The damned Thanksgiving eve stories
This is one of those mornings when I want to throw the TV out the window. The lead story is that the roads and airports will be crowded this morning. Now that’s news! And it’s team coverage everywhere as correspondents stand in airports and on road reporting absolutely nothing there but providing mere atmospherics as they recite meaningless statistics from various agencies: “…more Americans than ever are on the move this Thanksgiving…” They are telling us absolutely nothing we don’t already know. This is journalism?
And then comes Friday, when they will give us the big news: Stores will be crowded.
It’s the no-shit season on TV news.
November 22nd, 2006 at 8:07 am
Jeff, how can you as productive as you are with the TV on? And one more question: Do you watch the TV news because 1) you learn something, 2) you’re interested in the business, or 3) it’s interesting anthropology? Just curious. Happy Thanksgiving
November 22nd, 2006 at 9:41 am
AMEN, Jeff. It’s almost physically painful to see the lead stories on EVERY newscast the day before (and the day of)…telling us how many millions of people are driving, how many are flying, how crowded the roads and airports are…can you give us ANY insight as to WHY they do this every year?
November 22nd, 2006 at 10:02 am
David- My guess is that they do it every year because they the have done it every year previous. -BK
November 22nd, 2006 at 10:35 am
Brooklyn Kitchen writes: My guess is that they do it every year because they the have done it every year previous.
Hey, isn’t that what Thanksgiving celebrations are all about?
(What’s that you say? These TV heads aren’t celebrating?)
November 22nd, 2006 at 10:42 am
This is one of those times I’d almost love to just stand behind a reporter and make faces into the camera like a 5 year old. Exactly what part of your “on the scene” report am I supposed to take seriously? Actually, I’m on my way to my job and you’re in the way.
November 22nd, 2006 at 10:49 am
Right!
“no-shit” television - I LOVE IT.
President sets bird free!
Your Turkey Could Kill You! (food poisoning)
Butterball Hotline Gives You Leg Up!
When Turkeys Attack!
And newspapers do the same damn thing!
November 22nd, 2006 at 11:43 am
Overcoverage and overmarketing of holidays is going to kill the golden goose. Do we really need to see Christmas items for sale the day after labor day? I have gotten to the point where I don’t even watch TV or read the newspapers during these pre-holiday run ups.
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Personally I think they should ban Thanksgiving not just because of the wanton genocide of friendly birds, but also because of the obesity epidemic and the global warming issues surrounding annual record traffic. There seems to be an inordinate amount of large “high passenger” cars on the road to boot.
Some others have argued that Thanksgiving should be eradicated because it was on that day that the Puritans introduced Native Americans to alcohol. I am not so sure of this. Regardless I find the tax-free reservation casinos to be reparations enough.
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Amen.
Add that to the first snowstorm live remotes (also shot from the overpass) and live hurricane remotes. I’m surprised news departments don’t try to save money by using footage from their libraries. Who would know the difference?
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:53 pm
If you’re they’re going to repeat the same thing on TV every Thanksgiving, why can’t they repeat the “Turkey Drop” episode of “WKRP in Cincinnatti”?
“Oh the humanity!!!”
“As God as my witness… I thought turkeys could fly.”
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:15 pm
So much happens to me during the year that I forget a lot of people travel before Thanksgiving and a lot more shop after. Thanks, Action News!
November 22nd, 2006 at 3:14 pm
steve,
sorry. no time to answer.
November 22nd, 2006 at 3:27 pm
I like watching those stories to see the local heirarchy of the TV News totem pole. The young saps trying to be witty with rotten material. No-shit season into train wreck TV.
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:32 pm
We could say the same about every newspaper (and TV news program) doing the same story about people standing in line to buy the PS-whatever-it-is video game machine, and some of them buying it to put on eBay.
Maybe 2,000 journalists in American wasted — what, half a day? — driving to the Best Buy store and interviewing some teenagers camped on the sidewalk.
Just imagine what useful and meaningful stories might have been covered with that amount of journalist manpower!
November 22nd, 2006 at 7:51 pm
[...] Jeff Jarvis has an amusing tirade against the lame Thanksgiving eve stories of TV (”The lead story is that the roads and airports will be crowded this morning. Now that’s news!”) to which I’d add: how about the lame PR pitches this time of year about the dangers of shopping online? I’ve had half a dozen this year and I don’t even pretend to live in the U.S. Here’s a sampling (all follow with pitch to talk to client, needless to say): [...]
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:44 am
Its lazy. They’re all lazy. And if you ever work in a local TV newsroom you would see that the managers that let it happen are typically the old-school hard core journalists — They’re just tired.
November 23rd, 2006 at 1:15 am
[...] John McClaine was at the Fox towers making a non-sequitor or two. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. [...]
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:37 am
Hand-crafted TrackBack:
STALE EVERGREENS -
Jeff Jarvis laments the lame offerings the MSM is foisting on us this week: travel and shopping. I agree!
perma
November 23rd, 2006 at 7:30 pm
[...] Don’t let the Thanksgiving Holiday news cycle and PR pitches drive you crazy. Jeff Jarvis writes, “They are telling us absolutely nothing we don?t already know. This is journalism? And then comes Friday, when they will give us the big news: Stores will be crowded.” And after the holiday season is over they will talk about how people have gained a few pounds and are planning New Year’s resolutions to lose them. Find out what part of Thanksgiving you are. It’s one of those ridiculous quizzes. You may need to rush out to the mall sooner than you thought to catch the Black Friday deals. Yes, some malls are actually opening tonight at midnight. Techory has found a unique and slightly disturbing Turkey Day Gadget called Season Shot. “It’s called Season Shot, and it’s basically shotgun shot made out of spices, so you don?t have to remove the shot from your turkey. You just cook it with the shot in it to add flavor.” Macy’s Day Parade without Kermit and Charlie. The balloons are also flying lower because it is a windy day. ShopFloor.org posts about how the parade balloons are made. DIY Thanksgiving at Make Magazine. (via Scoble) That’s quite a menu White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford has prepared for the President in Camp David. Thanks for being a web worker. The Barefoot Kitchen Witch writes about stuffing the turkey and making squash pie. The Ethicurean explains how Thanksgiving is becoming more appealing now that meat is back on the diet. “Once I started to eat meat again, and to see cooking as something to enjoy rather than endure, Thanksgiving began to look a little more appealing.” Egotastic is thankful for Salma Hayek. Residual Forces says thank goodness for gluttony: “It is time for gluttony. Turkey, gravy, mashed taters, corn, broccoli, beer. Nap.” Slashfood has lots of Thanksgiving-related posts. Here’s a roundup of Slashfood’s Thanksgiving posts. Money Smart Life explains how you can learn things about money from a Thanksgiving dinner. Britannica is not a blog but they do have an informative entry about Thanksgiving Day. Search Engine Thanksgiving Logos: The turkey Google uses hasn’t changed much over the years — if at all. Search Engine Roundtable has posted the Thanksgiving Day logos from several search engines. TreeHugger 100-Mile Thanksgiving Challenge: “Here’s the deal: we want you to create a grand feast using all ingredients found within 100 miles of your home.” Simply Recipes has a very nice round-up of recipes. Don’t ignore your cat this Thanksgiving. Tech savvy young adults will be providing tech support at home for their parents this Thanksgiving. This is a Boing Boing post from 2004 but we bet it still happens today. Lifehacker thinks so too. Fun Thanksgiving Day facts from the U.S. Census Bureau. Houstonist: “It?s the inevitable curse of the holidays. You will gain weight. You will more than likely eat your weight in turkey and yams, and it will land squarely on your thighs (or hips, or stomach). If you?re like us, you?ll just look at your mom?s apple pie and your pants will get tight.” A bunch of smart turkeys tried to make a run for it. Freedom! Defamer recalls Eva Longoria’s special Thanksgiving wish from 2005. Chaotic Utopia on the science of gravy. Bob Lewis at InfoWorld writes about why we should be thankful. President Bush pardons two turkeys named Flyer and Fryer. The turkeys now get to spend the rest of their lives at the Disneyland Resort. Yahoo Buzz blogs about some of Thanksgiving searches on Yahoo. They are also talking about some turkey videos people have made. Talking Points Memo blogs that there are 99,000 families spending Thanksgiving in FEMA trailers post-Katrina. James Wolcott: “Take pity this Thanksgiving morn on those poor castmembers of Broadway musicals forced to lipsync and dance in the cold pelting rain as part of the Macy’s Parade festivities. The castmembers of A Chorus Line, their leotards offering scant protection the elements, going through the motions to canned music to an audience more intent on waving at the camera–this is the down side of show business no one ever talks about.” Andrew Sullivan posts a Walt Whitman poem. It’s Thanksgiving and David Blaine just can’t avoid another crazy stunt — at least this one is for charity. The Law Librarian Blog has compiled a list of some Thanksgiving Proclamations. Unusual Thanksgiving dish: toad-like squab. Deep fat turkey fryers can be very dangerous. Accidental Hedonist provides some Thanksgiving haikus. GetSheila and Simply Dumb are posting a sunbathing turkey. TreeHugger is thankful for Al Gore, Loomstate, Tesla Motors and wave power. If you desire still more turkey goodness you can read our Thanksgiving roundups from last year here and here. Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading BloggersBlog.com. [...]
November 24th, 2006 at 11:43 am
Amen, brother.
It’s not just the media that’s at fault, though … how about this press release by BuzzMetrics, which features painfully obvious insights and predictions:
There’s more holiday buzz now than there was a few weeks ago!
People will start complaining about customer service more after Christmas!