News devolves into entertainment, and the public suffers
Like many baby boomers, I grew up watching the Sunday morning news shows. “Meet the Press,” “Face the Nation,” “This Week” and other network programs were a regular part of my television diet. I trusted and held in high regard the impartiality and journalistic integrity of the anchors of these shows: David Brinkley, Tim Russert and Bob Schieffer.
These broadcasts were informative and an important source of news. Unfortunately, all of this changed when the entertainment side of each network assumed control over news programming. Talking heads and partisan advocates preaching their agenda now dominate these shows. Each of these programs is full of contentious and adversarial skirmishes, and efforts to expose “gotcha” moments.
It is not surprising, therefore, that current events often are reduced to horse races and other sports metaphors.
As a result, watching these Sunday broadcasts is frustrating. While titillating and rhetorically helping create a melodrama, the projections and speculations by these pundits are hardly newsworthy and do nothing to inform and educate the public about the serious issues facing the nation. Instead, talking heads focus on political gamesmanship.
It saddens me that in my lifetime news has become entertainment, with the networks motivated by the goal of capturing a larger audience share — something further fueled by the formation of cable networks such as CNN and Fox News.
Concurrent with all of this is the fact that Americans no longer trust the news media. While Walter Cronkite was perceived to be the most trusted man in America, we now view the networks as partisan and biased.
As tempting as it is to blame the loss of trust in the media on President Donald Trump, who has consistently spoken about “fake news” and declared the media the “enemy,” this situation existed long before he became president. Trump simply exploited and took advantage of this state of affairs.
Aside from the obvious conclusion that the development of an entertainment mentality diluted news coverage, the impact on public dialogue also has been significant. It is more than a coincidence that during this same period of time our society is more polarized and public discourse less civil. And with the advent of the internet and social media, the degeneration of public dialogue has become more profound. Even our personal relationships are suffering; friendships have been threatened and, in some cases, destroyed by this political rancor.
It probably would be unfair to blame all of this on the media. I am not so naïve as to believe that the cause of the problem is the change in how the news is conveyed by television networks. However, whether news coverage is the cause or a symptom of increased polarization and rhetorical incivility, research in communication has long documented the agenda-setting function of the media. Surely, the television networks are cognizant of this phenomenon.
Unfortunately, as long as television networks are preoccupied with efforts to acquire a larger audience share, it is hard to see how we can return to a more traditional reporting of the news. Although there may be no such thing as pure “objectivity” when it comes to the presentation of news, it is clear that the media’s profit motive is inherently at odds with a more objective and detached news reporting.
Perhaps like many of my generation I have a romanticized view of news shows from years gone by. Nevertheless, I would like to think that the media might become more self-reflective about their responsibility to convey the news objectively, as well as aware of the effects of their news programming. The outstanding question is whether in a profit-oriented world self
reflection will result in fundamental changes in news broadcasting.