Hypothesis: Journalism is no longer driven by the merit of the story but by profit.
Entertainment has always been driven solely by profits. While it is nice for artists to receive major accolades, awards such as the Oscars have never been necessary to succeed in the entertainment world. Just look at the Transformers franchise that is monetarily successful but is not in any danger of winning any major accolades (except maybe a razzie.) Unfortunately it seems that journalism has adopted the profit motive of the entertainment industry and continues to follow stories that don't have much merit. The near twenty four hour coverage of Michal Jackson's death is an example as is the current coverage of the lunatic fringe's war on townhall meetings.
The extremes of american politics is populated by a lunatic fringe of conspiracy nuts and incoherent crazies. The current war on town hall meetings is being carried out by death-panel/birther/Glenn-Beck-FEMA-Camp/red-scare/Tea-Bagger/Federal-Reserve-is-ran-by-the-Illuminati wing of this lunatic fringe. Their red faced screeching continues to drown out any chance for rational debating of the facts. The media should be marginalizing factually incorrect claims of "death panels" and government run eugenics programs instead they receive top billing. Let's be honest, it is hard to take our eyes off the spectacle created by angry trainwrecks screaming at surprised congressman. These town hall disruptions are not democracy in action but spectacles broadcast to us as entertainment. The town hall disruptions are nothing new. The lunatic fringe has a long history of obfuscating the facts and disrupting the democratic process.
The only difference between the lunatic fringe of the past and the lunatic fringe of the present is the way the media handles the fringe’s behavior. Modern media is covering the fringe’s ridiculous behavior because it means higher $$ratings$$. Conversely in the past before the news was profit driven newsman like Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow would not give such raucous (albeit colorful) behavior validation by reporting on and thereby legitimizing the fringe’s crazy actions and beliefs. Because if a tree falls in a forest and it is broadcast it must make a sound, otherwise why would it have been put on TV? But if a tree falls on Sarah Palin while she sits in Alaska and tweets about death panels and no one is around to hear it did it make a sound?
Rick Perlstein wrote a wonderful article on the history of the lunatic fringe in American politics.
