The integrity of Bob Costas: Taking a stand against sensationalism

August 26, 2005

Guest Post by Michael J.W. Stickings

Alright, my first two posts here were way too serious, especially the last one, so let’s lighten it up a few notches and delve into the ever-so-humorous world of cable-TV news:

It’s fair to say, I think, that integrity is in short supply in the TV-news business, and especially in the cable-TV news business (with its hyped-up 24-hour news cycle and endless stream of sensationalism, but for once a major broadcaster has stood up for the integrity of his profession (not to mention his own) and said that enough is enough.

That major broadcaster is Bob Costas — long one of my favourites, whether it’s been the Olympics, baseball play-by-play, his own late-night show, or, well, pretty much anything he’s ever done. Recently, Costas signed up at CNN to fill in for Larry King, the network’s leading purveyor of sensationalism, on an occasional basis. According to the Times, however, he “resisted a request last Thursday to be the host of a King program devoted to interviewing guests about the already widely covered Natalee Holloway missing-person case in Aruba” (see here).

What’s so significant about that? Well, how often do you hear a major broadcaster, someone of Costas’s stature, say no? Such integrity may be found well behind the scenes, out of the glare of public scrutiny, but rarely does it emerge to address the sorry state of TV news. Here’s how Costas put it: “Nothing had been spelled out about my being able to turn down certain topics, but it was implied.” And here’s how Jonathan Klein, CNN’s president of domestic operations, put it: “It’s important that we never have an anchor doing a story he does not believe in.”

(Fair enough — though Klein should reconsider the value (or, rather, the lack thereof) of keeping the atrocious Nancy Grace on CNN’s Headline News and the banal and self-important Paula Zaun and the blatantly xenophobic Lou Dobbs on the main network. I can live with Wolf Blitzer’s hot air, but I’m a big fan of the dynamic Anderson Cooper and the occasionally pretentious but generally intelligent Aaron Brown.)

Costas may not be taking on the excesses of the cable-TV news business, as his modesty (enlivened by the occasional dose of justifiable self-righteousness) may only ever lead him to quieter acts of rebellion, but his “no” is as big as (and should be as influential as) Jon Stewart’s notorious “dick” comment to Tucker Carlson on the since-axed Crossfire. Hopefully it isn’t just a one-off. Hopefully Klein, who’s trying to remodel his flagging network into a viable anti-Fox, will listen to the concerns of one of his newest yet most respected stars and focus on improving the quality of CNN’s programming.

Don’t count on it, however. As we all know, cable TV thrives on (and profits from) ratings-boosting sensationalism, whether it’s the lame-brained Bill O’Reilly spewing his narrow-minded folkiness on Fox or even the shout-inducing Chris Matthews dumbing down political discourse on MSNBC.

And that’s not about to change. Just watch Network.

Actually, the “blatantly xenophobic” Lou Dobbs is one of the few people facing up to the problem of illegal immigration. Unfortunately, liberals can’t get beyond their “PC” instincts to face the facts, and conservatives love forcing down wages and benefits, so their policy is to let ’em all in.. Most of the American people, of any political persuasion, are all for stopping illegal immigration entirely and slowing down legal immigration considerably.

  • ‘Susan’ doesn’t sound Native American. What exactly is your tribal ancestry and what portion of this continent is rightfully yours to claim?

    Back to topic, Network is more relevant now than ever, great reference. Here’s the link folks, rent it this weekend and you’ll finally know where the expression, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” comes from. ; )

  • Costas’ inane drivel at the opening ceremonies of (and throughout the) 2004 olympics were a definite low point in TV history.

  • And you will be leaving when to go back to ancient Rome, Hermaclitus?

    No country can afford to lose control of its borders. And no other country tolerates the pouring in of hundreds of thousands of people a year illegally. I remember a day, not so long ago, when construction work was a decent living for a person who didn’t have post-high school education. Today, wages are low, benefits have vanished, and everything in sight is being stapled together by illegals, many of whom are injured or die in the process since OSHA and the parasites they work for aren’t real concerned with them. The only American construction workers I see now in this area (Columbus, Ohio) are the ones working on union jobs.

    By the way, I am 1/16 Native American. And like most Americans of whatever origin I’m tired of illegal immigration.

  • “..was a decent living”
    “wages are low, benefits have vanished”
    Since when did immigrant labor and the poor start cutting back? Oh wait, they don’t make policy, they’re at the mercy of it. A conversation w/ a conservative either begins with or always leads back to how the poor strangle the economy. “Give us your cheap labor, just don’t think about sitting next to my kid in school or church.” Maam, there’s an abundance for all in this country, and we have room for millions more – it’s just that our ‘leaders’ lack the political will to take care of everyone. Do you want the best for America? Then tell your representatives to keep your tax money at home – spend on you, your community, your infrastructural needs, your police, your air and water, your power grid, your potholes, your public parks.

    Immigrants don’t tax the system because they receive a pittance from your tax dollars. 30 cents out of every single dollar you paid in taxes last year went to blowing shit up. Drive through a ‘welfare’ neighborhood then drive through a neighborhood of defense contractors, you’ll see where your money really went.

  • Hermaclitus, I’m not a conservative. And there is not room here for “millions more” unless you’re willing to completely sacrifice the environment and the living standards we currently have.

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