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Top Comments: Notebook #47- On the media [1]

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Date: 2022-09-09

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I thought better of writing anything about the death of Queen Elizabeth II because I can see that everyone is all up in their views of the queen as a “nice old lady” or someone that inherited and benefitted the mantle of colonizer from those that came before her and is, therefore, open to criticism and all points in between.

My own personal view covers the entire range of views. I haven’t bad-mouthed anyone for their views nor will I.

But there’s a line that I’ve drawn and Boston Globe columnist Renée Graham sums it up nicely in a tweet.

x ABC, NBC, and CBS are all airing Charles's first speech as king. None of them aired President Biden's primetime speech about the ongoing threats to American democracy. — Renée Graham 🏳️‍🌈 (@reneeygraham) September 9, 2022

…

News decisions on what to televise regarding the death of Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III’s ascension to the throne were probably made decades ago; Lord knows that it seemed as if this day would never come.

And, to be honest, I enjoy watching the pomp and spectacle and ritual of civic ceremonies. I’ll probably watch the official coronation of Charles as King when it happens, for example. I dig stuff like that.

But a sitting President of the United States makes a prime-time address about “the battle for the soul of this nation”; that is, the continued existence of our democracy and the major networks do not air it.

The excuse that the major networks gave for not televising the speech were summed up in a story by Paul Farhi of The Washington Post:

Presidents rarely make speeches during prime TV viewing hours, and typically only do so to address a national crisis or matter of exceptional urgency. The networks, in turn, typically carry presidential speeches when the White House requests the time and after previewing the president’s remarks. However, they have passed on speeches that were part of campaign rallies or events, or when the subject was deemed insufficiently important or newsworthy. The networks, for example, decided not to carry a speech on immigration reform by President Barack Obama in November of 2014. People involved in negotiations over Thursday’s address said the networks deemed Biden’s remarks as “political” in nature and therefore decided not to televise it. These people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions, cited the speech’s criticism of Trump — who may run in the Republican presidential primaries in 2024 — and its timing two months before the midterm elections.

I understand why President Biden didn’t choose to use The Oval Office for that type of address; an Oval Office address has a pomp and circumstance all its own.

So does an address delivered from Independence Hall in Philadelphia. And on subject matter this important.

And even if I accept those reasons for the major networks not airing President Biden’s speech last Thursday, they chose to air the speech of a newly ascended King with ceremonial duties because of the occasion of the death of his mother, the deceased Queen.

Are you kidding me?

In the meantime:

x But King Doofus gets a speech broadcast on all the major networks... https://t.co/Hc4EY5WJn3 — Chitown Kev (@ChitownKev) September 9, 2022

Or this:

x A public official has been arrested as a suspect in the murder of a journalist. In Nevada.



This should not be happening anywhere in the world, and especially not in the USA. I hope justice will be served. https://t.co/H6TrPVbRSM — Rep. Anna V. Eskamani 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) September 8, 2022

I’m not saying that there should not be any coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the ascension of Charles to the throne. The Queen was been a staple (for better or worse) in many of our lives for 70 years.

I’m only saying that the media’s priorities have surely gone to hell.

Comments below the fold.

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