World of News Patrick Murphy Thesis That which is ubiquitous is often most difficult to see. Human propensity to construct (with limited intellect) a sensible world (from infinite sources of information) requires a selective blindness. The old saw, “We don’t know who discovered water, but we’re pretty sure it wasn’t a fish,” acknowledges an innate talent to look through that which is in directly front of our noses. This tendency applies to much of what we encounter everyday, including the various levels of meaning inherent in media messages. Most of us have grown up watching presentations of local nightly news on television. For many of us, it is our primary source of local news. Stations go to great lengths to advertise their dependability and thoroughness in reporting the news of the day. An implied contract between stations and their audiences promises viewers objectivity and balance in the selection and presentation of news stories. A survey of local nightly newscasts in St. Louis indicates that beyond that contract and those promises there is, inherent in the presentation of news, a worldview rich in assumptions, values, subjective analyses of how the world works and judgments of what kind of place the St. Louis region is. This does not imply that there is dishonesty or conspiracy behind the presentation of local news. It is more likely that the majority of men and women who create the news do not give much thought to the connotations beneath the surface of their reports. The world, as projected by local television news, centers on a kind of Olympus - the station’s newsroom. It is a place vastly more interesting than the one in which the rest of us live, filled with magical sights and sounds and populated by deities. Beneath Olympus there is a wider world, populated by the less fortunate, and we may all be excused if we are amused from time to time by their misfortune. This world is a scary place, and yet there is hope, and those who reside on Olympus offer that hope. It is a world where drama many be perceived in most things. And yet, it is a world, like most worlds, which contains contradictory values and invites paradox. We’re not sure who discovered a worldview in the nightly news, but we’re pretty sure it wasn’t a news director. Methodology This paper does not pretend to be based on a firm scientific foundation. Sampling attempts to be honest but is inadequate in breadth and depth. The paper intends simply to point to an indication that there is within the presentation of local nightly news an inherent worldview. It makes some modest attempt to identify some of that worldviews’ most obvious characteristics. Data is taken from recordings of six nightly newscasts presented during weekdays at various times. They are: November 13 – Channel 5, 5 p.m. (half hour) November 13 – Channel 4, 6 p.m. (half hour) November 14 – Channel 2, 5 p.m. (half hour) November 15 – Channel 4, 5 p.m. (half hour) November 15 – Channel 5, 6 p.m. (half hour) November 16 – Channel 2, 9 p.m. (one hour) Indications of an inherent worldview emerged through the process of analyzing content in the light of how various media keys were employed in the production process. Among the questions considered during the analysis were: What elements of reality might a worldview involve, especially in a community such as St. Louis? Race, gender, local geography, social class? What subjects are presented? Who tells the stories? Who and what are the sources of authority? Are there good guys and bad guys? Is there some implied vision of how society should be or how people should live? Is this vision grounded in any recognizable philosophical foundation? How is the news edited? To what extent does this implied worldview have to do with the world in which we live? Note: An examination of St. Louis television stations, of course, indicates an overall view of life in the St. Louis region; however, I suspect that in other markets the overall view is much the same, because this worldview is as much determined by the nature of the medium as it is by its geographical location. Worldview? The term worldview, as used here, describes a collection of assumptions that provide some explanation of how and why the world around us operates as it does. Worldviews among those of us who are not philosophers tend to be ill defined and nebulous, but people, even in such a heterogeneous society as our own, tend to share largely unspoken hunches and beliefs (a higher order of hunches) about why the world is as it is. These assumptions may be based on a combination of superstition, urban myth, family folklore, horoscopes, opinions of others or media messages – all shaping how we interpret our daily experiences. Even though most of us, if asked, would have trouble coherently describing our worldviews (and we tend to abandon them on occasions when they conflict with experience), they are an essential element of our lives – and even our sanity. Media messages, almost always, contain inherent, usually unstated worldviews. When we watch dramas or comedies on film or video, we buy into value systems in exchange for entertainment. When we watch print or electronic commercials, we enter a world in which we associate fun, joy, relief – fill in the emotion - with a product or service. Television news complicates matters somewhat with its pretense to objectivity. And yet, if we make the attempt to disassociate ourselves, even briefly, from