Comic Soap Opera: Ducking the Real Issues
In counting up the public comments on our FriendlyFire blog, I note that TV newsreader Mirthala Salinas and the Daily News’ disappearing comics are by far our hottest topics. I suspect there may be a pattern here.
As topics they attract the eye and allow us to have personal opinions that we do not need to back up with anything other than our feelings. In other words, they are entertaining.
Yes, there is a political subtext to some of the comics. Mallard Fillmore, the conservative duck, is a witty spokesduck for a significant number of our readers. Even as a card-carrying liberal I speak for his continuing presence. He’s both pithier and funnier than Pat Buchanan.
As for Mirthala Salinas and her salacious history, there is an under-examined part of her story. She presents a philosophical problem. Could she have breached journalistic ethics if she is not a journalist?
I would say no. She is a TV newsreader. She is in entertainment. The ethos of TV news is entertainment not journalism. Look at the newsreaders on cable. Clearly women picked for their looks: smile, hair, pouty lips and come-hither charm. They audition like actresses. Why in the world would we think they are journalists? The insult to journalism is not Mirthala’s transgressions against decency, which are self-evident. The real pain is that the world considers her to be a journalist. I think the word and the profession mean more. Personally, I hold the duck to a higher standard. If I were to find him in bed with a liberal…
So now, we are to assume that all "newsreaders" are just "entertainment," and distinct from real journalists? I'm pretty sure Paul Moyer and many of his female colleagues (most of whom are over 40 or even 50 here in the local L A market, by the way -- puffy hair and collagen/Botox lips notwithstanding) would find that a surprising bit of news.
And what about at the national level, with people like Katie Couric...well, never mind, she's the exception that proves the rule: came over from a talk show, and her status as a reporter is sinking fast. Isn't Diane Sawyer a real reporter, as well as still attractive?
And, how can you say print "journalists" are in any remote way better than cheap entertainment, when the L. A. Weekly is having that Eminem-wanna-be gadfly Zuma Dogg write (heavily-edited) articles?
And when even the "political reporters" on this esteemed daily were in a mad race into the tabloid sewer to "report" and "editorialize" on the Mayor's personal woes?
Then we need to create a different standard for "newsreaders" or just let the "newsreaders" read the news and not engage with subjects in interviews. True, Mirthala Salinas has questionable formal training at best. She dropped out of college. If we are going to lump the newsreaders with weak credentials together, can we put Lauren Sanchez in the pile? She also dropped out of college and has managed to land a job on KCOP and KTTV.
Maybe we need to get back to the days where those who reported the news had real credentials and actual journalistic skills and were not hired for their flashy looks and personalities. I hardly watch network news these days, but when I do, it is sensational infotainment at best.
Well, I can assure you that I've seen her REPORTING the news - not just reading them, as shown in the Daily News when Beth Barrett first broke the story.
You know the saying, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, well...it is a duck.
So, yes, Mirthala is a journalist. On the other hand, journalism isn't what it used to be - or at least what you would expect from it.
We now have journalists who are "embedded" - that's their word, not mine - with the troops doing war coverage.
We now have biased news reporting on a network claiming to be "fair and balanced."
We now have journalists following the likes of Paris Hilton around...
And lastly, we now have journalists banging their way up in the political ladder - namely Mirthala Salinas (by the way, I wonder who was next in her "to do" list...The Governor? The President?).