This was on the homepage of CNN.com today. The tagline: “Animal control officials had to put a stray 44-pound cat into foster care because they didn’t have a big enough cage.”
What I wouldn’t give to have footage of my artists on the homepage of CNN.com. Surely this is just as interesting as the chubster cat?
Apples and oranges, yes, but when I think about The Mainstream Media being the brass ring of most performing arts’ publicists’ lives, and then I actually look at what is covered by CNN.com, etc., I just have to wonder: why do we care so much?
Well, we DID have something as interesting as a 44-pound cat: his name was Luciano Pavarotti.
Stephen Colbert touched on this last night, albeit in reference to the New York Post’s coverage of the Sen. Stevens scandal. Here’s the link to the video:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/28648/the-colbert-report-wed-jul-30-2008?c=132:244
Look at a democratic medium like YouTube, where all videos start out with the same potential: Star Wars Kid, over 8 million views; Hilary Hahn, about 15,000 views.
So is it the mainstream media’s fault or its viewers’ demand? The media bears responsibility to offer sound editorial decisions, but the consumers bear the responsibility to chose news over pulp.