Television news fuels on hype, not fact
Daniel J. Williams
Issue date: 3/13/08 Section: Opinion
News inundates America, but this abundance comes at a cost. The cable news phenomenon has handed producers a mandate to fill air time. And fill it they have. Cable "news" is in many ways a misnomer, a mere label slapped on a slickly packaged assortment of programming bearing little resemblance to the hard news of past times. Cable news stories are rarely introduced, explained, and finalized in one sitting. They are now introduced, and then updated, and updated, and endlessly updated. And in the mad grab for substance to fill air time, sensation fills the void. Danger lurks in the glitter and glow of the cable news phenomenon. The immediacy of digital media has intensified competition among networks to be the first to break the story and make it the most accessible to the insatiable appetites of consumers.
The 24-hour news cycle has changed entirely the complexion of the news. Not that events necessarily have changed since the former days of network news and exclusive newsprint -although since Sept. 11, international news has assumed a more serious tone.
Americans apparently now clamor to know all and know it immediately, and advertising revenue tells the tale. The American consumer pointing a remote at the television faces an array of 24-hour news options. But something has to fill all that time. The quest to fill the air with constant news has yielded an unprecedented level of information and analysis. The 24-hour news cycle virtually guarantees access to breaking information.
Unfortunately, the buildup surrounding a typical cable news story is often bigger than the story itself, and an incongruence often emerges between the expected outcome of a hyped story and facts of the matter. Telling a story now consists of making it exciting, of sensationalizing the banal, of creating curiosity even if it is never satisfied.
The camera swoops to an on-site reporter who, after a tension-filled pause while the audio relay catches up to her earpiece, reports with stern intensity that "we are still waiting for such-and-such to show up," and then proceeds to rehash the story's boringly obvious observations while the B-roll plays endlessly. Better just to wait until something actually happens.
The 24-hour news cycle has changed entirely the complexion of the news. Not that events necessarily have changed since the former days of network news and exclusive newsprint -although since Sept. 11, international news has assumed a more serious tone.
Americans apparently now clamor to know all and know it immediately, and advertising revenue tells the tale. The American consumer pointing a remote at the television faces an array of 24-hour news options. But something has to fill all that time. The quest to fill the air with constant news has yielded an unprecedented level of information and analysis. The 24-hour news cycle virtually guarantees access to breaking information.
Unfortunately, the buildup surrounding a typical cable news story is often bigger than the story itself, and an incongruence often emerges between the expected outcome of a hyped story and facts of the matter. Telling a story now consists of making it exciting, of sensationalizing the banal, of creating curiosity even if it is never satisfied.
The camera swoops to an on-site reporter who, after a tension-filled pause while the audio relay catches up to her earpiece, reports with stern intensity that "we are still waiting for such-and-such to show up," and then proceeds to rehash the story's boringly obvious observations while the B-roll plays endlessly. Better just to wait until something actually happens.
Be the first to comment on this story