FALL FROM GRACE
Somewhere along the
line, many years ago, something happened to television news. I remember as a
kid watching 60 minutes with my father. Even at a young age you could sense
the seriousness of it. The deliberate demeanor of the journalists, the hint
of excitement when the camera would follow an uncomfortable discourse
between newsman and newsmaker. I even remember when 20/20 came around, a
little bit cheaper version of the Wallace/Safer/Reasoner show, I thought.
Then, something snapped somewhere, a vial tipped over in the lab late at
night, and news began to morph into entertainment. For years it seemed the
change was gradual and subtle, you didn't feel a thing. Then, like the
melting ice caps, things began to happen faster, culminating, one could
argue, with the advent of Reality TV. An oxymoron, in my opinion, as most of
what is broadcast is clearly aimed at taking the viewer somewhere else.
Reality TV may have climaxed with the opening of American Chopper, or
whatever that show is, which is essentially reviewing a days work for me.
Relax by watching a bunch of guys swearing, laughing, screwing things up and
turning wrenches. What has become of us? And I admit, I like the show,
although I find myself feeling uneasy with the fact that I am entertained by
it.
Orange County Choppers is innocent enough, but the real thorn in my side for
the last several years has been some of these new cable news shows. During
the Natalie Holloway heyday I would marvel at the way Greta VanSustern could
go on endlessly, night after night, with nothing to report, filling hour
after hour. The usual line up of "experts", the live shots, all so formulaic
that it borders on comedy. The public seems to eat it up, which speaks
volumes about the viewing public I suppose, but all along I'm
wondering...what happened to serious reporting and reportage with dignity?
For anyone who is lucid, there is a very unsettling facet to this type of
program. It is tragedy for sale. A missing baby, a wife murders her minister
husband, a young mother drowns her babies. Whatever morbidly curious story
can be spliced together into a "news" program, suddenly becomes newsworthy.
Was the Natalie Holloway case newsworthy? Of course, and very, very sad as
well. Did you ever get the sense that the parents themselves were used by
the news outlets? I did. As soon as the story cooled, or showed no end, off
to new stuff. After a while, do you not get the sense of feigned concern? I
wonder if Greta got that "concerned" look surgically carved into her face.
Like all good things, there's always someone looking to make a better
mouse-trap, and Nancy Grace was the latest entry. The ex-prosecutor has an
aggressive, in-your-face style that was perfect for the cable venue. She can
bridge the gap from anger to heartfelt sympathy, and back again quicker than
a schizophrenic meth addict. With the earnest emotion of Tim McGraw and
Faith Hill, she sells her wares, night after night, using the same formula.
Interviews with family members, the panel of experts, the live shot with the
local cop. You really wonder how they do it with a straight face.
Last week, that formula went sour when Grace, in her usual venomous style,
interrogated a young mother whose two-year old child had just gone missing.
With her best prosecutorial style, she hammered the young woman as to why
she wouldn't release details of her whereabouts on the day her child
disappeared. A fair enough question, and surely the mother was a suspect
given other details, but still...is this a police interview on television.
Why not just film police interrogations and throw them on a channel? Nancy
Grace, fully aware of the entertainment value of her approach, continued
grilling, as if it were her job to conduct the investigation. Well, things
took an unprecedented turn the following day when the young woman committed
suicide. Could Reality TV get any better than this?
Oddly, in a cruel twist, Nancy her self was now wearing a new
hat....newsmaker. The swarm of locusts usually her peers, turned mid-flight
and smothered her. I do not blame her for this woman’s death. I do not
celebrate the woman’s death regardless of her role in her child's fate. I
do, and I'm a little ashamed to admit it, celebrate a long overdue lesson
being delivered to a bunch of coyote news people who increasingly cross any
line to bring us newsertainment. I am way to cynical, or pragmatic, to
expect any change of substance, but maybe this event will cast a little rain
on the parade. In the end, we all own a piece of it, myself included as I
have watched those programs, too. I like to think of it as research.
Speaking of research, when it comes to crime, let the professionals do the
researching.