New York, N.Y. (SatireWire.com) ‹ In what the media termed a "healthy display of detached introspection," the media today accused the media of unfairly convicting the media in the media, according to a widely covered media report critical of the media's self-absorbed coverage of itself.
"Lately it has been popular in the media to try and convict the media for exaggerating the importance and influence of the media on issues such as the economy and the Internet," said the report's co-author, recently retired CNN anchor Bernard Shaw. "We in the media felt it was time to take a look at the way the media has been looking at the media looking at the media's coverage, and we were appalled at what we found ourselves finding ourselves finding out about ourselves."
The report, however, drew immediate criticism from Shaw, who blasted himself in a two-hour televised panel discussion.
"This report gives me pause to wonder if, by giving so much weight to how we cover ourselves, we in the media aren't giving ourselves too much credit for having an influence," he said. "I just hope we in the media have the guts to look into this."
Another panel member, ABC Nightline anchor Ted Koppel, went a step further. "I think the big story here is not that we are unfairly convicting ourselves of convicting ourselves. People simply don't care about that," said Koppel. "The big story is 'How are we in the media going to react to the accusation that we are unfairly convicting ourselves of convicting ourselves, and how is that going to influence our coverage of how we influence events with our coverage?' Tonight after your local news."
A survey of people outside media circles, meanwhile, found that 92 percent had not heard of the report, or read the 647 newspaper stories about it, or seen the 36 televised roundtable discussions on the topic that have aired since this morning. Those results drew the ire of Heather O'Mara, editor of newly launched InsideInside.com, which covers Inside.com, which covers what's going on inside the media.
"That's yet another example of how people outside the media just aren't interested in keeping up with the news," said O'Mara. "It's one reason why we need to do a better job keeping track of ourselves keeping track of ourselves."
Nearly 100 percent of survey respondents, however, insisted that people aren't interested in how the media covers itself covering a story, but instead want to learn about the story itself. To that, media members agreed wholeheartedly.
"The media has to step back and ask itself whether there even needs to be coverage of its coverage," said TV journalist Geraldo Rivera. "It's a point I make in my upcoming CNBC special, The Influence of Geraldo Rivera's Coverage on Geraldo Rivera's Coverage: Geraldo Rivera Reports. RECOMMEND THIS PAGE
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