02.25.09
What’s up with all the Fucking Sensationalism?
I’m fucking tired of turning on the T.V., radio or internet and hearing the most insane, outrageous, blood-thirstiest, vomit-inducing, terrifying headlines ever. To paraphrase Peter Finch’s character from “Network”, I can’t take it anymore. Let me digress on this phenomenon. News outlets are basically businesses. They aren’t supposed to be profit entities, but they are. That’s just the way life is. Companies that sell products or services have to advertise. The media is the best way to advertize. News media outlets need advertising money, which they attract with ratings. ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and all non-cable channels are free for viewers. Cable channels like HBO, don’t need excessive advertising.
We live in convoluted times. We’re constantly busy running to our lunch breaks, to work, to yoga, to meet our Facebook friends, to pay our bills. Our schedules are full because we want to do several things at once. TV takes a backseat. We don’t have time to sit around watching TV shows, news or even quality programs like 60 Minutes and 20/20. I get my news on the internet and I never watch TV anymore (I blame it on Grad School).
TV executives are aware of this. Ratings are a rat race with short term success. If a show doesn’t have high Nielsen ratings five weeks after it’s debut, producers pull the plug. They forget that you have to let the show advance a bit before people start noticing. ”Cheers” was dead-last in ratings it’s first season. They gave it time and it developed into a classic. TV executives don’t have patience anymore. They want easy money. What do we get: reality TV. Cheap, easy to produce, no diva-ish actors and ratings are high. With MTV’s Real World, it seemed harmless and fun. When people stopped being nice and started acting crazy (real isn’t necessarily accurate), ratings flew through the roof. Producers smelled money easier than Ron Jeremy can detect a rotten crotch.
After the creation of the trashy talk show a la Jerry Springer, producers said ”well if people want filth, let’s give ’em filth.” Which means that we get every strange idea imaginable on TV: Wife Swap, Date My Mom, Laguna Beach, Real Housewives of Kentucky, Rock of Love. These shows feature the most outrageous people (reality TV personalities) who do anything to extend their fifteen minutes of fame; producers will bring them back if they can guarantee ratings. The epidemic doesn’t end there, it spreads to the news outlets.
Go to MSN, Yahoo, or Hotmail and read the headlines: “4 year old goes on shooting rampage”, “Man enslaves children, locks them in basement”, “Vote for World’s ugliest dog”, “Who’s sexier: Michelle Obama or Laura Bush”, “Grandmother of 12 to pose nude for Playboy”, “Brooklyn man had 600 unpaid traffic tickets”, “San Quentin inmate becomes cannibal”, “Man cheats on wife with horse”, “Man leaves horse, goes back to wife”. Tabloid headlines attract viewers and create more advertising revenues. Curiosity killed the cat. I myself, am guilty too. Any headline with “nude” and “actress” calls my attention. Some folks find it reassuring to read about people who are more pathetic than them. They feel better knowing that others are stuck in worst shit or have made fools of themselves of national TV. Now let me get back to my stupid statistics homework.
