Fear! Its All the (Ratings) Rage

Photo credit: valleywag.com

by Guest Contributor Brian Robinson

There is no doubt that Americans are feeling the economic pinch these days. As evidence of this in my life, I am spending more time at home at my lunch hour. I am mostly in my car moving around during the day, and while its easier to just grab a bite out and about, these days its more economical for me to swing back by home or take a sack lunch with me. The other day, while eating lunch at home, I was watching MSNBC. Like all 24 hour “news” stations they are getting laughably ridiculous in their efforts to make sure they have “content” to fill the day. But, lately, I have noticed a marked reliance on including an element of fear in as many stories as possible.

On this particular afternoon there was an interview about deflation (falling prices over a period of time) and how it can be bad for the economy. There was some anonymous “expert” giving information on the topic. All of the sudden I hear this guy say “Well deflation can be bad. Yes, this is only based on ONE month’s numbers, but if this were to continue FOR YEARS ON END it could be devastating to the economy.” He actually said “for years on end,” I kid you not and I am not paraphrasing. Who in the hell is thinking that deflation or inflation in the United States (or most any country in the world, with the exception of Zimbabwe perhaps) will last for “years on end?” Are we anywhere near that right now? So, gas prices went down. Good news, but somehow they are extrapolating disaster from that ONE trend in that ONE sector. So, why all the fearful hand wringing about something that no reasonable person should be that concerned about today? Ratings, that’s why.

It appears the easiest way to ratings gold is to keep your audience worried, frightened, off-balance and fretful. That way they will come to your network for the answers that will make their lives serene and calm every nerve. Um, no. Sorry. Its not working. Statements like that “expert” made are, on the face of it, just plainly ridiculous. If you listen closely, its as though he was coached to couch his statement with an alarmist statement, even if it really didn’t fit in the presentation. “For years on end?” Well, isn’t it true anything that relies on an equilibrium for survival will fail if anything out of balance exists for a prolonged period? His statement is amazingly facile. You know, I just had a glass of water, which is good in the short run. But if I keep on drinking glass after glass for hours or days on end, I could actually DIE from it!! EEEEKKKK!! Head for zee hills!!”

MSNBC, Fox News, CNN and their accompanying parent networks are all peddlers of fear. I guess its most saddening because Fox News based their entire existence on this style, and now its become the standard for most TV news shows. Everything on Fox is “Breaking News” and some kind of “Alert!” Although, to be fair, I only see snippets of their broadcasts these days via You Tube or at someone’s home or office. I long ago refused to buy into their version of reality. But, if I apply the same standard to all of the others now, then I would be left out of the TV loop altogether. Yes, I can go the PBS route, but they are not on for 24 hours and there when I “need” them.

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But, it seems that fear sells when it comes to the news. Remember SARS? It was gonna kill us all. How about the “West Nile Virus?” Or the flu vaccine shortage from a few years back? “Mad Cow” disease? The “Bird” Flu? If you got every ounce of your information from TV news, you would have expected to drop dead about 30 times by now in the past 10 years. And have you noticed how they have contradicting reports about how Obama is choosing his cabinet posts? One morning its “he’s going too fast and not looking around enough” and by noon on the same day its “he’s not going fast enough!” And these stories can be on the same network! Not to say these are not real and important issues, just that to treat them all as though they are massive issues for the entire Earth’s population is just imbecilic. Conveying fear in all of these subjects doesn’t help us solve or address the issues. In general, we have two ways of dealing with scary or imposing issues: with calm and judicious thought or hair-on-fire raving. Guess which one Wolf Blitzer would go with.

Sometimes, I do wonder how people who respond to the networks’ hysteria respond to things in their lives in general. I wonder if they approach every bump and detour in daily life as a major event. If so, how do they live with all of that adrenaline? To see every slight that life hands us daily as a reason to either start fighting or run away would have to be exhausting. Not only for that individual but for their friends and/or family.

Years ago, my mother gave me a book called Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman. I took it as a sign and read (most) of it. Its a book that examines an intangible component of healthy adult thinking; how we respond to our spouses or partners in a relationship, and how we communicate with our co-workers during stressful times. A lot of it has to do with listening, digesting information and appropriately responding based on the situation. We measure IQ and use it to determine how “smart” we are, but we ignore how emotionally developed we are or are not. After all, what is the good of being Einstein if you are as emotionally immature as one of the people on “The Real World?” With a healthy “EQ” not only can we get better at weathering the changes and challenges in our personal lives, but we can better organize the outside stimuli that we are bombarded with in this Information Age.

While I still have work to do on my “EQ,” I do feel that I am aware enough that I can look at the landscape of Cable TV news and see it for what it is: ratings desperation. Its not that different from seeing barkers at a crowded fair try to get your attention by screaming, waving and throwing things towards you to get your attention. Does it work? Maybe the first few minutes after arriving at the fair, but by the time you pass the first popcorn stand, you begin to ignore all the noise and start focusing on other things. So, until MSNBC and the entire slew of news shows find a way to provide me some hot scones with Raspberry preserves along with their news, I will just keep ignoring them after a few minutes of showing up.