“We Got the Bubble-Headed Bleach-Blonde…”

“….comes on at five. She can tell ya ’bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye….”

Don Henley saw what was coming in the news industry when he wrote Dirty Laundry in the early eighties. I wonder if he had any idea it was coming to what passes for “news” today.

On Saturday night, Mr. Chili was cruising through the channels after the Red Sox beat the Yankees in the second of their three game series (which they swept on Sunday - YAY!). He found a couple of old movies, one or two nature shows, an episode of CSI, the weather, and CNN. He stopped at CNN for a few minutes to read the crawl and to see what was getting top billing on the “show” that was on at the time. It seems that a Blue Angels jet crashed in South Carolina, killing the pilot and injuring several people on the ground.

“It’s interesting when people die.  Give us dirty laundry.” 

Now, let me say here that, unlike many, I take no issue with the immediacy with which the news is presented to us. I don’t think that knowing about something as it’s happening is necessarily a bad thing, as long as the people doing the presenting are calm, even-handed and thoughtful about it. Don’t go making assumptions about what’s happening or start talking before you’ve got the whole story; just tell us what’s going on to the best of your knowledge and leave out the stuff you don’t know.

I remember watching NBC’s coverage when the plane flown by the Yankee’s Cory Lidle crashed in NYC and being impressed by the fact that the anchor (I don’t remember who it was now) said that he wasn’t going to speculate about what actually happened. All we know, he said, was that a small plane has crashed into an apartment building on such-and-such a street in Manhattan. He specifically said that he didn’t want to raise any fears about terrorism. He didn’t want to speculate about whether or not the pilot suffered a heart attack or equipment failure because he just didn’t know. There was nothing sensational about the coverage; the anchor told us what he knew - and what was verified by reliable sources - and nothing more. The coverage was fair and rational, and I remember being heartily impressed.

While we were watching CNN’s “coverage” of the Blue Angel’s crash, though, I was struck by exactly the opposite feeling. Now, I’m conceding that this happened during one of CNN’s “programs”; this wasn’t the usual newsroom setting but, rather, one of those overdone, Nancy Grace-type monstrosities where talking heads sit in front of slick sets and natter on about things they probably know dangerously little about. This “report” felt like tragedy-as-entertainment; the anchor was caked in far too much make-up and seemed to be really relishing the pictures of destroyed homes and burning debris (“well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here.  I just have to look good, I don’t have to be clear.”). He was gesticulating wildly and practically salivating over his own descriptions of what a high-speed jet crash would probably entail. He was saying things like “we don’t know for sure, BUT…” and “a spectator at the air show THINKS…” in place of relying on credible sources for information. It felt dirty, and Mr. Chili turned the channel in disgust as I was walking out of the room.

“Can we film the operation? Is the head dead yet? You know, the boys in the newsroom got a running bet. Get the widow on the set! We need dirty laundry!”

I wonder if this isn’t part of our national problem. Rather than taking the time to investigate - to research and to think critically about what we hear and see - many of our news reporters tend to jump to the easy, sexy, sensational conclusions for the sake of ratings and attention. I spend a great deal of time in my classes talking to students about what it means to think critically, and I am saddened - though not entirely surprised - to find that most of them have NO idea what that means. They don’t think to question the things that they hear; they have no experience in stopping to really think about the input they get, or to hold it up against what they think or know or believe. They’ve not been taught that they not only have the authority, but the moral obligation to think and question and demand that they be given true. verifiable information. We’ve been spoon-fed the slick, prime-time pap for so long that many of us have become lazy. We don’t think for ourselves anymore and, instead, have handed over our thinking to the media, the movie makers, and the politicians.

“We can do the innuendo, we can dance and sing. When it’s said and done we haven’t told you a thing. We all know that crap is king. Give us dirty laundry.”

Maybe it’s NOT the guns…