The elephant in the room should be anchoring the evening news.
Seriously. I never cease to be amazed how those who say they are there to protect us are totally unable to see what is killing them. Oh, viewers will be told to watch out for mad cow disease and deadly tennis rackets (you’ve seen the promos), while those same “experts” are incapable of self reflection. Right now, the media needs the paddles but they refuse to call the EMT.
One of two things is happening here; a) The leftist activist old media is on a mission to push their agenda and nothing else matters, or b) they really don’t know what they’re doing and the stories just take on a life of their own and like NASCAR , they just happen to take left turns nearly all the time.
I’ll take the former on this one. I’m not going to bother debating whether the activist old media turns left. It’s all well documented here on Bigjournalism.com and elsewhere. Besides, you know what you know, you see what you see, and you’ve figured this out long ago. I do wonder if the activist old media would rather see their businesses destroyed than to admit they have a bias. Perhaps. What good is fair and balanced coverage when you believe your purpose is to save the world from Evil Fat Cat Bankers? Bernie Madoff stealing $50 billion leads the newscasts, but the Obama Administration stealing $1.8 trillion from our grandchildren falls on the cutting room floor.
The ratings don’t lie. Fox News destroys its “competition.” CNN had a 20-year head start and its numbers don’t come close, MSNBC has the power of NBC news behind them its numbers are in the toilet. Do they think Fox beats both of them combined because they have better graphics?
Evening newscasts are in a ratings freefall. Let’s blame that on George W. Bush just because we’ve gone half way through this column and haven’t blamed him yet.
Air America files for bankruptcy while conservative talk radio is as strong as ever. It must be the advertising sales force…ya, that’s it… Air America just had a bad sales staff.
Newspapers are another issue altogether. Certainly the internet has eaten into the print business, but how many times can the New York Times tell me the planet is warming when it is actually cooling before they lose credibility?
Did the activist old media think that we were not paying attention during the last election and we couldn’t see them slobbering over Obama?
It’s amazing the efforts media takes to try to figure out why people watch, listen or read what they do. The analysis that takes place, the consultants, the dollars that are spent and the effort that goes into research of whether to use Blue #2 or Blue #3 on the graphics would shock you. Meantime, if they just provided honest, balanced coverage, you watch what would happen. Eyeballs would return to screens.
This is not a fun thing to watch. After spending 30 years in TV news it’s like watching a close friend do a slow crash and burn. Everybody knows it, can see it, they know what needs to be done, except for the friend. Eyes wide shut. Yes, it is the elephant in the room that the media will never address, and it is an elephant, not a donkey.
Perhaps that’s why it’s so hard for the media to see it.