what we assume to be normal and true, we might just get a glimpse of a worldview emerging from the fog. The Whole Picture As we divest ourselves of unexamined assumptions, we might also abandon the notion that newscasts are frequently interrupted by commercials. It seems more useful to consider newscasts as presentations consisting of a variety of produced stories, including those popular referred to as commercials. This makes sense for a number of reasons. Commercials are usually the best produced stories during a typical half hour of a news presentation. They occupy a significant percentage of air time. Their budgets are clearly higher than those of the other stories, are generally more entertaining, and contain at least as much information as the typical news story. News anchors take great effort when leading in to commercials to promote upcoming stories, thus seamlessly incorporating commercials into the overall content of the newscast. All of the stations examined in this paper follow identifiable patterns in the construction of those portions of the newscast dedicated to selling products. Almost all commercial breaks contain at least one, and frequently two commercials (stories) on automotive products as well as stories on the local station and programs on the network with which the station is affiliated. So in this presentation commercials will not be considered as a different category of stories, regardless of how we’ve grown up perceiving the “news”. World Within A World The world of news exists only to the extent that it is watched, so every aspect of it is designed to attract us and hold our attention. So this must be a world that is better than the world in which we live. It reaches out to our eyes and ears. Without that appeal we would watch and listen to the “real” world on this side of the television screen. The world of news moves quickly and tends to make more sense than daily reality. Stories are generally about two minutes long and have structure - beginnings, middles, ends, and resolutions to problems – which “real” life tends not to have. And somehow, no matter what happens in the big world, the world in the screen always manages to package it within a set amount of time. Within about 28 minutes we get an appealing, yet predictable, pattern of tragedy, hope, consumer-oriented eye candy, sports, weather, and the promise of even more to come in the next newscast. This is a world that is highly self aware, rarely missing an opportunity to refer to itself. During the surveyed period KSDK ran highly produced spots in which local anchor Karen Foss is seen on-camera with Tom Brokaw, asking the NBC anchor questions about his marriage and his retirement plans. KMOV brands its news product “News 4 St. Louis, Where There’s Always Something Extra.” The something extra is an occasional feature story which embellishes a news story. For example, the “Extra” on November 13, 2002 followed a kidnapping story and offered tips to parents on how to keep their children from being abducted. The Weather on KMOV is called “4 Warn Weather”. (Get it?) KTVI describes its operation as “News You Can Count On”, offers its news stories as “Fox Files” and its weather as “Future Cast”. Promos and bumpers are almost always accompanied by elaborate graphics, animation and sound effects. Note: It is ironic, but not surprising (considering that stations compete for ratings and advertising dollars) that even though the overall worldview of news operations is so similar, they go to such lengths to differentiate themselves. Each local news operation promotes its association with a larger universe –the network - and shills for news and other programs coming up on the network. During the surveyed period, KMOV promoted Dan Rather’s national newscast. A KSDK promo, tagged “NBC Tonight” hawks all of its primetime dramas and sitcoms for the evening. KTVI actually ran a news story on the star of “Divorce Court” (a Fox show) being honored at a local dinner. This news world is occupied by people who are larger than life. We feel we know them, even though they don’t know us. Their faces fill our television screens, and we give them a degree of attention that would seem bizarre in any face-to-face situation. We watch them in our living rooms, our kitchens, our bedrooms. They seem to be everywhere, and they are always looking and talking directly at us. They tend to be good looking, well dressed and supremely confident. They assume almost mythic proportions. There are the fatherly Zeus types such as KMOV’s Julius Hunter and KTVI’s Dick Ford, whose nightly appearances go back as far as most of can remember. Younger anchors - Dan Gray and Deanne Lane of KSDK, KMOV’s Vicki Newton and Mandy Murphey (KTVI) - appear flawless on the screen, seemingly omniscient about the events of our day. Reporters such as Robin Smith (KMOV), Steve Jankowski (KSDK), and Rocche Madden (KTVI) are as fleet as foot as Hermes Bringer of Messages or Dianne The Huntress – able to appear almost magically at the scene of news, even when it’s not really necessary for the sake of the story. KTVI underscores the magic of the standup by running a whooshing sound effect in the first few seconds of a reporter’s appearance. We shake our heads at the antics of KTVI’s John Auble, a loveable Dionysus, even when he stumbles through standups or flubs a follow up question from the anchor (Nov. 14, 5 p.m.) Forces that stratify our