MTV News
Speaking of news networks and so forth, I find myself straying rather more often than I'd ever imagined to MTV. I find it fascinating, both for the novelty and for the call-ins and interviews with young viewers: a major theme is the fact that the demographics of the MTV audience coincide, when it comes to age at any rate, with that of large numbers of US troops. They have some kind of deal with CBS news for the actualities, and the commentary can be basic, but often no more vacuous than the major network version.
The format pioneered by Behind the Music and perfected in the endless series of butt documentaries-- quick cuts of footage, interspersed with sound bites from celeb commentators and journalists, backed with a soundtrack of whatever's on the charts with occasional thematic relevance to what's on-screen, accompanied by a simple, bland narration-- works at least as well when it comes to war as it does in re: butts or Britney, as it turns out. If the slant is anti-war, it's, surprisingly, only moderately so, compared to what you might expect: and it does reflect the concerns of the target audience. Anyway, there's nothing wrong with that. I've seen some interviews with pro-war kids, though there are fewer of them. Hey, maybe this is the "liberal" alternative to Fox that so many lefties are dreaming of...
Mostly, though, I enjoy the sheer weirdness of it: "stay tuned for more war updates this afternoon on TRL." Unbelievable.
Posted by Dr. Frank at March 21, 2003 11:11 AM | TrackBack