TV's overplaying Karr story -- and news directors know it

[BurtWorm]

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45&aid=106529

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2006

Boston Globe
But the John Mark Karr story is easy to cover, and TV news execs have obviously decided they can attract and hold viewers by making the lurid case a news staple, says Scot Lehigh. "It's hard to avoid the conclusion that their bottom-line judgment amounts to this: Many of our viewers can't separate the important from the trivial -- and they will change the channel if we do that for them."
Posted at 11:53:59 AM

[al bupp]

1. News Flash

Nobody ever lost money (or lost an election, for that matter) under-estimating the intelligence, attention-span or prurient interests of the American public.

Sad, but true.

[BurtWorm]

3. We need to be reminded now and again what contempt news directors

hold for their audiences.

[al bupp]

9. Agreed

And we also need to remind those news directors that many of us are fed-up w/ what they think passes for news. Here's a way:

http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/reportrealnews

[Dhalgren]

2. Jesus, this is really the way it is in this country.

"...viewers can't separate the important from the trivial -- and they will change the channel if we do that for them."

What can you do, politically, with a public like this?

[tsuki]

4. Ask the average American how many have died in Iraq and they don't

know. But ask them what Karr ate on the plane, and they all know. Sad.

[Syncronaut Seven]

12. 2619 and counting

I always know, at the conclusion of the day, so does everyone else I have interacted with.

2619 and counting.

[AlCzervik]

5. our local news had a "Sound off" segment about the news coverage

people called and emailed in and the responses were overwhelmingly--"Enough is enough!"

[Sequoia]

6. Karr's a Rovian plant!

Ha, ha....bet he knew Neil Bush as they were both in Thailand crusing for kids. Okay so my tin foil hat is a mile tall but interesting when this story broke when it did. Nothing will surpise me as long as those demons are in the White House. Karr's fasicantion with JBR might've been the ticket to use.

[babylonsister]

7. Bottom line, they're all lazy as hell. The story is a no-brainer, and

no one chastizes them for too much. What pisses me off is they 'assume' this shit is what we want to see/hear.

[MrPrax]

10. Right said...

The part of the story I don't get is whether it is true?

The media corporations can SAY it's a bottom line consideration...whoever in a capitalist country is wrong for making money...but the excuse is predicated on whether or NOT this tactic actually succeeded in contributing to the bottom line. This part is always missing. If the director is insisting that this management decision was done with consideration to the 'bottom line', then prove it.

There is a measurement rating system and quite honestly I never believe this stuff unless evidence is provided that the audience viewership actually went up. I am pretty sure that saturation coverage of this event is probably quite cheap and that might be the 'bottom line' consideration.

It might be a case where the constant coverage might have driven away the audience and 'saturation' coverage of trivial events is, like you say, just laziness with a lame excuse or a concerted effort to trivialize the news so the Bigs can avoid substantive reporting that reflects poorly on the Adminstration's political record.

[Kickoutthejams23]

8. Larry King is the biggest waste of space.

He is an older creepier Maury Povich. Somebody needs to get him of CNN or at least get him Charlie Rose's booker.

[Bozita]

11. On Monday, CBC's "The National" gave Karr about 30 seconds

What's with Canada anyways? Don't they sell People magazine there?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

13. Speaking of "People".. on my airplane, to my vacation, I picked up a

celeb gossip magazine from the seat in front of me called "In Touch" or something like that.

The thing literally consisted of almost nothing but blurbs like "Paris Hilton and friends were spotted at trendy bar 'X' last week where they drank Cosmos until 3AM." That's it. Just a celeb pic, and a dutiful recounting of what bar/restaurant they were spotted at.

A magazine FILLED with just that. And about a third to half the blurbs were about Paris Hilton specifically, who is apparently the PERFECT celeb for mags like this since she is nothing more than a rich, photogenic person who has never done anything of note, and likes to be seen at parties and trendy spots.

Seeing the thing about Karr eating his first class dinner on the plane on TV made me think of that magazine.