At a committee meeting yesterday, Senator Jay Rockefeller went off on the news media (video below). The irony is that Senator Rockefeller’s remarks made perfect fodder for the news media. Rockefeller said “There’s a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to Fox and to MSNBC, ‘Out. Off. End. Goodbye.’” And look—he knew enough to put his comments in nice short, sound bytes for the cable news shows! Rockefeller said getting rid of Fox and MSNBC would “be a big favor to political discourse.” Actually, endless discussion of the facts wouldn’t be so much of a problem, if anybody were presenting the facts first. At this point, cable news viewers are exposed to more opinion than reality. But then, a lot of the opinions being expressed couldn’t survive exposure to reality.Rockefeller also criticized the blurring of news and entertainment. So, Jay Rockefeller says that news has become entertainment. Big deal. Now, if Lady Gaga or Justin Beiber had said the same thing, we’d be talking. He said “our news media has all but surrendered to the forces of entertainment.” Gee, maybe somebody will edit his comments to a drumbeat and make a rap song out of it. Or perhaps those people in Taiwan who animate news stories will do one of their cartoons of Rockefeller saying that.
One of Rockefeller’s points was that the media is “in a race to the bottom.” If there is a race to the bottom, the smart betting money has got to be on Fox News to win. Fox News President Roger Ailes says that President Barack Obama has a “different belief system than most Americans.” If he’s referring to the belief system pushed by Fox, I have news for Roger Ailes—most Americans don’t believe your belief system. (Did I just say “I have news for Roger Ailes”? That’s obviously pointless. The last thing Roger Ailes has any use for is news.)
Finally, Senator Rockefeller said “As citizens, we are paying one heck of a price in the dumbing down of America.” I don’t think he was referring to our cable bill, but that’s a good point. We’re paying for the dumbing down of America twice. We’re losing our democracy, and it’s costing us something like $100 a month! And that’s only with one premium channel! The good news is that if you have a decent cable provider, you can experience the dumbing down of America on-demand for free as part of your cable service!
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