There are a lot of TVs at my workplace. People say that you can't get paid to watch TV, and I know firsthand that this is a lie. Every employee gets issued a television and set-top box, more if they're actually doing development or testing. Some have special mutiplexers that allow us to watch up to 16 feeds at once. Over the network, even.
Anyway. What I'm getting to here, in my roundabout way, is that I had ample opportunity to be disgusted by cable news today. The epic saga of the "Balloon Boy" played basically nonstop the entire time I was there, and there were maybe two minutes of interesting footage in that entire nine-hour block. (Which, I hasten to add, I merely happened to glance at occasionally.)
I'm not suggesting that the cable news should try to focus on "issues", because I -- speaking for myself -- probably wouldn't find that very interesting either. I just don't think that the format lends itself to meaningful discourse. I am saying that CNN should make more of an effort to be entertaining, and only cover "breaking news" when interesting stuff is actually happening onscreen. If I just want to find out what happened, I can check the website. I don't need this 24-hour desperate struggle to fill the schedule.
I mean, the fact that it was so trivial is irritating me more and more as I write this -- and now that people are saying it's a publicity stunt, the only reaction I can have is that
we deserve it. We created our culture, we support it, and thus far we have failed to produce anything better. If this debacle causes CNN to look back on their work and reconsider, it may even have been worth it.
words from chris, 2009-10-16 02:20:55, los angeles
