On mainstream media
Does anyone else find it irritating when an anchor newscaster smiles while reporting a very bitter celebrity divorce trial?
The late-20th century newscasters may have made some mistakes, but they mainly seemed to be serious. This guy’s producers may have told him to smile throughout the show, but it still seemed discordant and inappropriate.
I didn’t care much for the pop singer Don Henley, but he had a cynical song about the almost violent potential of media taking pleasure in others’ pain: “Kick ’em when they’re up/ Kick ’em when they’re down” goes one line, and he sings about a newscaster looking inappropriately happy while reporting disaster.