LAST WEEK I flipped on CNN after I got home from classes, expecting to hear the latest update on Iraq, or what was going on in Turkey after the first Islamist president was elected after decades of secular rule. Instead, I watched "the most trusted name in news" excitedly read off the ever-so-taboo details of now former Senator Craig's star-crossed bathroom romance. Then, CNN updated me on the astronaut love triangle. For a moment I felt as if I were back at my high school cafeteria busily gossiping over the tawdry details of last weekend. Surely these stories rank last in relevance and importance to domestic and world affairs.
Then, I decided to check the headlines of online newspapers. Al-Jazeera, one of the Middle East's most highly respected news sources, had articles of substance and relevance to their audience. With the "most viewed" articles entitled "No American President can stand up to Israel" and "Bush's new war for Iran," clearly Americans should be at least as concerned with Middle Easterners as they are with us. Not necessarily for reasons of national security, either. The more we understand the "other," the better we can engage them in productive discussion about international issues. This would be much more effective than demonizing a people because we don't bother to understand their history, their culture, and their concerns.
The American media will retort they wouldn't cover stories that people wouldn't watch. People love human interest stories -- ones they identify with. This explains why local news media always seem to find a story about the pet that miraculously saved its owner. More than anything, though, people love watching the famous, rich and powerful fall from grace.
The Germans call it "schadenfreude," meaning to take pleasure in other's misfortune. When a "family values"-touting Republican senator solicits anonymous sex in a bathroom stall, the hypocrisy is simply too much to bear. It makes sense for the media to cover stories such as this. It makes less sense when they read the undercover cop's play-by-play account of what happened in that fateful airport bathroom. It becomes embarrassing when the media obsesses over it at the expense of covering less entertaining, but infinitely more important, news.
In the same vein, every mainstream American news source is fascinated with the astronaut women fighting over the astronaut male. Perhaps the public had a right to know about an elected politician's illegal transgressions, but the country need not concern itself with a love triangle that only receives news coverage because of the profession of the those involved..
It is difficult to blame the media, though. In a world where every hack has his or her own blog, major news sources attempt to compete and stay interesting through tabloid-esque stories like the ones mentioned above. The media must still pay homage to the holy dollar. Perhaps they do have a responsibility to the American public -- but they surely have no responsibility if no one cares to watch.
The difficult truth is that the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of the American people. If people stopped purchasing millions of issues of National Enquirer and OK! every year, maybe CNN and NBC and the local newspapers would dare to cover stories that deal with complex issues.
If we lived in Zimbabwe or China where democracy does not exist and the newspapers receive their stories in cute packages tied up with string from their thoughtful governments, then I suppose it wouldn't matter what Americans concerned themselves with. But the great motto of a democracy is "pay attention." Pay attention, that is, to what is important.
In our voyeuristic society, it is difficult to escape the ubiquitous tabloid magazines and television "breaking news" stories about what is going on in celebrities' private lives. Our society will be much better off for every person who stops watching Entertainment Tonight. Or better yet -- everyone should just turn the television off. I guarantee you won't miss much.
Marta Cook is a Cavalier Daily Associate Editor. She can be reached at mcook@cavalierdaily.com.
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