Journalism or Reality TV

I hate to generalize about the media or journalism in general, but the ongoing coverage of the presidential races forces the issue I guess. There certainly are good if not excellent journalists out there doing a terrific job of keeping people informed on issues throughout the world. Investigative reporters and commentators who dig into stories, find facts and report them without much fanfare. These professionals appear in well respected media giant as well ast in small local outlets, including daily and weekly papers.

Sadly however, the cable news networks have a much bigger presence and a louder voice it seems. CNN, MSNBC, FOX and others bombard us 24/7 with nonsensical patter and personality wars. Many of us want to stay informed on important issues and presidential politics are right up there. These huge corporate media outlets are run by a few individuals who cast a long shadow on how we get the news or opinions.

This year (actually last year & this year) started out differently from presidential races of the past. The GOP had multiple candidates, something that should have been a good thing. The Democrats also had a field of candidates that should have been viewed as a positive. But what has evolved is truly a three ring circus.

You can always expect candidates to push the envelope, to cause controversy, to stretch the truth, to state and misstate things to suit their own purposes. The political process feeds on such behavior. Historically the voting public has had to deal with that reality. Also in the past, we've been able to depend on journalists to help us clear up the fuzziness and get to the real facts. But this year has ended up being different. It seems the media, yes the main stream media, has become as enthralled and hoodwinked as everyone else with one particular candidate, a showman for sure. As a matter of fact, the showman had a reality TV show where he set contestants out to perform a showman like task, compete for money and even fundraise for favorite charities. The showman has taken that model and is using it quite effectively in the presidential election, his latest gimmick taken directly from his show, collecting millions of dollars from his wealthy friends for charities of his choice.

The media, cable news specifically, has fallen for the whole thing. Providing millions if not billions of unpaid advertising to one candidate, first treating him as a joke and then covering every move he makes. It's relentless. It goes on everyday, every night. Interviews, mostly called in to shows where the showman is allowed to say whatever he wants.  There have been very view challenges to this one candidate's statements. Very few requests for how he would govern or produce the results he hammers away at in irreverent tirades. The more outrageous his comments, the more hostile, the more confrontational, the more coverage he receives.

All of this seems to be feeding on itself. Pent-up frustrations, base and simple solutions to world problems and worse. Indications of mob type behavior are emerging as where people are at. Media access is a good part of what seems to be feeding all of this. The more coverage, the more support seems to be built. Talking heads are vying for the spotlight. It will play out, but whatever happens, journalists will have played a huge role and will need to analyze that role. The public will need to look more closely at corporate journalism. But I fear there's really no turning back. Choices have been made and reality TV journalism seems to be in vogue and God help us, driving this election.