Clueless Reporter Plus Violent Egyptian Mob Equals High Ratings, Revenue, and Ass Whoopin’
So many chaotic global events and so few reporters—strike that—reverse it. On the contrary, it’s dog eat dog out there. Thousands of reporters, lusting for fame (and fortune), obsessed with covering the story their competitors can’t find or are too afraid to cover. C’mon, does anyone take the likes of Katie Couric, Bill O’Reilly, and Anderson Cooper seriously? Reporters aren’t, after all, any different from Hollywood’s mindless pampered pretentious pawns. Do you remember when Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) went to Israel a few years back to bring peace to the Middle East? We all know how that single-handedly turned the corner on Israeli/Palestinian conflict…yeah…right.
The fact is, I don’t take celebrity actor/reporter types seriously, and neither should you. They make obscene amounts of money, for one; a quick search on the web reveals that Couric makes $14 million per year (2006 figures), O’ Reilly makes $9 million (2006 figures), Coop’ only makes $4 million (currently), poor guy. And two, celebrities only care about advancing one cause—me, myself, and I.
Then there’s all the drama, the “he said, she said,” the off handed comments caught on camera when they weren’t supposed to be rolling (Couric talking about Sarah Palin), and the “politically incorrect” comments made on The View (O’ Reilly talking about a mosque and 9/11). The drama goes on and on without end, and the talking heads love every second of it.
Don’t be fooled though, while you may think it is, the drama you're watching isn’t real; it's been carefully constructed, like choreographed ballet. Its only purpose is to boost the ratings of the networks while fattening the wallets of pseudo-journalist celebrities so they can promote their next book or get their next multimillion-dollar contract. Networks know a thing or two about their consumers—drama sells—it’s what America wants.
Furthermore, most of us would like to believe we have our friends convinced that the “news” we watch is actually news or newsworthy; it’s not. Secretly however, we don’t watch the “news” to hear the news anyway, we watch the “news” to get our dose of reality TV smack downs and cat fights; we want drama not news. We’ve become addicted to the habit that the “news” has formed us on, like the smoker in need of a smoke break. Their objective is simple. They (networks) entertain us in order that we watch the endless supply of commercials telling us to buy more stuff. We are mesmerized by the glowing 52” HDTV screens, and helpless to remove its power over us. But I digress.
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