society in the daily world, particularly race and gender, seem not to exist in this better world. On KSDK at 5 p.m., two female anchors, one white (Deanne Lane) and one black (Sharon Stevens) present the news. On KMOV two African Americans, Julius Hunter and Vicki Newton, often anchor the news. Anchors have an amazing ability to shift emotional states suddenly and effortlessly as the tone of their stories changes. This was an obvious talent in every anchor at every station. Stories about fatal auto accidents, abductions and terrorist threats are delivered with a serious façade of sincerity. When shifting to teasers about upcoming stories before commercial breaks or joking with a fellow anchor or the meteorologist, a lighthearted playfulness appears so suddenly that the unhappy story might as well have been delivered hours earlier. When one of the gods leaves Olympus there is great ceremony. During the surveyed period, KSDK celebrated the impending retirement of Julius Hunter with a retrospective series on his career, called “Julius Hunter: Moments and Memories”. It was heavily promoted on the earlier evening newscasts. The messenger is apparently as important as the message. Even as the gods on Olympus could look down through the clouds or into a pool to observe and interact with the mortals (Remember 1950s toga flicks?), every station employs at least one device in which there is a window into the real world. Anchors might sit in front of a large photograph of downtown St. Louis. Often during teases for the weather report (KMOV calls them “Skycams”), a live shot of some part of the region is projected on the screen. We see that they can see us – live from the sky. There But For the Grace of God… The world of television news is one that is populated by the unfortunate, and we may be excused if we derive entertainment from their unhappy stories. The German language has a word – Schadenfreude – for the strange pleasure people experience when they encounter someone else’s misery. At the end of the day, this world of news provides thousands of St. Louisans a chance to put their own problems in perspective. Personal stories, whose relevance to the society at large is doubtful, tend to lead newscasts. The people whose stories are told tend to be either African American or poor whites. Victims from the inner city and the outlying rural areas of the metropolitan region are put on display more often than residents of affluent middle class suburbs. The on-camera reactions of those who suffer from misfortune are important elements to the story. On November 13, KSDK and KMOV both led with the story of two St. Louis African American couples killed in an accident with a truck in Miami, Florida. The second story in both newscasts was the finding of two children abducted by a babysitter. The African American babysitter is shown being led off in handcuffs. The mother of the children, an obviously poor white woman (with mixed race children), is shown in both newscasts in extreme close-ups as she cries, “It’s all about my kids…I got my kids back, that’s all that matters.” (KSDK, Nov. 13). Later in the same newscast in a feature on childcare, the camera moves in on the mother for an even more extreme close up as she declares with tears streaming down her cheeks, “I will never leave my kids with anyone I don’t know.” Well, we might think, at least she learned her lesson. And viewers of this drama are left with the feeling that she, along with most of the poor, somehow deserve their fate. In the land of equal opportunity, the poor indict the system. We can continue to believe that America offers freedom of opportunity in a class free society, as long as we suspect that the poor bring on their own misfortune. (It worked for the Puritans – for a while.) On November 13 Both KSDK and KMOV covered the continuing search of an eleven-year-old boy in a rural area of Missouri. Again, those interviewed tended to be poor and uneducated. The message: It was a tough day at work, but at least I’m not that guy. On November 16 KTVI’s Andy Baker reported from Lindbergh High School on the death of two students in an automobile accident on the eve of the year’s biggest football game. This time it’s the young who are shown in teary close-ups – friends of the dead, weeping that they will miss their friends as they paint slogans of grief on their car windows. On November 13, “News 4 St. Louis” turned to a live event in the city’s Northside, where an armed man, perhaps the subject of a manhunt, was holed up in a house. The reporter stands a hundred yards behind the police lines with a blaze of emergency lights behind him, talking for almost three minutes about how no one really knows who is in the house or what he wants. The only enduring impression from the standup is that is another night of tragedy in North St. Louis, and one more poor son of a bitch is going to get what he deserves. Essential to understanding this world is knowing that it is a scary place. During the period surveyed people are killed on their way home from a vacation. The babysitter abducts babies. A teacher is accused of hitting a student with a chair. More priests sexually abuse children. Pee Wee Hermann is caught with kiddie porn. A St. Charles family loses its home to fire, and there are diseases without cures. Another hit and run. Dan Gray reports that video games might be dangerous to our children’s health. A man loses his