In my humble opinion, the coverage of the story about Lisa Nowak-- the NASA astronaut who was arrested for allegedly attempting to kidnap and kill a female air force captain who she perceived as a rival for the love of a male NASA astronaut--is journalism at its worst. I finally learned late yesterday how to change the channel of my TV at work (which was set to CNN by my predecessor) and endured no less than 25 separate repetitions of the story throughout the day.
I understand the lure of the words "love triangle" for most human beings, but the level of coverage this story has gotten is nothing short of overkill. One very unhappy, confused, disturbed woman attempted to do something which I'm sure she'll spend the rest of her life regretting. Or perhaps not. But as I watched the story being repeated every half hour on what is supposed to be a serious news channel, I kept shaking my head in disbelief. There are floods in Indonesia, wars in Africa, a House panel inquiry into misuse of Iraq reconstruction funds, and new talks with North Korea about its nuclear program. And the biggest story of the past two days was a female astronaut who flew off the handle.
It is a big story, I don't disagree. But the biggest? Surely not! Or am I missing something?
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6 comments:
I suppose the story of a scandalous "love triangle", especially one involving high profile NASA employees who supposedly are well educated and are "above that sort of thing", is a story that the average person can relate to. It shows that even the boffins are human. But I think CNN is belabouring the point a bit too much.
Maybe we need to cast the war, the reconstruction, etc. in the framework of human story. Human story is obviously what we relate to most, and perhaps long for... why do you suppose that is?
I really was expecting the New York Post to come up with a headline like "Astronut," or something similar. This is right up their alley. They live kind of thing. And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, they have Anna Nicole's still warm body to exploit for the next several days, if not longer. I don't know which is worse, the state of the press, or the state of the general public.
Ex-shammickte, LL, I agree. I think people are drawn to the human element in news, but they need to hold the media accountable for giving them the human element in stories like the floods in Indonesia, and even the G7 meeting happening now.
And Cyberoutlaw, you are so right. Now that there's a story with even more potential scandal out there, the NASA astronaut is forgotton, and it's all about Anna Nicole Smith. I think it's an unending cycle: the media gives the public what they want, and the public asks for more of the same because they don't know that it could be different.
STOP PRESS! 'Man marries ring doughnut' Fred McNugget said "She is great in bed but the sugar plays hell with the bed sheets" "In other news, a nuclear bombs was accidentally dropped on England today but back to Fred and his doughnut"
Hope you are okay and the job is great.
I am off to bed now!
Byeeeeee
We have definately reached the point where stories which pander have become the norm. It is still possible you find lots of excellent journalism, but it's not as easy as it used to be. My guess is that things will get even worse.
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