Nip It in the Bud

One thing I love about my gym is the fact that they have so many televisions in the cardio areas that it helps time go by. Most evenings that I'm there, all of the televisions are tuned to the news, music video station or ESPN. I generally try to get one which is close to the news and ESPN so that if I get bored of the news I can catch the latest sports highlights and talk shows. One thing that gets aggravating though is to see the media, both liberal and conservative, complain about those on the opposite side by airing clips meant to highlight how stupid the other side is and how this attitude that 'the other side' has is so much worse than their side. After the shootings at Virginia Tech last week there were clips shown by the liberal media highlighting the times and incidents that the Bush Administration or Republicans voted down on gun control and conversely, the conservative media aired clips of Democrats altering their stances or saying one thing while doing another. In the end, none of it is helping change any minds, in fact it is merely serving to polarize an already polarized part of the population.

What isn't helping either is the way some networks are choosing to focus on those on the extreme right or left to use as 'benchmarks' for the opposition's stance on key issues. Case in point is Rosie O'Donnell's constant presence on Fox News. Last week and so far this week I have seen her and video clips of her outlandish and inflammatory statements being shown on Fox News followed by a few minutes of complaints and protests by reporters and viewers from that network. Here's a fascinating idea, why not ignore her tirades and air something else instead. One thing many of these networks tend to forget is that by airing Rosie's constant complaining and muckraking on their networks, they are helping her get her message out to an audience that normally wouldn't bother watching her show. If someone is truly conservative, I doubt they watch Rosie on "The View" during daytime television. So she says increasingly inflammatory things in order to get a rise out of the opposition and it seems to be working.

One sure fire way to defeat someone making a lot of noise like this is to ignore them. The Neilsen Ratings for "The View" have probably jumped since Rosie got on the air and it's largely due to so many conservative networks tuning in to hear what Rosie's going to say next. Here's something, try shutting it off! If you ignore her and stop making a big deal about what she says, soon enough people will forget who she is and what she is saying. I'm curious to see the latest numbers now for "American Idol." With the loss of Sanjaya, I'm sure viewership is probably down. Why did it go up in the first place? Because people wanted to know for themselves how truly bad Sanjaya was or wasn't in the first place. Had they chosen to not make such a big deal of it, he probably would have been eliminated much earlier and life would have gotten back to normal much sooner. Similarly with Rosie, if the conservative media stops choosing to make a big deal out of her statements, then the general conservative public will soon forget that she exists.

That's not to say Rosie doesn't have the right to say what she wants to about anything at all. That right is one that is protected by the Constitution and so many people choose to exercise it as often as they can. Some do it through responsible means without attempting to betray any bias whereas others use this freedom to push others to see their slant on things. This doesn't just go for Rosie but for all media in general. I don't see any liberal media outlets giving as much coverage to Rosie as Fox News does. Perhaps this is because they don't agree with the drivel she is putting out and choose to ignore what she says. It means that they don't give creedence to what she says and are trying to distance themselves from her often insane tirades. When we constantly point out why the other guy is wrong and continuously provide examples and point and whine, we reduce ourselves to the level of children. No scratch that, we go even farther below that.

Perhaps it was due to pressure from the networks or perhaps it was because she grew disenchanted at being blamed for a lot of the comments that she makes on air; whatever the reason, Rosie has announced that she will no longer appear on "The View". Barbara Walters seemed particularly vociferous in trying to explain how sorry they were to see her go from the talk show but I somehow got the sense that perhaps they were crocodile tears. Whatever the case may be, networks like Fox News will now have to find some other example of 'extreme liberalism' to use as a scapegoat for their rants. I couldn't believe the amount of time they spent talking about how Rosie would no longer appear on television. After weeks of calling for her to be fired, rather than simply announcing the fact and moving on with life, Fox News began airing segments chronicling Rosie's time on the show and what all inane comments she had made. Perhaps it was a slow news day or perhaps they wanted to beat their point that liberalism is wrong to the ground.

A news network, whether liberal or conservative still has a responsibility to report the news in as unbiased a manner as possible. It's something that is difficult to accomplish, especially in light of all the division that has occured with regard to political affiliations in the past two decades. When a network begins to show leaning towards one side versus another it can have a major impact on how that network is perceived. I know people who completely shun Fox News for being a 'conservative' supporting network while those on the opposite side shun CNN for being a 'haven of liberal drivel'. Whatever the case, we need to strive towards equality or at least a balance in what is reported. Stop focusing so much on the words of the other side and report what you know, not what the other guy is thinking.