Self Referential
Washington Post
USA Today (this may not be a news source in reality
Salon.com
NYTimes
A few articles about Tony Snow’s first news conference demonstrates the echoing absurdity of news-as-entertainment. Essentially, the conference produced news about news being created in response to news. The struggle to keep on air with vaguely stimulating events eventually progresses to cannibalize itself as newsworthy. Many of the articles even seemed to recognize the news media’s role as players in a game: “It was the pinnacle of a boffo debut by Snow. Reporters leaving the 40-minute session would discover that, like his predecessors, Snow had imparted no useful information to them. But he had done it in a far more entertaining manner. (Washington Post article)” Also: “Members of the press corps were thankful for warm blood. As they packed up their notebooks, they were visibly giddy, offering approbations like, "That was A-1" and "It's going to be fun." (Salon.com article)” Entertainment news also develops a self perpetuating cycle of innocuous irrelevance. The profit motive requires easy treatment of sources to ensure further production from them, but also a hands off attitude to judgment of the ‘content’ produced to avoid alienating viewers/watchers. And so, articles can recognize a vaguely racist remark (‘tar baby’ got a mention in all) but actually refuse to condem or do anything in response to it. They also all acknowledge (at least) indirectly the Press Secretary’s role as a front for dishonesty by recognizing Snow’s teary eyed moment as a stepping down from the pedestal/mantle the office has as the only direct daily contact between the president’s office and the media. Without some sort of argument as to why this charade matters to the way news gets reported, for good or ill, there is no reason for any reader to want to remember the story or the event itself. The sum total of these factors comes as news that disappears in the consciousness of its readers because of the crushing irrelevance of it all, both in personal and global terms.
USA Today (this may not be a news source in reality
Salon.com
NYTimes
A few articles about Tony Snow’s first news conference demonstrates the echoing absurdity of news-as-entertainment. Essentially, the conference produced news about news being created in response to news. The struggle to keep on air with vaguely stimulating events eventually progresses to cannibalize itself as newsworthy. Many of the articles even seemed to recognize the news media’s role as players in a game: “It was the pinnacle of a boffo debut by Snow. Reporters leaving the 40-minute session would discover that, like his predecessors, Snow had imparted no useful information to them. But he had done it in a far more entertaining manner. (Washington Post article)” Also: “Members of the press corps were thankful for warm blood. As they packed up their notebooks, they were visibly giddy, offering approbations like, "That was A-1" and "It's going to be fun." (Salon.com article)” Entertainment news also develops a self perpetuating cycle of innocuous irrelevance. The profit motive requires easy treatment of sources to ensure further production from them, but also a hands off attitude to judgment of the ‘content’ produced to avoid alienating viewers/watchers. And so, articles can recognize a vaguely racist remark (‘tar baby’ got a mention in all) but actually refuse to condem or do anything in response to it. They also all acknowledge (at least) indirectly the Press Secretary’s role as a front for dishonesty by recognizing Snow’s teary eyed moment as a stepping down from the pedestal/mantle the office has as the only direct daily contact between the president’s office and the media. Without some sort of argument as to why this charade matters to the way news gets reported, for good or ill, there is no reason for any reader to want to remember the story or the event itself. The sum total of these factors comes as news that disappears in the consciousness of its readers because of the crushing irrelevance of it all, both in personal and global terms.
posted by Duncan at 11:23 PM
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