Jane, You Ignorant Slut
Dueling political commentators got their start before Saturday Night Live. Dan Ackroyd (or was it Chevy Chase?) and Jane Curtin parodied James Kilpatrick and Shana Alexander who took rightist and leftist views on a news topic in a 60 Minutes segment called "Point/Counterpoint" which began in 1970. As I recall the feature, it was pretty civilized.
Firing Line, hosted by William F. Buckley, Jr., began a year earlier. It more closely resembled a traditional debate. More than civilized, it was the definition of urbane. The show was best watched with an open copy of the Oxford English Dictionary on the coffee table given Mr. Buckley's vocabulary.
Civility gave way to free-for-all with Crossfire on CNN in 1982. Original conservative host Pat Buchanan yelled at, interupted and talked over liberal host Tom Braden, who returned the invective.
With the advent of cable and its 24 hour appetite, talking heads from remote locations vie with the hosts on all the channels to see who can be the most abusive and derisive. FOX News' Hannity and Colmes, is typical of the breed. On occassion, by accident, a fact is spoken or an objective opinion is aired.
I think it all started going wrong about midnight on a Saturday in the 70's with the use of the modifier ignorant slut. Someone in a news department realized you could entertain viewers with adjectives. News and discourse became by-products.
To steal a phrase, I have a modest proposal. News talk shows should declare a modifier free week. No adjectives. No perjorative language. The speaker gets to finish what he or she is saying. Questioners must ask a real question rather than pontificating their viewpoint. The person answering a question must actually answer it, rather than using it as an invitation to say whatever it is that they want to say. All shows would be on tape delay. An objectivity censor in the engineering booth would bleep all offenses. A month or so of this might be necessary for the players to get the rules down. Early on, the entertainment would be in trying to read people's lips during the bleeps.
Or, we could get the old Not Ready For Prime Time Players to host the news talk shows. They'd show 'em how to do it right.
2 comments:
Network news has long been a pet peeve of mine.
On most bills I can tell you who is in favor of it and who opposes it, but I can't say (with any detail) what the bill actually says. That's because instead of reporting the facts, the networks get two loudmouths whose opinions are polar opposites and watch them fight; whoever gets off the best one-liner wins.
(You picked a great title for this topic- I can't hear that line without smiling.)
Dave,
If you have only six minutes before the commercial break, you can't really do much to introduce a new perspective. So, how do you hold viewers attention? Get their pupils dilated at the prospect of a fight. Hurl insults at one another while the insulted viewer just feels the urge to hurl.
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