ARE YOU REALLY SURPRISED?

BEING LOVED

  It was almost like being in a newsroom with alert bell rings. Friends and former colleagues from around the world forwarded or texted information about the latest poll data that shows America's trust in the news media hit an all time low.

   As a former news director slugged his forward-"duh!"

My response, and in fact the attitude of many veterans of the news wars, is pretty much the same-why are you surprised? Watch any cable net and the morning news programs on the broadcast networks and it's obvious why viewership and trust are down. The product is terrible and getting worse.

    The 24 hour news networks are at their best when something needs covering.  Breaking news, pending votes, onset of disaster or war, the kind of event that needs constant attention.  Remove that need and you have 24 hours to fill and, sadly, instead of deep investigative or explanatory reporting the time is filled with hot air and gas bags.  And it is all done with such hype and breathlessness as to be a caricature of itself. So many of the on air talent are self conscious and self absorbed you'd think it is all about them.  Oh, sorry, of course it is all about them.

    The broadcast nets still offer a decent product on their marquee evening programs, but not as good as they used to be when issues mattered more than celebrity and pop culture.  Foreign coverage on the American nets is abysmal.

Too much of the "reporting" in Washington is recycling the 

spin product of media manipulators.  The current White House press corp is a pansy assed cartoon compared to a generation or two ago.  Dan Rather is reported to have said to a lying and prevaricating Ron Ziegler, "you either talk to me or I'll kick your ass."  That doesn't happen any more.  Heavens, you might not get invited back to the next social.

    The network morning shows are hardly news. How can you justify talking about the latest network drama, or contestant show as being "news?"  Those shows are full of hype, shill, gossip, chatter and drivel.  CBS is trying something a little more solid and I hope it works.

    Broadcast nets with 30 minute evening programs caught in a 24 hour news world where Cable nets talk and hype and puff, morning shows that care more about ratings than information and networks that stake out ideological positions, what do you expect?  So, no one should be surprised by the low confidence and respect level.  They don't deserve respect. 

    And a final thought poached from a friend who has managed presidential and senate campaigns and who has advised major corporations and governors.  Much of the proof of the under performing of the news media is the state of government today.  

    The quality of the House and Senate and their legislative record, the ethics of the membership, the rampant power of lobbyists and special interests all reflect a media that has lost its way. Where is the watchdog role?  Sadly the gruff old watch dog of the public's good has been replaced by a lap dog sitting on a millionaire news talents lap being fluffed and pampered with the same care and devotion that a Khardashian gets.

DAY FILE

ODD GARDEN SCENES IN CAMBRIA

An inventive display area at Grow-a Cambria succulent merchandiser.   

    I know this is a plant holder, but at its height on the cross bar of a fence above a flower bed it looks like a backboard for gopher basketball.  
    See you down the trail.

WHEN LIFE IMITATES ART

IT HAPPENS

      Around America there are running conversations about Aaron Sorkin's new HBO drama The Newsroom.  

     I posted earlier about the superb "ballistic monologue" by Jeff Daniels as a cable net news anchor in responding to a question about America's "greatness." The truth was withering. 

      Episode 2 provided its great moment when the same 

character opened a broadcast and apologized for the failure of American journalism.  Again Sorkin speaks truth.

      Lana asked if seeing the drama made me miss my days as a news executive or news anchor.  It did fire those synapses that John Chancellor, the late NBC anchor, used to call "the fire horse instinct,"  answering the bell.  Seeing the election night scenarios brought back memories of many such nights.  Election night was always the most "fun" and it required a decompressing that only those who have been there can fully understand.

      There were other memories, however.  The battle between the head of the news division and the network president over the network's need to curry favors with congressmen because their votes were vital to the network's business interests. It was a scene familiar to me. Been there and done that. Stood my ground on ethics and common sense.  Further comment would do no one any good, except a few lawyers. Some things I don't miss.

     Sorkin wrote of something conscientious broadcast journalists have said for years.  The news should be void of sponsors, it should be provided as a public service.  That would help remove it from the tyranny of playing to the ratings. Networks and television stations make plenty of money, even in recessions and they can afford to staff and air news without selling out.  Oh, the budget battles! There's another memory.  Something else I am happy to live without.

      It is merely a drama and an entertainment show, but there is truth in this fiction.

DAY FILE

THE ROCKER IN SHADOWS

      As the afternoon light was beginning its transition to 

that magic "golden hour" I noticed how the oak rocker in

my study was being lit and how it was caught in and cast shadows.  A perfect lightbreeze moment.

See you down the trail.