Posted on 01/29/2006 9:20:51 AM PST by Pikamax
Ted Koppel Pens First Piece as 'NY Times' Columnist--Comes Out Swinging
By E&P Staff
Published: January 29, 2006 12:45 AM ET
NEW YORK In his first contribution after being named a New York Times columnist, former ABC newsman Ted Koppel declares, "I cannot help but see that the industry in which I have spent my entire adult life is in decline and in distress."
Koppel raps the new "calculated subjectivity" and forced empathy of cable news, and adds: "The accusation that television news has a political agenda misses the point. Right now, the main agenda is to give people what they want. It is not partisanship but profitability that shapes what you see."
But his view is that journalists "should be telling their viewers what is important, not the other way around. "
In a surprise conclusion, he suggests that perhaps rather than aiming news shows at the disinterested younger segment, the networks should focus on serving older consumers who actually are interested in serious news. (Is there a lesson for newspapers here?)
The goal for the traditional broadcast networks now "is to identify those segments of the audience considered most desirable by the advertising community and then to cater to them," Koppel writes. "Most television news programs are therefore designed to satisfy the perceived appetites of our audiences. That may be not only acceptable but unavoidable in entertainment; in news, however, it is the journalists who should be telling their viewers what is important, not the other way around.
"Indeed, in television news these days, the programs are being shaped to attract, most particularly, 18-to-34-year-old viewers. They, in turn, are presumed to be partly brain-dead though not so insensible as to be unmoved by the blandishments of sponsors.
"Most particularly on cable news, a calculated subjectivity has, indeed, displaced the old-fashioned goal of conveying the news dispassionately. But that, too, has less to do with partisan politics than simple capitalism." Koppel knocks CNN's new emphasis on journalism-by-empathy, and observes: "Even Fox News's product has less to do with ideology and more to do with changing business models...
"Now, television news should not become a sort of intellectual broccoli to be jammed down our viewers' unwilling throats. We are obliged to make our offerings as palatable as possible. But there are too many important things happening in the world today to allow the diet to be determined to such a degree by the popular tastes of a relatively narrow and apparently uninterested demographic....
"If the network news divisions cannot be convinced that their future depends on attracting all demographic groups, then perhaps, at least, they can be persuaded to aim for the largest single demographic with the most disposable income one that may actually have an appetite for serious news. That would seem like a no-brainer. "
Shows us how much he knows about real news audiences. I believe they have tried this for 30 years or more. It's not as if we can't find out the truth about what is important to us without them. He and his "friends" are just po'd because they can't CONTROL what THEY THINK IS IMPORTANT TO VIEWERS.
It became obvious to me during the first Nixon Administration.
"Indeed, in television news these days, the programs are being shaped to attract, most particularly, 18-to-34-year-old viewers. They, in turn, are presumed to be partly brain-dead though not so insensible as to be unmoved by the blandishments of sponsors.
I suspect this part of his screed is true.
Ah, now I understand. The reason the news is losing viewership is NOT because of partisanship but it's because of profitability. How does that work? I mean, if you are only interested in profitability and giving people what they want, why are you losing viewers?
Time and time again, for example, he sat with Soviet mouthpieces, uncritically sucking down their propagandist spew as if it were an accurate representation of a valid point of view. He appeared to be oblivious to the transparent spin going on in front of him.
The only other venue he ever chaired was a risibly self-serving circle-jerk in which he and several of his "journalist" peers preened and posed as if examining themselves, while in the end always deciding that in fact they were objective, important, nay indispensible tutors to the education of the lumpen-viewership to whom they vouchsafed their services.
Now, even though he has been left in the dust by the very populace he insults, he still believes it is up to him and his lamebrain colleagues.
In recognition of these and other amazing performances, I nominate Ted Koppel for a special Lifetime Achievement, Flaming Anus Award, media category.
or subjective adjectives while reading the news.
"Objectivity" is a subversive activity at Columbia School of Journalism.
Koppel is an aging news-slut
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