"Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American newspaper is
like trying to play Bach's 'St. Matthew's Passion' on a ukulele."
- Bagdikian's Observation
News reporting, whether TV, newspaper, magazine or talk radio, has been
forced by governmental and, more importantly, corporate interests into
glossing over some of the less popular aspects of today's world. The
media runs rampant with reports on the metahuman battles, what color a
superheroin's skimpy outfit is this week, what the president's latest
stutter was about, and who the governor spent a moment too long glancing at
when walking down the hallway. But one will hardly ever see a news report
about the rising crime rates, how the mafia has become more and more
legit, or how normal people tend to get horribly mangled in strange
events.
It's all about entertainment, now. The gladatorial slugfests between two
mighty metahumans as they battle through the streets, throwing cars and
light poles at each other is always more important that the poor schmucks
that lose their job because they can't get to work when their car is
destroyed. Or how Little Mary Watson's dollhouse was crushed by a giant
metahuman's foot. It's not that these things are ignored, they're just
passed over by the more exiting. The things that people should be talking
about, as far as Those In Charge are concerned, are the latest sports
scores and battle figures. And where to buy the merchandise.
The average Joe may look around at his neighborhood and think things are
pretty bad... but he'll dream of other places, even places in the same
city, where everything is okay.
It's a form of blindness, the belief that what comes over the idiot box or
read in the news paper is the Whole Truth.
It didn't start out this way, of course. But the media soon learned that
the real money was in the larger than life figures of the Heroes and
Villains of the day. While individual reporters may be altruistic and
desire only to show the world what is Really Happening, the media itself
exists to make a profit. Over the last decade, the direction of that
profit has become firmly entrenched.
And, besides, ask anyone in the media... The safest person in any
metahuman struggle is the reporter. Nothing does more damage to a hero or
villain than having their reputation smeared by an irate reporter.
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