Too many hours, Not enough news

Everyone complains about the 24-7 news cycle. A common complaint is that there isn’t enough real news to justify round-the-clock reporting. Whether its Fox, MSNBC, CNN or any other station, we get the same old news rehashed over and over again, and when even the newscasters can’t stand it anymore, we get stuff that isn’t even news—stuff that a few decades ago would have been called anecdotes, at best.

CNN didn’t so much fill a need, but rather created a product, and little did they know that someday that product would be bigger than Coke—and even tastier. CNN’s initial broadcast began at 5:00 P.M., on June 1, 1980, because even on the first day of 24-hour news, there was only about five hours of news to relate. Today, the airways are saturated with cable news programs.

Some of the people doing the very least in government are making the very most of being heard, telling us, in  short sound bite clips, what they think, which is usually what they think their constituents want them to be thinking about.

But the biggest problem resulting from never-ending news reporting is not that there isn’t enough news. The biggest problem is that for a lot of politicians, getting elected is the endgame. To do any less is seen as failure; to do any more is seen as a non-priority. The best way to get elected is to make the news. And the best way to make the news is to say something outlandish that someone else will hear, record and repeat.

We are told that money is speech, and as with all things money, inflation plays a role real speech. There’s a lot of speech being spent and it is all practically worthless. The key is to say something so worthless that it can only rise in value. Value to who? Value to a news station with 1500 minutes of air time to fill. Sometimes a politician will even have to make a fool of himself but no one ever said politics was easy.

There was a time when men and women went to Washington to do something. People told their representatives what they thought and those representatives put those ideas into legislation—something so rare in Washington these days that Parker Pens is said to be bailouts to compensate them for losses incurred by fewer bill-signings.

To win a national election, an individual might have to run on his record, but a candidate in a gerrymandered district can be elected or reelected by merely catering to his ideological base. Legislation that would please the base is generally out of the question because a nation is bigger than an ideological base—and is, in general, looking for more than a narrow-minded answer to big problems. But that doesn’t stop someone from talking.

It wasn’t that long ago that access to a microphone was limited to big name, recognizable politicians  who could stand on a record of accomplishments.

Sam Irvin had a long Senate career before he became a household name by chairing the committee to investigate Watergate—an actual scandal that resulted in real consequences. The Watergate break-in occurred on June 17, 1972. The Senate Committee investigating it convened on May 17, 1973 and ex-president Nixon was on a plane home by August 9, 1974. That is the definition of getting to the bottom of things.

Today, everything is called a scandal and every so-called scandal is investigated and those so-called investigations are discussed daily on cable news. Why? Why to win the next election, obviously.

James Fulbright was elected to the Senate in 1944. By 1946, Legislation bearing his name established the Fulbright Program to promote cultural education opportunities to over 350,000 individuals, many of whom have gone on to win Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes. For over 30 years he was a major force in the Senate. Maybe, if they had 24-hour news shows in those days, he would have been a frequent visitor, but my guess is he would have been too busy doing things.

The Senator getting the most attention today is Ted Cruz (TX), who in two years hasn’t had his name attached to any significant legislation but can be seen daily on the cable news networks. Some of his most newsworthy appearances have him reading a child’s book on the Senate floor. By most standards, he hasn’t done much in the Senate except try to shut the government down, but his supporters love him. One can only assume they love him for what he says on TV and not what he does in the Senate.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle have found homes on cable news; and cable news on both sides of the political spectrum have found politicians willing to drop in.

No, 24-hour news is not all it was cracked up to be. It’s either no news, old news or opinion, and worse—opinion that usually coincides with our own opinion. To paraphrase Dylan, listening to them is like listening to me. It is self-serving entertainment—self-serving for the reporters, for those being reported on, and for the listener being reported to; but it’s definitely not news.