arm in a rock crushing machine, and KTVI interviews his co-worker who says he’s never seen anything like it. Even animals are not safe. Dogs are abused on a breeding farm. Area deer are dying from an unknown illness. KMOV (Nov. 15, p.m.) extrapolates from a story about a heightened national alert against terrorism that the Gateway Arch might be a target. KSDK (Nov. 15, 6 p.m.). Later in the newscast a story reports that meth labs are popping up all over the region and that the ingredients are being purchased at our neighborhood pharmacies. On November 13 KSDK runs back-to-back health stories. One suggests that watching your cholesterol might not do much good. The other indicates that red wine might be good for your heart, but may cause breast cancer in women. You can’t win. It is a very scary place indeed. And Yet There Is Hope … And that hope comes from – where else? – Olympus. Sure, things are bad. But don’t let it get you down. And for God’s sake, don’t go away. During the surveyed period, stations offered a variety of reports on how to avoid catastrophe. We referred earlier to the "News 4 Extra” on how to keep your children from being kidnapped, complete with advice from a woman identified as a “Child Care Expert”. Another highly promoted KMOV feature informs us of a new test we can buy at the pharmacy to test infertility in men, though it admits that its accuracy is questionable. A KTVI health feature advises us on how to avoid an ailment known as high ankle sprain, though toward the end of the report it informs us happily that the phenomenon occurs almost exclusively among professional athletes. KTVI wants us to know that it is fighting hard for a better St. Louis, helping law officials catch bad guys through its “St. Louis’ Most Wanted” feature. Elliott Davis exposes wasteful expense of tax dollars on his regular “You Paid For It”. The KSDK weatherman promotes the station’s involvement in the Scouting For Food drive as well as its efforts to make women aware of the need for monthly breast self-examinations. On the warmer, fuzzier side of things, KTVI weatherman Dave Murray is promoted as the celebrity who will kick off the annual Winter Wonderland at Tilles Park by switching on the lights. On KSDK we see a bumper toward the end of the newscast where children at an area school make hand signs indicating that Channel 5 is Number 1. There is the occasional happy story. Every station gave us a peak at the reopening of the Jewel Box in Forest Park. Children are delighted by the latest Harry Potter movie. In fact, KMOV’s Robin Smith reported live from a local movie theater as if the opening were a major news event. Her report was interspersed with soundbites of people saying they liked the movie. The weather is generally presented in a style designed to make us feel good, no matter what the forecast. The weather folk (all certified meteorologists!) tend to be friendly, even perky. KSDK’s Cindy Pressler seems thrilled by the weather and the opportunity she has to share it. The weather reports go far beyond the information we would need to know whether we should dress warmly or bring an umbrella. It incorporates Doppler Radar, rapidly changing animated maps, and live shots of the region – all presented behind the weather person. But the ultimate feel-good element is the Five Day Forecast. And though few of us check the accuracy of these projections, each station confidently looks almost a week ahead, giving us a sense that they are in control. KTVI offers the lottery numbers – and Powerball. On the day you become a millionaire, you will see it first on Fox 30. But the most uplifting elements of newscasts are the commercial blocks. They are easily understandable messages with strong internal plot lines – always a problem followed by a solution. Following strongly appealing visual and audio production elements is the promise of salvation, if only we buy. Interesting Sidelight: This is a world in which numbers have great significance. The reason is unclear, except perhaps that there is some certainty in numbers. They offer us a sense of security. Numbers are most important in those rather large chunks of news known as sports and weather. Sports is largely about scores and records. Weather features temperatures (highs, lows, records in history), dew points, times for sunrise and sunset, wind speeds and barometric pressure. Perhaps there is an inherent suggestion that if we can quantify our world, we can control it. All Is Drama An essential element of the world of news is drama. There is drama in almost everything. Special features such as KSDK’s “In the Line of Fire”, which claims police are being regularly ambushed by criminals, are promoted by highly produced, action filled spots. When the sports reports go beyond scores, they explore dramatic plotlines such as the fate of Kurt Warner’s career. KSDK’s Mike Bush describes the injured Marshall Faulk’s ability to heal as “almost superhuman”. The theme of violence bleeds into sports as fights among players (or even fans) at hockey games are treated as if they are a regular part of the game. Even the weather is presented as high drama. KTVI’s Dave Murray uses terms and phrases in his Future Cast such as Monster Storms, Cold Snaps, and Clouds Sweeping In. Every weathercast employs maps that are reminiscent of the Battle of the Bulge. Cold Fronts sweep in like the German Army. Low pressure zones resemble entrenched