox did not invent stuff about Iraq.”
>…and those weapons of mass destruction went where exactly?
What? After all these years, you believe that Fox News invented an Iraqi WMD program… rather than reporting what they were told by national and military intelligence systems around the world?
If you want to talk about someone who lied about the Iraqi nuke program, start talking about Joe Wilson.
>Additionally, Murdoch did not make “News of the World” into a tabloid rag of nasty yellow journalism; it was like that for a century and a half, apparently.
Quoted from :-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/8626421/Phone-hacking-David-Cameron-is-not-out-of-the-sewer-yet.html
“For example, the News of the World was a respectable – if racy – family newspaper before Murdoch brought it under his ownership. As we now know, it converted into a flourishing criminal concern that took an evil pleasure in destroying people’s lives.”
From the Wiki entry on NotW:
The newspaper was first published as The News of the World on 1 October 1843, in London by John Browne Bell.[9] Priced at just three pence (equal to £1.04 today), even before the repeal of the Stamp Act (1855) or paper duty (1861), it was the cheapest newspaper of its time[clarification needed] and was aimed directly at the newly literate working classes. It quickly established itself as a purveyor of titillation, shock and criminal news. Much of the source material came from coverage of vice prosecutions, including transcripts of police descriptions of alleged brothels, streetwalkers, and “immoral” women.
Sounds like yellow journalism right from the get-go.
It will be interesting to see what investigations show about “what Murdoch knew and when did he know it.” It seems unlikely that he was even remotely involved in what would have been really low-level decisions in one of his many, many media outlets. If no evidence of his involvement is found but he is still held personally to account, either criminally or civilly, this will open up some new doors in the worldwide effort to sow chaos. Next time a cop goes bad? Convict the mayor. Next time a Union goon slashed a tire? Arrest the Union president. Obama? A couple life sentences awaiting him *right* *now.* The managements of CNN, NPR, the NYT and other major “news” outlets will be revolving doors.
Scott, how dare you criticize our betters!
Olbermann’s every bit as much of a jerk/hack/opportunist as anyone on the Fox network or Rachel Maddow (“Did you know I’m gay? That means my insight is greater than any straight white woman’s could be. Someday I’m hoping to turn black to get that whole two-fer insight thing going full-tilt over straight white men.)
Re: ” . . . a reality show that starred two twins . . . ”
Wouldn’t want to confuse them with the five triplets.
More specifically, wouldn’t want to confuse it with a show that starred *one* twin.