“Please bore us”: A Fact-finding Follow-up
Originally published at intothewords.com.
Recently we investigated the word “fact” in light of this past year’s fascination with the death of truth.
If you’re in the market for some “unexciting” news, you may find yourself in growing company. According to Huffpost and TVNewser, PBS NewsHour has experienced a surge in viewership both on television and in their online channels recently. The show keeps things “even-keel” and viewers enjoy their “just the facts” approach. As TVNewser points out, the show is now “the one network evening newscast that’s growing.”
The very strategies that brought audiences to TV news apparently contribute to this growing resistance to major news channels. Quick bytes, baiting headlines, and flashy graphics might better serve to excite viewers (Latin, excitāre, “to rouse or call up”) rather than deliver news to them (Latin, līberāre — “to set free”). Does the “liberal media” live up to this sense of its name? Perhaps only in a newer — or neo — sense of the term.
Fancy a bit of boring news?
