Commentary - Aaron Keith Harris: Media fail to criticize and to entertain

Several among the presidential candidates regularly argue the election cycle is too long and too expensive, forcing them to spend too much time raising money. A sizable chunk of what the big dogs earn will be plowed into television and other advertising, while the rest of the pack complains they can’t raise enough to generate media buzz.

Both Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich are hanging back from the race. They imply the reason for it is that the media circus turns them off. But the likely reason they are staying away is that each wants to win attention and support by pretending not to seek them out. It seems to be working for both, though better for Thompson and his lofty indifference than for Gingrich and his wonkish exasperation.

Last week’s AFL-CIO-sponsored Democratic forum hosted by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann was apparently the lowest-rated of what seems like a couple of dozen similar events so far this year, with Nielsen recording 960,000 viewers. Though nearly double the number of viewers the sanctimonious Olbermann lures on a normal night, just 340,000 of those viewers were between the coveted ages of 25 and 54.

One can’t imagine many under 25 tuning to a snoozer like that, which means half of those watching are either already AARP members or are getting AARP solicitations in the mail every week. No wonder the multitrillion-dollar liability that is the Medicare drug benefit passed Congress.

Those who did watch the debate were no more educated about the issues being discussed, and only marginally more knowledgeable about the candidates. The same can be said for just about any program on the three 24-hour cable news networks.

One might think that no time restrictions would allow room for at least a little actual journalism beyond coverage of breaking news, but if it’s there, it’s hard to find. Instead, it’s the naughty socialites and missing white girls, the car chases and that chat shows. The graphics and headlines get bigger and more juvenile, and those blasted tickers just won’t stop.

But the networks are just giving the viewers what they want, and there’s really no solution for it. Insulate news from ratings, advertisers and the rest of the free market and you get National Public Radio, Charlie Rose and Bill Moyers, all predictable, pedantic and boring.

Media commentators are endlessly fascinated by Comedy Central’s Emmy-winning “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” mostly because the show grabs the young demographic advertisers want.

Stewart said on the show last Wednesday that it doesn’t matter how many people watch “as long as you have the right five 19-year-olds.”

On the wrong side of 30 now, I must just be too old to get it. Stewart relies almost exclusively on sarcastically exaggerated understatements, exasperated Bush bashing and that sad-eyed puppy dog look.

Also on Wednesday’s show, Stewart cuddled up to presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., tossed him a few softballs and helped him poke fun at Mitt Romney and President Bush. For all this he’s credited with trenchant satire and interesting young people in politics.

The system is not very healthy when those hailed as its critics are so obviously an approved part of the system. That’s frustrating enough, but it’s even more frustrating that a process so influenced by the need of the media to entertain their viewers has, so far at least, failed to be the least bit entertaining.

Aaron Keith Harris writes about politics, the media, pop culture and music and is a regular contributor to National Review Online and Bluegrass Unlimited. He can be reached at aaronkeithharris@gmail.com.