When
is Bad News Good News?
In this crisis, their performance, though jingoistic, generally merits praise. For once the shareholders were shown the back seat and public interest got a chance to drive the news.
I’m not talking about the absence of commercials, but scrapping the incessant teases of upcoming stories, the scripted happy talk, the promotional stories about “Survivor” or “E.R.”, the marketing of isolated incidents of grief, the pursuit of emotional rather than informative quotes, the shunning of issues for simple events. The entire ethos of newsrooms flipped from making money to making sense.
It seems to take bad news to bring out the best in broadcast journalism.
But watch! Will the vestments of moral responsibility quickly be folded in mothballs, and most newscasts once again apply the greasepaint of performance?
That would be a shame. As we enter this new and much more dangerous age, the public needs news that informs, not a return to info-tainment.
