May 17: CABLE NEWS AS THEATRE


     Today was definitely a "headache" day. Not because of fatigue or illness, but because this critic watched Cable News for eight straight hours. A lot of Breaking News was currently exploding: The Trade War with China; a possible war with Iran; Alabama's law against abortion; the death of architect I.M. Pei at age 102. Of course, provocative and/or upsetting news explodes every day, it seems. But Friday, May 17 was different. This was the day yours truly realized that the events which stood out and seemed especially important were all about death, including figurative as well as literal ones. It reminds us of the policy that broadcast news always followed even before Cable News: "If it bleeds, it leads."
     The news today was no doubt sensational, each in its own way, with salient consequences. And on Cable News, at least, its presentation was "over the top," delivered by hosts, reporters and pundits in often exaggerated, passionate ways. The stories came with attitudes expressed by specific viewpoints and ideology. Participants were interrupting  each other, sometimes screaming. 
     And the TV viewers, like this critic, were screaming back at times, thinking the "performers" could hear them, getting upset at the thought of war  with Iran, paying more for goods caused by the Trade War taxes , feeling that Roe v. Wade may be overturned due to the Alabama law. Sad that I.M. Pei, one of the world's greatest architect, was gone.
     No wonder people had a "headache."
     Like it or not,  this kind of news sounds like "Yellow Journalism" (during the days of print media run by Hearst and Pulizar starting in the 1890's ): exaggerations of news; scandal-mongering; eye-catching headlines. Years later, when Cable News became popular, Professor Todd Gitlin commented that everyone wants to be entertained by the news. Most viewers want to consume news that goes down easy yet evokes feelings.
     It seems like both print and broadcast news have not essentially changed. Cable News, particularly, just
got more  energized (even manic ), dramatic and theatrical. All news channels have their share of animated journalists, but it  is Cable News  which calls attention to itself: consider particularly Chris Cuomo and at times Don Lemon on CNN. It is Fox News and MSNBC which predominate, however. Yet for all the excitement these "hosts" generate, Lawrence O'Donnell ( MSNBC ) seems calm in comparison. We listen instead to what he says and the poetic rhetoric  he delivers rather than how he says it.
     But then Friday, May 17 broke this pattern. In reporting  Eric Garner's  murder by New York police, O'Donnell repeated on air what Garner  said as he was being choked. O'Donnell restated " I can't breathe" 11 times, just as the victim had done, each recap becoming a death toll. Now this was REALLY a dramatic delivery. Was it news? Was this a performance? 
     Was this performance art in the context of news? You bet it was.
     You can hardly get more theatrical than that.

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