A Nearly-Lost Blog Entry from October 6, 2004
Sometimes I write blog entries, and then I forget to post them. Or I write them, and think - oh, I'll edit that and make it better later. And then I don't. But here's one I just found and, in honor of The Daily Show releasing their coverage of the 2004 presidential election on DVD, I bring you this nearly-lost election related musing from yours truly. (Bear in mind, that before this viewing of network news, I had not seen network news for approximately 15 years, and I have not viewed it since.)
* * *
Last night on NBC news following the VP debates, Tom Brokaw announced that we would be hearing opinions about the debate from two prominent bloggers. It was clear Mr. Brokaw was amused by the word "bloggers" - he really galumphed the word out then explained with a smirk what it meant. The graphic leading into the segment was a computer screen on which an invisible typist wrote out "web log" then backspaced the words together. Clever.
Then we went to a split screen showing the two prominent bloggers, both of whom had been forced to balance iBooks on their knees to underscore their techno-identities without obscuring their respective torsos. They were then each allowed approximately 5 seconds to share their opinion.
The conservative, older guy blogger went first, and said something boring. The young liberal chick blogger was next, and kicked off her comments by comparing Dick Cheney to the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man: "...when you stick your hand in there [to attack him], you’re not really going to get it out again…" She then sort of looked around the room and -- perhaps realizing that: 1) this, ludicrously, was going to be the only thing she was going to say on national news 2) her laptop prop was about to slide off the edge of her knees, and 3) an NBC crew had come out to her home and taken over an hour to set up for a max of 6 seconds of airtime -- she had to laugh.
It was as though with that giggle the real world invaded the world of network news. And then the portal was quickly closed again, with Brokaw giving a polished intro to the next segment, whatever it was. I'm left with this question: When will the network news behemoth finally die?
No comments:
Post a Comment