Monday, March 09, 2015

Hey, national media producers, it's not about you!

We knew it was coming. Those "kids" of a couple decades ago are now officially in charge.
I suppose we can see it many places but today I want to talk about the people in charge at our national media outlets. Do the producers really get up in the morning and think, "It's all about me?" Or does it just seem that way.
Take for example ...
A recent "Saturday Night Live" skit that made fun of a young woman being recruited by ISIS.
"Take care of her," the girl's dad said.
"Death to America" was the response.
Now, "Saturday Night Live" has always been edgy and quite often made people uncomfortable. Remember, "Let's kill Gary Gilmore for Christmas?" It was a skit about the upcoming execution of a murderer that was scheduled to take place around the holidays. That bothered me for obvious reasons.
I would have been bothered by the ISIS sketch also, if I had seen it. What really bothered me, though, was the response to criticism about the skit: "It's a matter of free speech."
So, we can say anything we want is a sketch on live TV about the people sworn to destroy our country but when someone stands up and says, "That was just wrong," the proper reply is, "I have the right to free speech?"
Another example is the current winter season.
Repeatedly, the national media (I usually watch CBS news) focused on Boston and New York.
"Oh, the horror! Boston is about to set the record for snowfall!"
Meanwhile, we were setting records for cold in Indiana but the national media assumed we wanted to hear about their problems on the East coast where those people live. The South, including Atlanta, received quite a bit of attention this winter, too. I guess Indianapolis isn't a large enough metropolitan area to get the attention of CBS New York.
The Weather Channel always does a good job covering all the country and that has been good for NBC New York (The Weather Channel and NBC are owned by the same parent company.)
"It's all about me!"
Guess that attitude has come to permeate the national media.
Oh, well, I can turn the channel or even turn off the TV ... and I do.
No wonder people watching traditional broadcast television TV viewers are rapidly decreasing in number while many more people turn to the Web for information and entertainment.
Guess what. It's not all about you. Each one of us think it's about each one of us and now we have lots of options.

Frank Phillips is an on-the-way-to-becoming a curmudgeon. He is a reporter for The Brazil Times.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Feel free to comment: