Just Say No

MANIFESTO

Hooray for Bob Costas. Last week, he was filling in for Larry King on CNN. On Thursday, his producers informed him that night's topic was going to be the Natalee Haolloway case from Aruba. Costas refused, suggesting other topics. The producers insisted. Costas "respectfully decided not to participate." The show went on with a different guest host. Nothing new about the Holloway case was reported.

The Times has the whole story. We've beaten the whole "Missing White Women" thing to death on this blog so I won't go into it further. I will say I am glad someone is seeing the same things Chill has been bringing up from the beginning:

Many critics have questioned why the story of the disappearance deserves blanket coverage. Some have deplored the emphasis on white women who go missing, while missing women of other ethnic groups are ignored. One critic, Matthew Felling of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, told The Associated Press that the Holloway coverage amounted to "emotional pornography."

The day before, Costas also questioned the network's coverage of the BTK killer sentencing. In an interview with Larry Hatteberg of Wichita TV station KAKE-TV, he asked:

...whether (Hatteberg) believed serial murderer Dennis Rader was enjoying the media attention he was receiving. Hatteberg replied, "Bob, he absolutely loves it," then added: "A lot of people have said the best thing can happen to Dennis Rader is to put him in a cell and turn the light off and not give him access to any radio or any television and that would be a terrible punishment for Dennis Rader." Seemingly stung by Hatteberg's remarks, Costas remarked, "I have serious misgivings about this program right here, right now." Hatteberg: "True." Costas: "Do we contribute to an atmosphere which is not so much informative as it is voyeuristic. What's the positive purpose of this?"

You've got to give Costas credit for not only having these misgivings, but for sharing them on the air. People that compulsively watch this stuff need to think about the monster they are feeding. The way 24-hour news is heading, I know this kind of shock-and-awe coverage is only going to increase. And, for me at least, these networks are going back to what they were in the beginning: something I turn on only in times of dramatic crisis. When I want my everyday news, I'll read a newspaper. How old fashioned.