After many happy years in London, I reluctantly agreed to return to the US for no good reason (a job). I grudgingly let go of my flat, the rent rendered silly by the weakest dollar since man walked upright, and decamped in a state of hopeful melancholy, alighting on the Upper West Side of New York.
If you stayed above 66th St. and away from the skyline blight of Trumpville, far west, nothing drastic had changed. The ubiquity of Starbucks did not alarm me, though the Duane Reed epidemic was a cause for concern. A bank on every corner seemed incongruous with the growth of internet banking. (When was the last time I had actually been in a bank?) I applauded the unexpected re-emergence of the cupcake, but predict that unbridled growth of the cupcake as retail destination will only end in tears and broken leases.
Minor differences, all, and my re-entry progressed without incident until I turned on the television and realized I had not just moved back to New York. I was in America. Gone were the sober BBC journalists who brought gravitas to real news and never mentioned Paris Hilton. Goodbye to irreverent network television where cynicism, four-letter words and the occasional bare breast were de rigueur and not a matter of national crisis, expansive news coverage, and general hand-wringing and tut-tuting among the populace.
Real alarm bells went off when the untimely but unsurprising demise of (unfortunate) train wreck Anna Nicole apparently warranted 24/7 news coverage. This, despite the fact that she was not lost in the woods, on the verge of being dead, or being held hostage. She was just plain already dead. Oh, and had been famous for nothing more than marrying a rich old man. And though predictably covered reverentially on Larry King ad infinitum, the network news, morning shows, and even CNN slavishly reported on the biggest non-story in memory. With no intellectual, political or even entertainment value, the "story" was ceaselessly, moronically, boringly covered.
I scratched my head. What was the explanation for this, who was to blame? As all these news outlets are first and foremost businesses, one can assume that their viewers want this coverage and they obligingly, sheepishly provide it. (At least I hope they feel sheepish). Even the serious print outlets, to appear to maintain some modicum of sanity and retain some cred, resorted to reporting on the crazy amount of reporting of the story thereby ... reporting on the story.
When did we become the single nosiest, most prurient population on Earth? I thought the UK had perfected this, with the infamous Red Tops peering around every corner, personified by News Corps' Sun newspaper. And though the UK can give us a run for the money in print, we have them outclassed in "entertainment" television -- Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, and on and on. Not to mention tmz.com, perez hilton, and what's that site that's kind of a Google maps for instant celebrity stalking?
So I'm here to say that the US can now claim global primacy in this area. How proud we must be. And it's a good thing we can add something to the "we are tops in all things" list, as Steven Weber recently reported here that the Dutch are now taller than us. So, balance redressed. We'll save the discussion about math and science skills for another day.
And when we've run out of the usual actors/singers/models/sports stars fodder... the networks have conveniently provided a whole new content sector in the form of reality tv "celebrities". Churning out an endless stream of shows, about 5% have entertainment value with the other 95% of interest only as (negative) sociological phenomena. I think it's a case for Malcolm Gladwell or Steven Levitt, a study of supply and demand, creation and consumption of people famous for doing nothing, funnily or annoyingly or embarrassingly, for a public that can't get enough.
But I digress. Back to the "real" news, and Americentrism. Ever since I moved to London during the early days of the Gulf War and experienced its coverage on both continents, I can't get enough of non-American news. So many other countries and so many other viewpoints, tragedies, ideas, successes, eccentricities, atrocities, kindnesses. So much wonderful differentness. I certainly don't find that breadth of coverage on US television news. So thankfully I can still tune into CNN International or catch the BBC World News or keep my French up with France 2's nightly newscast (where they've had a female anchor for eons, Katie, by the way). Americentrism helps no one, particularly us. And it's just not as interesting.
I also like a newscast without perky former prom king and queen presenters (said Katie is unfairly maligned as the poster child for this when there are so many others.) I like the ones that are plain drop-dead smart. And what's with all the shouting on these shows? (We Americans are notoriously loud, all the foreigners talk about it). I find the forced hilarity and general bonhomie on these newscasts misplaced. Just give me the facts ma'am. Jon Stewart makes the cut and while there is a fair deal of shouting the hilarity is of course the point and very welcome as it is the result of the presence irony, that's I-R-O-N-Y. The Brits, it must be said, are really good at that.
So Dear Reader, you may already have the biggest of world views, tolerant, balanced and embracing of different cultures and viewpoints. But if you feel you could use a little improvement in this area, and can't we all, please throw some international television news into your weekly media mix. I suppose you'll have to squeeze in a little Tammy Faye time this week, too.
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