Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Nothing important happens!
Cosmictraveler:
I wanted to run some potential headlines by you:
• Sheriff's Deputy Completes Tricky Paperwork Without Error
• City Police Did Not Wreck Any Squad Cars Today
• Nobody Had Sex in Police Garage Thursday
• State Trooper Takes Court Oath, Doesn't Lie
• Sketch Artist Makes Faces
• Police Spokesperson Talks to Press
The point of those is to wonder what's the big deal about people actually doing their jobs. Is the idea that the police live up to expectation
really news? What would that say about our society?
• Officer Saves Life at Donut Shop
• Amid Riot, Deputy Brings Glimmer of Hope
• Suspect Arrested Without Unnecessary Beating
Okay, that last should have gone in the first set, but still, when the police are doing their job, something else usually warrants our attention. For instance, the WTO riot in Seattle. The riot itself would have been newsworthy. That the police essentially started it? That's pretty important, don't you think? And what of the deputy who couldn't be fired for misconduct? As a citizen, it's important to know that the sheriff can't fire his deputies for misconduct in the middle of a riot. Theoretically, the riot cops can go looting in the middle of a riot, and there's nothing to be done about it. Sorry it makes the cops look bad, but yes, it's something we need to know. In the aftermath, when the police demanded the power to spy on people in their homes ... is that newsworthy? Whose fault is it that the demand was such a huge leap? ("We couldn't be bothered to go out to Direct Action Network's camp and check out what they were telling people, so we need to be able to spy on people in their homes.")
I guess I would respond to the media question by asking one of my own: Should the news be nothing but warm fuzzies?
The picture of the little boy giving a thank-you card to the officer who saved his life gets filed under
human interest. The story about the police running an escort service in a sting effort (manufacturing crime) while actual crimes await investigation? That one gets filed under
important news.
Cops getting laid at the station house, or leaving their gun in their mistress' car? Well, that answers the question of why it takes so long for them to show up.
It's like people accusing the media of being too hard on Bush. What would we think if we woke up to a headline screaming,
"President Avoids Lying at Press Conference"?
At what point do we get to stop applauding the idea that someone can actually do the job they asked to do?