I presume that you, like me, rarely see the farce that local "news" programs have become. But here in Cleveland I recently saw a local news show that set a new low. This is Cleveland Action 19, a devoted practitioner of the "Stripper's Costume Too Revealing -- Film At 11!" school of journalism. I occasionally catch them, and it's always funny to see the anchor try to project the proper Cronkite-esque sobriety while reading the latest manufactured sex scandal. But imagine my surprise this past week when I saw they had actually gotten one of their anchors to strip for a performance art project, and broadcast her nude pictures on the air! It seems they have eliminated the middleperson and are no longer dependent on the public to produce titillating "news". Perhaps they could have the weatherman kill his wife and then give exclusive interviews to them during his trial? The possibilities are endless.
Leaving journalism to the market alone tends to result in a race to the bottom, since actual news is rarely as interesting as the tabloid stuff one can cook up. There is an externalities problem, since while each of us individually would rather watch the attractive naked newscaster (or perhaps I'm projecting here), we would also prefer to live in a community where the majority of citizens actually knew what was going on in their public life.
Marcus Stanley
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