Tuesday, July 24, 2007

CNN Anchor Refuses To Read Lindsay Lohan Story

A question: Clocking in with 3 million views, did the video of Mika Brzezinski tearing up and refusing to read a report on Paris Hilton raise the bar for drive-by-media anchors? I pose this question in the wake of the emergence of a clip of CNN's Jack Cafferty refusing to read off the teleprompter about Lindsay Lohan's latest DUI arrest. It's hard to look at it from the inside, but at what point does a whisper on the internet bubble over into the mainstream zeitgeist? For politics, it was years of viral political clips, then candidates uploading their own, then a billion dollar take-over of YouTube by Google to finally lead up to last night's CNN-YouTube debate. But I don't believe that it's gotta be that complicated. I propose that, ya, we might actually be living in a world where one person pulling a "mad as hell" can be digitized, spread like wildfire and actually induce change. I think this is just the beginning. I think we're going to be seeing more news correspondents refusing the gossip stories and sticking to, well, you know, actual news.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bravo to Mika Brzezinski and Jack Cafferty!....Don't get me wrong I am all for change....but not at the expense of those who are really in trouble and can't get away from the media. Real news and debate would be so refreshing these days. I too, am a huge supporter of YouTube and the awareness of "real time" issues it brings....THANK YOU, Phil!!

philip marlowe said...

Thanks for the comment Mary! I agree with you entirely. YouTube offers a sort of real-time accountability on one hand, and awareness on the other. a sort of double threat.