Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Serious journalist on weekdays, hilarious on the weekends


Photo source here

There's gonna be a whole lot of Brian Williams on television
this week. Besides moderating the Democratic debate tonight
he will be hosting Saturday Night Live. Williams anchors the
'Nightly News' over on NBC, just to clarify for some of the younger
folks who visit and might not know who he is. Some media theorists
believe nobody under the age of 35 watches the nightly news
anymore; we only watch super cool and edgy Jon Stewart.
And for the older folks : Yes, Saturday Night Live is still on and
you're right it hasn't been funny since Gilda Radner was in the
cast.

This will be the first time a network news anchor has hosted the
Saturday Night Live, according to the New York Post article. This
continues the trend of journalists trying to get into the funny business.
But here's a news flash for serious reporters: I want to trust the news
reports coming out of your mouth. I don't trust what's coming out of
Jay Leno's, Jon Stewart's, or Stephen Colbert's mouth so don't try to be
like them. What's next a comedian anchoring a news program?
Oops:



I think this crosses some ethical and professional boundaries. News
involves an information gathering process (almost scientific) and it's
not an art form. Although, you can argue really good news writing
is like art. I concede. However, that is not it's sole purpose. Comedy
on the other hand is meant to entertain and is an art. I think that
is the problem with news today. Too many people think it's there to
entertain us. Therefore, you get this hyped up news with sound affects,
flashy graphics, and shouting political commentators.

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