Friday, May 13, 2016

Cable News Super-hypes the Obvious

The winners of the repetitive over-hyping of the obvious award goes once again to the lost souls of the 24 hour news channels.  Whether Fox, MSNBC, or CNN we have once again been treated to three days of  numbing repeats of the same non-story.  "Will Donald Trump and Speaker Ryan reach an accommodation?    First we had hours of talking heads attempting to generate suspense about the  outcome. Then we had the staking out and wholescale coverage of the private meeting itself, which  consisted mainly of fleeting views of limos scuttling in and out of garages and more ginning up of the outcome as something close to a nuclear detonation on the Mall.  Finally comes the climax.  The participants, surprise of all surprises, declare that  the meeting was "constructive" and the parties will continue to work for the presentation of some kind of united front. This is not the finish because we now must sit through a full day of prognostication on what a non-solution meant.

All told a story that might deserve less than a minute for its announcement, its taking place, and its result becomes a non-stop three day campaign of hype whose primary goal is to provide salaries for the legions of babbling flunkies who populate the cable channels like mosquitos in a swamp.

Meanwhile news of the world and the rest of the country,  little things like a potential presidential impeachment in the country that is to host the Olympics in a few months or the gun violence in Chicago,  floats ignored and below the radar. If it's really news you want stick to the BBC or the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.     
  


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