Well, welcome to popular media - Edit 1
Before modification by Isaac at 25/10/2011 06:41:55 PM
Where exactly each network or news anchor stands on the left/right axis is a genuine concern, though pretty secondary to the big problem, which is that news channels need ratings and people watch exciting stuff, nobody wants to talk to calm protester especially one who has no public speaking experience and will sound clumsy, they want Drama...
I can legitimately sneer and soapbox on this since I used to 'enjoy' watching C-Span as a kid and generally enjoy things people find boring like toothpick manufacture, which really is quite interesting. Most people have enough crap going on in there life that they either don't want anymore, and thus don't watch the news, or want some more of someone else's woes or problems, and want them in as exciting and compact a format as they can get, that's just the way it is and the news... TV, blog, newspaper, radio, etc all have to cater to that.
The Tea Parties were incredibly well behaved with only a very small percentage of inappropriate behavior... yet that small percentage was much more interesting, sparking drooling self-justification for the left's "the right is evil, dumb bigots" narrative, propping up independents and apathetics feel of above-the-fray superiority, and outraging the right over unfair media coverage. Well here's the OWS, which is behaving fairly badly compared to the Tea Party but pretty much on the obvious demographic lines, being made of younger people mostly compared to the middle-age dominated Tea Parties. The media goes out with cameras and are, of course, much more interested in the 1 in 10 or less badly behaving people than the majority of fairly well-behaved people. Why? Well it makes for good ratings, sparking drooling self-justification for the right's "the left are naive, spoiled brats" narrative, propping up independents and apathetics feel of above-the-fray superiority, and outraging the left over unfair media coverage.
Fox isn't covering OWS because it has some conspiratorial agenda, but because it has a very simple and transparent agenda. Fox knows most of it's viewers are center to right, and will stay glued to the set by reports of obnoxious or disgusting OWS behavior, and stick around to watch commercials. ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, CNN etc also all know this magic and use it regularly, but have audiences that are much more likely to want to hear one of the saner protesters decrying how their message is getting stomped on, unfortunately OWS doesn't really have a specific message yet, as is normal for newborn movements, and cameras attract obnoxious people - one of the other reasons you don't see saner movement members on the news much - as most sober and calm thoughtful sorts are nervous about talking to thousands or millions of people, especially without any prep. The Tea Party got hit with this same stuff, and it can even be a self-perpetuating process driving people away from a cause.
So no, Fox is not blundering by advertising for them, they are simply generating news for their news shows and clips for their political commentators to show their audience. I'm sorry if that screws up your "Fox = Evil" Narrative but Occam's razor and common sense are always better resorts than conspiratorial rantings... and this post kind comes off that way, especially since you're flagging your self as a "Pop News" viewer with your comments.
I can legitimately sneer and soapbox on this since I used to 'enjoy' watching C-Span as a kid and generally enjoy things people find boring like toothpick manufacture, which really is quite interesting. Most people have enough crap going on in there life that they either don't want anymore, and thus don't watch the news, or want some more of someone else's woes or problems, and want them in as exciting and compact a format as they can get, that's just the way it is and the news... TV, blog, newspaper, radio, etc all have to cater to that.
The Tea Parties were incredibly well behaved with only a very small percentage of inappropriate behavior... yet that small percentage was much more interesting, sparking drooling self-justification for the left's "the right is evil, dumb bigots" narrative, propping up independents and apathetics feel of above-the-fray superiority, and outraging the right over unfair media coverage. Well here's the OWS, which is behaving fairly badly compared to the Tea Party but pretty much on the obvious demographic lines, being made of younger people mostly compared to the middle-age dominated Tea Parties. The media goes out with cameras and are, of course, much more interested in the 1 in 10 or less badly behaving people than the majority of fairly well-behaved people. Why? Well it makes for good ratings, sparking drooling self-justification for the right's "the left are naive, spoiled brats" narrative, propping up independents and apathetics feel of above-the-fray superiority, and outraging the left over unfair media coverage.
Fox isn't covering OWS because it has some conspiratorial agenda, but because it has a very simple and transparent agenda. Fox knows most of it's viewers are center to right, and will stay glued to the set by reports of obnoxious or disgusting OWS behavior, and stick around to watch commercials. ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, CNN etc also all know this magic and use it regularly, but have audiences that are much more likely to want to hear one of the saner protesters decrying how their message is getting stomped on, unfortunately OWS doesn't really have a specific message yet, as is normal for newborn movements, and cameras attract obnoxious people - one of the other reasons you don't see saner movement members on the news much - as most sober and calm thoughtful sorts are nervous about talking to thousands or millions of people, especially without any prep. The Tea Party got hit with this same stuff, and it can even be a self-perpetuating process driving people away from a cause.
So no, Fox is not blundering by advertising for them, they are simply generating news for their news shows and clips for their political commentators to show their audience. I'm sorry if that screws up your "Fox = Evil" Narrative but Occam's razor and common sense are always better resorts than conspiratorial rantings... and this post kind comes off that way, especially since you're flagging your self as a "Pop News" viewer with your comments.