|
|
|
|
- G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M
FAUX FOX AND POTTY PERKS
| Television, especially cable, has brought
about many changes in the way "news" is presented to us.
Rival media groups vie for our attention so they can sell commercial space.
Today, news is not reported, it is "presented" like a drama.
Ostensibly we are bored with factual reports and want to be entertained.
Nowhere is this more obvious than Fox cable news. Republicans now have a whole channel that makes them feel good. We looked but could not find any channel that presented only feel-good news for Democrats, Liberals or Independents. The Fox evening news features stern faced anchor, Brit Hume. Tony Snow anchors the Sunday news. They do not hold to any standards of "fair and balanced" reporting (as they constantly claim) because they make their own standards by virtue of their Bush connections. Overall they sound like Rush Limbaugh with pictures. Brit and Tony both have the same nasty, critical or farcical tone toward all news about Democrat's doings and the same caressing, almost reverent resonance when referring to Bush. In no way do they sound like a reporter on a news program but in all ways they sound like a lover when "reporting" on Bush. Their mission is to always and often display Bush wrapped in the American flag hoping to condition voters by this patriotic association. They claim to be "unafraid" -- why not, since they work for the most powerful and rich administration in the world. For the Humes, it's all in the family. Brit was named FOX News's managing editor and chief Washington, D.C. correspondent in December of 1996 and his wife, Kim Schiller Hume, is the network's Washington bureau chief. Both of the Humes are personal friends and frequent visitors to the White House. Tony joined Fox in 1996. He had interrupted his career as journalist to work for Dubya's daddy as speechwriter. While in that position, he became friends with Dubya. It was love and politics, American style. Somewhere along the way, these boys settled on a really facetious tag line to characterize the Fox news. They called it "fair, balanced and unafraid." How the Conservatives love it. "At last," one purred happily, "we can hear the truth instead of the lies of the liberal media." They seem oblivious to the fact that truth and trustworthiness fell by the wayside. After a few days of listening to Brit and Tony, one really needs to think of something clean and refreshing in contrast. We found that a perusal of Japanese toilets fit the bill. It was also more informative, fairer and certainly better balanced and unafraid. One tends to think of the toilet as a bowl of water, a seat and a lid with a handy flush lever (sadly lacking on Fox news.) Toilets may differ in color, size or model but that's about all. It's not the case in Japan. It seems Japanese companies are engaged in toilet wars. It all started when a toilet seat was introduced that sent a mild electrical charge through the bottom of the user that measured her/his body-fat ratio. The war escalated when a rival company introduced a toilet that glows in the dark and "whirs up" its lid when its infrared sensor detects a human being. While in use, it plays a choice of six different sound tracts that include chirping birds, tinkling wind chimes or Japanese harp. For a mere $3,000 one may purchase a porcelain throne that not only lifts its lid for you in greeting but also emits cooling air in the summer and heat in the winter to that special area. Then there's a toilet that automatically measures your urine sugar levels. It collects urine with a little spoon mounted on a retractable arm. But what the Japanese find most popular is a toilet that has a jet spray used to wash and massage the buttocks. The user can set both the temperature and pressure. Oooeee! When you get right down to it this is basic stuff. A toilet that can be fair and balanced lends itself to additional functions. Surely what we see here is competition making for more and better toilet experiences. A news outlet like Fox, fully controlled by a White House that limits free expression of opinion, can never improve their viewers information experience -- unlike the great potty perks that come from competing toilet makers. Variety is not only the spice of life it is the heart and soul of democracy.
2002-042
|