armies. The weather folk all speak with energy and enthusiasm, thrilled with their toys, enchanted by their powerful stories of the elements. Of course, there is no drama comparable to that in commercials. Whether they are ten or thirty seconds long, they tell stories that touch our very souls. Each poses a problem and offers a solution so quickly and effectively that we are swept along. During the surveyed period shoppers found exactly what they needed at Lowes and Kohls. They were sated at fast food restauants. Car ads offered adventure, value, safety, and prestige. Blue Cross promised security. Schnucks showed us old-fashioned friendliness. These slices of life are inhabited by people we can’t help but like – people whose lives are obviously more fun than ours. Cracks In The Worldview? Like any worldview, the one inherent in the nightly news contains contradictions. If newscasts consist of two very different kinds of stories – those we know as news stories and those as commercials. News is frequently sad, dealing with tragedy and the seamier sides of life. Commercials, which contain messages at least as powerful, are always happy, offering hope to anyone who purchases what they offer. In newscasts both worlds are presented, alternately, in blocks. There is potential there for more discerning viewers to see that two conflicting messages are being projected. They might someday see disharmony in this juxtaposition. People are rarely happy when they are interviewed in the news. Everyone is happy – or about to be happy - in a commercial. And yet many of the same situations described in the commercial stories reappear tragically in the news stories. During the surveyed period, there were news stories about the dangers of cholesterol; however commercial stories about Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Jack In The Box, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Hardys promised fun, togetherness, convenience and satisfaction. Almost every commercial break during the period contained one or even two ads for automobiles. The spots emphasize through a variety of production methods the thrill of speed, the feeling of abandon through automotive joy, the promise of luxury and liberation from the daily world through the power and mystique of the automobile. And yet during the same period every station included the stories about deaths in cars described above. On November 15 KSDK ran a commercial selling the idea that Saudi Arabia is a staunch ally of the United States, even though both NBC and KSDK often report on Saudi Arabia’s suspected role in the harboring terrorists. There are more subtle paradoxes inherent in the news, which might confuse our notions of the kind of society in which we live. If we commonly assume that we are a classless society, what do we do with the notion of celebrity? Why are anchors and reporters hyped as celebrities in station promos within newscasts? Why do the stations promote the network anchors as being bigger than life? The occasional unintended glitch brings welcome relief. KMOV meteorologist Ken Erhardt choked when the image on his blue screen went briefly haywire. A true professional, He recovered within seconds, but we viewers got a quick glimpse at the little man behind the curtain. KTVI’s John Auble lent a human touch when, after being asked the obligatory follow up question by the anchor after his stand up, he looked blankly at the camera and said he didn’t know the answer. For an instant we wondered if maybe those follow ups weren’t all pre-planned. That which is constantly before our eyes is difficult to see. But contradictions, when perceived by hundreds of thousands of people on a nightly basis might eventually become obvious to some. Questions might be asked – doubts created. Conclusion Humans will always do their best to construct some sense from the seemingly unconnected events of our daily world. When we sleep we create dreams from bits and pieces of our unconsciousness. When awake, we build worldviews from remnants of our experience. There are worldviews in visual art, music, sculpture, literature – and media messages of all kinds. These worldviews, such as the ones presented in the nightly news, are as fragile as dreams. They only exist as long as we viewers acquiesce, without question, to the multiple layers of inherent connotative messages. Dreams end when outside stimuli interfere (thirst, a bathroom call, a mate stealing the covers). Worldviews in the waking world end when we become aware of them. (If you ask yourself the question, “Am I dreaming?” you always are.) When a dream or a worldview is interrupted, it is impossible to return to it. No worldview is perfect or complete. They are outlines, rough maps, popular agreements as to how we should understand reality. We tend to ignore the cracks in them, because we suspect how hard it is to construct new ones when they fall apart. Note the longevity of world religions, nationalism, and the nightly news. No reason though to rise up in revolution. No cause to storm the newsrooms. As powerful as they are, as real as their primetime world might seem, we need only see it for what it is and its power is diminished Change the dial. Or don’t. Use the information for your own purposes, based solely on its value to you. Simply see it for what it is. Question everything you think you know, form your own opinions based on unprejudiced experience. And awaken. 18