Month: April 2013

Ok.. I know I should cut Boston some slack. The teenage Marathon Bomber is in the hands of the police. The older one is dead. There is much deserved relief among Bostonians and their suburban neighbors. Thank the gods & goddesses that these terrorists have been stopped from further mayhem. Then why does last night’s flag-waving, anthem singing, bare-chested celebration seem so “un” seemly. I ask myself what would I have done (sorry, can’t ask Jesus… he’s dead). Would I have been there in a frenzied chest-thumping mob singing and publicly celebrating like the mob broadcast on TV? Where were the TV networks when probably most of Boston stayed quiet and solemn in their homes with the sad acknowledgment that this type of terror in America will probably not be the last. That’s not really something to celebrate. 

Rather than celebrate, evidenced by the screaming, singing, dancing of the televised mob, I’m sure many Bostonians took this time to reflect, to hug their children in love more than celebration. But televising such a scene would not make good television. 

The News…how much is too much?

The non-stop coverage of the tragic terror bombing in Boston by major cable and network TV news organizations is exploitative, wringing ratings bounty from tragedy in exchange for dubious reports of speculation, rumor, interviews with terror experts, maudlin personal accounts of victims by family, friends and neighbors. All disguised as “news.” News that the American public, as deemed by the media, supposedly needs in massive overdoses. And needs and needs more and more and more.  Of course an event as horrific as a public bombing has to be covered as real news. But as soon as one of these violent events occur the media rolls out its pre-fab boiler plate disaster template replete with catchy “name,” The Boston Bombing.” Identify victims to highlight with personal profiles, reporters hang out in front of victims’ homes, conduct special interviews of neighbors. When all the relatives’ anguish, privacy and mourning has been exhausted then bring on Rudy Giuliani.  We’ve seen it all before..again and again. We watch the replays of the disasters over and over, the weeping relatives, the long-faced newscasters.  Wolf Blitzer fluffing his audience into an orgy of visual TV engorgement with his perfectly timed “This just in.. Breaking News… on top of breaking breaking breaking news; Anderson Cooper grim-faced with practiced reverent vocalizations of sympathy… Stay tuned we’ll be right back with more on this developing story ……Stay tuned… Stay tuned… Right after this commercial message from Teenna Twist stop-the-leaks-panty pads. 

We’re back with newsbabe Stacey So’enso.. From box cutters to pressure cookers, let’s discuss… Joining me now is the spokesperson for the National Association of Pressure Cookers. 

Let the news just be news. 

The constant attempts to squeeze out a story from the slimmest of facts; the milking of a tragedy by repeated looping of horrific bloody videos; the frenzied pursuit of interviews with “experts” on any imaginable subject with the barest of relevance to the crime adds up not to legitimate news coverage but instead an attempt to stoke a morbid and prurient public hunger for a bloody insatiable feast on the aftermath of unspeakable tragedy.