our pornographic obsession with celebrity culture
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Very excited and crackly voicemail Monday from my Internews colleague Jeanne Bourgault, who was attending the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Las Vegas. Something along the lines of “Oh my God Persephone [inaudible] just gave the most amazing speech, he said he wasn’t going to give the speech they were supposed to do Q&A but then he gave it, it was unbelievable. They turned off the cameras but I’m sure you can find the video somewhere, it was worth the whole trip. Call me.” I’ve been to the NAB show many times and I was busy talking about the future of public media and so I thought great I’m glad Jeanne’s having a good time, learning some stuff, I’ll find out what she was talking about later.
Well of course the inaudible name was Tim Robbins who brilliantly skewered the commercial broadcast media in his keynote Monday. It is a classic right up there with the Colbert Press Club speech, an absolute must-read. The full text is at the Huffington Post, full audio at Broadcasting & Cable, and cellphone video at ar-d.com.
My favorite parts are in the hilarious first half:
“But what is the state of broadcasting today? Some critics have noted that there is a dangerous lack of diversity and opinion. That may be true, but imagine the nightmare of having to rectify that situation.
I propose a much simpler solution, which I’ve separated into three prongs, or a Satan’s trident if you will.
First, erase all diversity. Thankfully the majority of what is broadcast over television and radio is of two opinions and that feels good. That’s simple. But unfortunately there is a tiny minority out here on the airwaves expressing a different view outside of the Democrats and Republicans nexus trying to confuse us all. Can we please shut them up? How expensive could it be to buy Pacifica Radio? These people are driving us apart.
Secondly, let’s stay focused on Sex Scandals. Stop with the in depth reporting that gets outside of the sound bite. More sex scandals! Surely with a little more prying, a little more effort we can find more sexual deviants. And trust me, sexual deviancy is something we can all agree on. It’s deliciously intoxicating to watch unfold. It’s titillating….
Third, find more racially divisive news and play that constantly. As long as we hate each other we will never be bothered with this gnawing lefty obsession with information. Let’s make the purpose of the media salacious entertainment, not information….”
Beautiful.
At the end, of course, he felt compelled to use his celebrity superpowers for good and exhorted the broadcasters to discover their inner altruist:
“…You have the power to turn this country away from cynicism. You have the power to turn this nation away from the hatred and the divisive dialogue that has rendered such a corrosive affect on our body politic. You can lift us up into a more enlightened age. Or you can hide behind that old adage; “I’m just a businessman, I provide what the audience wants.” Well, I’m here to tell you that we don’t need to look at the car crash. We don’t need to live off of the pain and humiliation of the unfortunate. We don’t need to celebrate our pornographic obsession with celebrity culture. We are better than that….”
Sorry, Tim, but even our pornographic obsession with YOU is unlikely to make that dream come true.
tags: Tim Robbins, NAB, Las Vegas, celebrity, media criticism
