In the movie "Anchor Man" the news teams fought for the best position to see a Panda give birth.
In the movie "Bruce Almighty" Bruce used his Godly powers to create rating-exploding stories like meteors and dead bodies.
In real life Al Gore stands outside in a hurricane and its particularly incredible if he comes close to getting blown over.
Danger, the scoop, the spectacle, the experience, the competition- the lack of intelligence, originality, and criticism; these things are what the TV news does and does not come down to. People don't like to think about what people don't want to think about, but we'll spend consecutive days on end discussing the shock factor of Michael Jackson's death or Britney Spears shaving her head. We'll end everyone's day on the local news networks with crime and death. Scandal sells as reality because true reality is too scandalous. This makes no sense! Somewhere along the line some hegemonic powers decided the general news consuming public wasn't smart and from there on out a dumbing down of the news and news topics, or censorship as Bordieu refers to it, has taken place. There are no experts, there are no educated writers because they are manipulated, competed with and broadcast. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE WORLD OF RECOGNIZED ACCOMPLISHMENT? WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE RECOGNITION OF INTELLIGENCE, WHETHER AGREED WITH OR NOT? WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE NEWS?
Does News even truly exist anymore? I can pick up twenty different newspapers that have all the same stories. I can flip through thirty different news stations and see all the same stories. What I hear on the 5 o clock news I'll hear on the 11 o clock news and I can read it in tomorrow morning's paper. Oh, but of course, none of it is the same. The Sentinel will say something different than The Post. Fox will say something different than MSNBC. These media relationships Bordieu describes are not due to competition or criticism it is all MONEY, RATINGS. He makes an incredible point discussing the differences (vive le differance!) for example big popular shows on Broadway and avant-garde off-broadway productions. I took a playwrighting class once. I read tons of scripts for plays I had never heard of before. Why? It is exactly what Bordieu says, Symbolic Expression, Symbolic Revolution.
LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN! Wage war on totality...in this case total stupidity!
Revolutions are caused by the minority, the organization of those unsatisfied with the status quo. This minority exists in those off broadway shows, in intelligence and intellect. Symbolic revolution changes the way we think according to Bordieu. Damn right it does. There's nothing revolutionary about your new reality TV show concept. Boundaries are only boldly crossed until the second step is taken. (And I hope you all make the theorist references in here without my having to say their names)
I don't watch the news. I don't read newspapers. I may not know what's going on, but I know I can form my own opinion on them once I find out.
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1 comment:
You bring up some valid points about the nature of news today; it seeks to depict an aspect of entertainment over true professional journalism. These different news stations take the time to, like you do, form their own opinion, on what happens and then exploit it in such a way to get the most rankings. Great incite and well written! :)
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