Candy Shoppe
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This one is in direct relation to my last rant...the bright side of broadcasting...
One metaphor to describe the industry last night and today, and probably for the week to come: kids in candy shoppes, clenching once-crisp hundred dollar bills in their sweaty little hands and jumping up and down.
The world's terror is apparently our field day--our chance to cook up something snazzy with pulitzer potential disguised as information "vital" to the public.
The networks jumped on the terror attacks. They threw in some gruesome images and some doc-style cell phone footage, plus some soft but persistently swelling violin music...voila, we're living in a movie.
We pay little heed however, to the fact that we are hearing the same bits of information repeatedly, phrased differently. And none of it answers the basic questions the news is supposed to give us. Am I safe? Nope, look, code orange! (Nevermind that we are constantly upgrading to and downgrading from code orange since September 11). Why do I care? Because there could be more terror cells intact! (Yeah, and how is this new information?)
In the end, it just gets us all riled up! Which in turn keeps us glued to our televisions, salivating to the slightly doctored reality it projects.
We could be the victims of a terrorist attack any day, any instant. The sad part is that no matter how much of this bullshit we see on tv we digest, it ain't gonna prepare us to avoid it or to deal with it, heaven forbid that it should happen.
What we really need is the human angle without the Hollywood. We need to be there in real time, with real people. No music, no commentary. Just what we see and hear. And the reporter's only job is to answer those two questions. Am I safe? When is anyone ever safe? Just go on with your daily lives and don't worry about what you can't control. Why do I care? Because you need to know what the real world is like...
The time for longer form stories and specials on the event comes later, when the tragedy has simmered down and people are coping. Then and only then, we can learn from it--we know what kinds of spur of the moment decisions mean life or death during a terror attack.
Sometimes I wonder why I'm in the biz...or why I'm in the biz and still so idealistic...
One metaphor to describe the industry last night and today, and probably for the week to come: kids in candy shoppes, clenching once-crisp hundred dollar bills in their sweaty little hands and jumping up and down.
The world's terror is apparently our field day--our chance to cook up something snazzy with pulitzer potential disguised as information "vital" to the public.
The networks jumped on the terror attacks. They threw in some gruesome images and some doc-style cell phone footage, plus some soft but persistently swelling violin music...voila, we're living in a movie.
We pay little heed however, to the fact that we are hearing the same bits of information repeatedly, phrased differently. And none of it answers the basic questions the news is supposed to give us. Am I safe? Nope, look, code orange! (Nevermind that we are constantly upgrading to and downgrading from code orange since September 11). Why do I care? Because there could be more terror cells intact! (Yeah, and how is this new information?)
In the end, it just gets us all riled up! Which in turn keeps us glued to our televisions, salivating to the slightly doctored reality it projects.
We could be the victims of a terrorist attack any day, any instant. The sad part is that no matter how much of this bullshit we see on tv we digest, it ain't gonna prepare us to avoid it or to deal with it, heaven forbid that it should happen.
What we really need is the human angle without the Hollywood. We need to be there in real time, with real people. No music, no commentary. Just what we see and hear. And the reporter's only job is to answer those two questions. Am I safe? When is anyone ever safe? Just go on with your daily lives and don't worry about what you can't control. Why do I care? Because you need to know what the real world is like...
The time for longer form stories and specials on the event comes later, when the tragedy has simmered down and people are coping. Then and only then, we can learn from it--we know what kinds of spur of the moment decisions mean life or death during a terror attack.
Sometimes I wonder why I'm in the biz...or why I'm in the biz and still so idealistic...
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