Or Knee-Jerk???
It has become apparent to the jaded corner of my eye, that the big news blog-job du semaine is Brian Williams inability to come to terms with what an RPG IS.
To be Frank (Reynolds)(newscaster), I actually spent more time reading about Bobbi Kristina this week. Wouldn't it be actually more interesting to find out what actually happened in that situation, than to explore the shock equivalent to what carpets can give you, to discover dishonest high-profile journalism?
Bobby Brown's sister broke a wine bottle over her nephews head because he called her a crackhead. (I would love to discover that she wailed "Look who's a crackhead now!")
And the commenters who follow the story are, for the most part, folks typing to the deaf ears of the Houston/Brown families: "It's not about you!"
Is it any surprise that the general audience vaccumms the pertinent reality about an event to make it about the broadcaster? And vice versa. I remember watching Rather covering shockandawe, and seeing the expression on his face change when he realized the camera was rolling.
Remember when Peter Arnett was the very face of Iraq.v1? Until he wasn't. When CNN was this hot news channel?
In the decade or so that I have been without television, I often visited a couple that was always riveted to NBC or MSNBC. When I saw that Brian Williams was scheduled to document his knee surgery, I remarked on the ridiculousness of it. And one of the couple-having had knee surgery herself-defended it.
There is a symbiosis between the viewer and the viewed: Yes, it is about you.