Today's Living Room War

If we had been committed TV viewers watching the Vietnam War, we would have known it as "The Living Room War," based on its qualities of intimacy and frequency. Today, news broadcasts, while not aways about a war, have those similar elements. Yet they exist for different reasons.

     Back in the day, "intimacy" meant watching the same group of soldiers and their often- daily exploits. We came to know them. We came to care about them. They were the main "characters" leading the parade. Presently, such characters in a newscast are the hosts or broadcasters themselves, not the topics. These individuals are those who carry the dramatic weight, and we look forward each day to seeing and hearing them: people who have potent personalities, like Fareed Zakaria, Sean Hanity, Rachel Maddow and loads of others, who cover  broad  demographics based on race, gender, sexual preference and political ideology, among other aspects.

       Regardless of these diverse characteristics, however,  they are essentially broadcasters whom we like ( meaning we agree with them on most things and share their values ). And while we may also find their programs provocative, uplifting and even outrageous, it is not WHAT they say most often that makes their broadcasts valuable. It is their manner or style of delivering a topic: their posture, gestures, facial  expressions, eye contact and their vocal paralanguage ( voice quality ). Even the clothes they wear.

     Yet, it's  not  only the fact that Tucker Carlson ( Fox News ) and Rachel Maddow ( MSNBC ) have a definitive and animative  style, complete with expressive  gestures and facial grimaces to make their points, thus  getting our attention. It is also their passion and apparent spontaneity  ( although Ms. Maddow, for one, writes her copy before going on the air. Her content is not impromptu, but still gives the impression of being so). Ms. Maddow's black dress is also an important stylistic quality, communicating authority, truthfulness and also the willingness to be different and "out-there."  It is a contradictory element that allows Ms. Maddow to be playful as well as strict.

    ( By the way, Ms. Maddow's verbal expressions are just as playful and would fit in appropriately with the first two "Media Matters" blogs covering the use of WORD IMAGERY. For example, consider her recent term, "Stick a Pin in That," after summarizing a political point.)

    Pinpointing what  really makes people like Rachel Maddow stand out, however, is to revisit the first trait connecting current news broadcasts to "The Living Room War": INTIMACY.

Many of us feel as though we are actually in the studio with her, sharing the same space and, most importantly, the same concerns and apprehensions. We wait with her as she anticipates receiving  a Filing Memo about Michael Cohen. We know she will go over it, line-by-line, with us live on the air. Yes, her program is like a class, but we are the only student.   We both agree and disagree with her conclusions. We egg her on.

     Last week, Ms. Maddow shared the fact that it was her parent's anniversary, which had nothing to do with the political topic she was rendering. She also told the same information to her news colleague, Lawrence O'Donnell, who would be following her at the next hour, calling him, like she often does, "my friend, " as her image  took up the space next to his in a split screen. Now this is real intimacy, both literally and figuratively.