News VS. Entertainment: Muddy Waters
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- Published on Thursday, 31 March 2011 15:01
- Written by Andrew Jeromski
The line between news and entertainment has never been especially well defined, and thanks to ethically bankrupt outfits like Fox (read: Faux) News, it can be all but impossible to tell which is which these days. If a national media heavyweight like that can just make stuff up, then at the end of the day, what is the difference between Fox News and The Onion?
Both say things that aren’t true, and as far as comedic intent, well, who am I to judge anyone’s intent?
A report on the watchdog web site Media Matters, quoting an alleged ex-Fox News staffer, claims that standard operating at Rupert Murdoch’s news giant is to attack Democrats and prop up Republicans, with little attention paid to accuracy and fact checking.
“I don’t think people would believe it’s as concocted as it is; that stuff is just made up,” the anonymous source told MM’s Eric Boehlart. “It’s their MO to undermine the administration and undermine Democrats ... They’re a propaganda outfit but they call themselves news.”
And this, as Boehlart points out, is coming from within Fox News.
The source continues: “Like any news channel there’s a lot of room for non-news content. The content that wasn’t ‘news,’ they didn’t care what we did as long as it was amusing or quirky or entertaining; as long as it brought in eyeballs. But anything--anything--that was a news story you had to understand what the spin should be on it.”
As shady as Fox’s actions are, it would appear that a great many Americans need their news encased in a candy coating before they are willing to digest it. Consider shows like The Daily Show or the Colbert Report. There is little debating their relevance to popular political culture in this country, but both use comedy to make the real topics they cover more palatable to a broader audience.
There is a reason people like Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage always find their way on air: it’s because they either piss people off to the point where they will watch or listen to see what will be said next, or for those who find truth in their polarizing viewpoints, they seem to be saying what no one else will. It’s little more than showmanship. Who wants to listen to a genial host who treats all opinions and guests with respect, while attempting to spark an even and balanced debate? That’s boring.
And that’s where Lowell native Brian Staveley enters the picture. While the idea to aggregate various news sources into a single web site is hardly a novel one, in fact, it’s practically the business model for sites like Google News and many others, Staveley’s new venture, The Real News Online, a modest undertaking when compared with the aforementioned heavyweights, hopes to take the idea a step further.
“I’m not just trying to put what I consider the truth out there,” said Staveley during a telephone interview. “I’m giving (people) everything. A lot of those (mainstream) media outlets, I don’t think they’re worth a grain of salt. I don’t trust them at all, but I’ll put them out there for everybody else, so they can get the story from both sides. Then they can actually form an educated opinion ... right now, they might think they have an educated opinion, but really, they’re just being fed a bunch of bullshit most of the time.”
As far as his website is concerned, Staveley has big plans for the future. Plans that center around a better informed populace.
“I’d like to build a news community,” he said. “I want people to be more involved. I’m going to be doing live online debates, which I think could be huge for the site. We’re going to pick a topic--we’ve already voted--the first topic we’re going to do is 911, the second one is freedom of speech.”
Staveley envisions a debate forum free from the verbal strong-arm tactics of pundits like Glen Beck and Bill O’Reilly, where participants are allowed an opportunity to voice their opinions, in their unfettered entirety.
“We’re going to get two people from each side of the topic,” Staveley said. “They will get to go uninterrupted, just say everything they have to say about it. Everyone will get their turn, and we’ll come back for a second round. We’re going to post the link on Facebook, Twitter, all the social media.
“You don’t need to be a site member,” he added. “Anybody can click on the link and come watch ... come watch real people from the area, just talk about real issues they care about.”
Other features boasted by Staveley’s site include the ability of users to contribute videos or links to the site, public and private chat rooms and video chat.
Staveley is not shy in stating his goals for The Real News Online.
“I want it to be the number one interactive news site on the web,” he said.
The Real News Online also features feeds from top overseas news outlets such as Al Jazeera, BBC, Reuters, The London Telegraph and many others. The site also features enough entertainment options to sufficiently numb your mind when the weight of a global conspiracy becomes too much to bear.
According to Staveley, when he was getting his site off the ground, it quickly became apparent to him that the proverbial teaspoon of sugar really does help the medicine go down.
“A lot of people, they don’t care about the news,” he said. “The idea for the web site came when I would post YouTube videos, and no one was paying any attention. If you don’t attach Jersey Shore or MTV, no one pays attention.”
That is why a trip to The Real News Online will yield a wide selection of entertainment options, as well as news feeds from around the globe.
Simply put: the financial realities of the nation we inhabit create an environment where news programs and publications must compete with each other for the same eyeballs everyday. While this is no new occurrence, the shift in American popular culture towards an ever dumber version of itself, creates a situation where journalists must be part Walter Kronkite and part PT Barnum to gain a wide following beyond the “news junky” circuit.
Nowhere is this more evident than amongst conspiracy theorists. The validity of their respective messages aside, the theories they espouse are the bearded ladies and dog-faced boys of the modern political spectrum. While enticing to the casual passer-by, upon closer inspection, they are, more often than not, exposed for the bosh they are in due time.
That’s the beauty of conspiracies, though. They can never really be disproved, since anyone could be in on the plot. When someone discredits one, the response is easy: he or she has clearly been “gotten to.”
The coming years won’t be easy for anyone. In this space it took me to write this, our nation has entered yet another war, in Libya this time. I don’t care what you call it, when one country’s Air Force bombs another country, said countries are at war. You can see the hoof prints, do you really believe they are zebra tracks? If you do, I have some great ocean front property in Arizona I’d love to show you ...
A decision must be made. If we wish to be caught up in events that we are powerless to control, I submit to you that status quo is the way there. If we wish to be informed citizens who are capable of having a hand in the direction that our nation takes in the future, then we must make it a priority to stay informed at all times.
To do this, all we need to ask is one question: why?
I’m looking at you, Snooki.
