|
|
I heard a report on the radio yesterday as we headed out to supper. According to a poll, 90% of American's still believe the United States is the greatest country in the world. I mumbled something like "that's too bad" under my breath and Sarah took me to task on it.
I remarked to Sarah that the way the question was asked could make a considerable difference. Just about everybody working in politics knows this. So too, do the demographic researchers who create these studies to help to sway opinions by couching questions to generate a favorable response.
Given an attempt to widely cover events, most of our 'serious' media sources (news, commentary and entertainment [which used to be mainly sports unless you lived in a metropolitan area]) are stuck following up the news generated by other local and national media outlets, with few (if any) doing 'serious' national coverage. For most outlets, there hasn't been any real local competition for a long time.
The good old days of the mid twentieth century have been merged and we no longer have strong, sometimes independent, often well funded and always competing news and commentary systems in our nations biggest cities. Thirty years ago, when newspapers still ruled the roost, areas with a couple hundred thousand people were nearly guaranteed to have two stable and independent news gathering organizations, usually with well represented opinions on how things should be. The carving up of the print media by monoliths has taken care of that problem. Once you have have two sources for everything in a modern corporation, you standardize on one for cost efficiency and investor happiness.
This leads to a bland sameness.
I believe that this need for distinction led the local TV news in LA to become bizarre (unique?). Out here, they long ago threw common sense and restraint overboard in a rush to be different. I don't know how it happened, but by '87 (when we moved back to SoCal from North Carolina) most of the important local stations had moved to cable deals and had created a 4p to 7p news time. Once you have so many shows, you need to pay for them, which becomes a commercial question, so you start to market yourself. Over time, the marketing has to become sensational in order to get people to pay attention when other, serious distractions arise. This kind of nuttiness creates the kind of phenomenon we all know as "Freeway Chases".
Sadly, this seems to have become a nationwide fad. We stayed in Raleigh and on the Outer Banks last summer and I watched the evening news from Norfolk and Raleigh. It was interesting to see the shift after not seeing TV there for fifteen years.
So goes modern marketing. Speaking of which, it may not be as modern as I've always thought of it. Recent material suggests that it's been with us all along, it's just never been easier to get your message drilled into the head of everyone in a country in such a short period of time. The marketing profession has always fascinated me. I understand a lot of what marketing people do, much of the way it's done and can even see the why. I just couldn't exist in an environment in which I had to do it.
Nearly all of our modern politics outside of fliers and community events are directly influenced by the media we are exposed to and for most, that comes from TV. Local TV here long ago went nearly entirely national (with the rest dedicated to local human interest) in an effort to get national marketing dollars; the only way to get a local issue mentioned on a local TV station is to get big headlines in the papers or lots of play on the radio.
Thirty years ago the media lost its mind following Watergate. They kept trying to duplicate the incredible ratings bonanza, which was impossible because it was an isolated blip. A significant portion of the media has been chasing that ghost even since. I understand this. The Watergate hearings got me watching them regularly as a teenager; I didn't know exactly why, but it seemed important. Just as watching the Apollo 11 moon landing meant it was OK to stay up all night even though I was only ten. Something really big was afoot.
Under these conditions, it has become a pay to play system. Political money has become marketing dollars. The person with the most compelling advertisement campaign wins, often without serious rebuttal (because that money remains is usually spent on a campaign which may or may not work). Where money was once spent buying advisors who could help translate a message to the masses, and in some cases to create a message for the masses, these days that money goes towards contracts with corporations that do political marketing.
I love this country. Still do. I gave up nine years of freedom to serve in the armed forces. During the first six years, I had the unique opportunity to travel all over the world. I learned many things, saw numerous forms of government and learned a significantly broader perspective. Visits to Israel and Egypt played a part in shaping that perspective as did being a target inside the Line Of Death (LOD) when we shot down the Libyan fighters, being called upon to do guard duty when Sadat was assassinated, conversations with close friends about the Persion gulf incursion and a number of other incidents that have cost friendships. I came back believing this was the best country in the world and having evidence to back it up.
Our most significant fault has always been the idea that we understand exactly what other nations need to do to remake themselves in our image. No can do Buckaroo. Less meddling and more guidance would be a good thing.
I'm still hopeful that we're going to make a direction change that will help us break out of this myopic funk. If not, we'll teeter for a while on the verge of being democratic and collapse as have so many other great civilizations. We'll also leave behind a great deal of anecdotal information.
Posted by Dave at July 4, 2003 11:55 PM