THE DIARY 13: Respecting The Audience

May 1

You could argue that politics as entertainment is a poison that has been brewing for decades, surely not only on Fox, but the cable news explosion of the last few years has made it more prevalent and dangerous. You have 24 hours of news cycles that are treated as a banquet for editorial comment, the more ferocious the better, ending in a competition between the outrageous and the indignant whole truth, poor truth, is left as an afterthought.

From all the brouhaha that has surrounded the media in the last two weeks, including the last-minute deal for $787 million in the lawsuit Dominion Voting Systems presented against Fox News and, days later, the firing of that channel’s biggest star, Tucker Carlson, and, at CNN, of anchor Don Lemon, the revelation that got my attention the most was that executives and stars of Fox News argued that lying about the 2020 presidential election on camera, when knowing that they were lying, was nothing less than “respecting our audience.”

Respecting the audience. Giving the audience what the audience wanted to hear. Keeping the audience happy even if that meant keeping them in the dark. I can't really think of any other media case where executives or journalists were on record saying they were "respecting the audience" hiding the truth from them. I think, actually, that in this case it was just a way to say "let's not lose them.”

I have been working as an editor and journalist for over three decades, mostly in magazines, and though I am very aware of the need of keeping audiences engaged, interested and, yes, happy, I always thought that meant giving them stories that were inspiring or funny or beautiful, honest or thought- provoking. Never a lie. This most recent episode reminded me of the legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, who got into trouble when she published explicit images of plastic surgery procedures in the magazine. The readers need to know what’s going on, she explained to the Condé Nast publishers; they can’t see just the results without seeing the process. She knew the photos were not pretty, but they were truthful and they were important to her readers. She was, in my eyes, respecting the audience, feeling confident that they were mature enough, curious enough and strong enough to handle the truth.

In the New York Times, media critic Brian Slater stated recently that Fox News, despite having a newsroom, “is primarily a conservative entertainment operation and a Republican Party organ.” You could argue that politics as entertainment is a poison that has been brewing for decades, surely not only at Fox, but the cable news explosion of the last few years has made it more prevalent and dangerous. You have 24 hours of news cycles that are treated as a banquet for editorial comment, the most ferocious the better, ending in a competition between the outrageous and the indignant were truth, poor truth, is left as an afterthought.

Of course, the contempt for facts and the rising trend of conspiracy theories - all mixed in the pot of social media and now artificial intelligence - make things even more complicated. We seem to live in a gaslighted universe.

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