Thursday, October 20, 2011
Wow
While periodically checking the web for the latest news about Qaddafi's killing today, I kept running into a curious story. To wit: When Hillary Clinton first learned of Qaddafi's death she said, "wow." That's it. That's the news everyone from the Huffington Post to the LA Times to the Washington Post wants you to know. It's a safe bet that most Americans are not hanging on Hillary's every word. So, what's going on? First, and most important, she said it on camera (by happenstance). That effectively turned her "wow" into a bright shiny object for an easily distracted media. Second, reporters and editors are still inexplicably obsessed with Hillary, even though nobody else is. Lastly, Hillary's "wow" is a story because the media made it a story. Hyping the story begets page visits which begets more stories which begets more page visits, etc. Granted, the story is harmless. Still, wow.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment