News broadcasts
For many years now, television channels, when training their personnel, have operated on the principle that we have become comfortable with what we ostensibly reject: soap operas of the family next door, voyeuristic stories, the deification of minor or controversial artists. Television channels, in other words, expend all their energy and intelligence on trivial and banal stories. Even the personalities who appear in television slots are characterized by the same style and mentality as their television hosts. How can the same journalists now deal with major issues that require thorough knowledge, specialization and an analytical approach? Indeed, to what extent are they familiar with the deregulation of the labor market, global economic trends, agricultural policy and the issues stemming from World Trade Organization agreements, market liberalization, the by-products of globalization, economic indices and their interpretation, or even the subtle balances which are upset by an international crisis such as the Mideast dispute? Judging from the first days of the refashioned news broadcasts, it is easy to conclude that there has indeed been a change in the hierarchy of news stories but that the actual choice has quickly reverted to television’s pet themes, that is shallow and trivial incidents…
