TV Week: TV to Treat Obamas ‘Like Royalty’ for Ratings Bonanza

November 26, 2008 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, News, President, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston |

-By Warner Todd Huston

Are you looking for hard hitting, serious journalism? Don’t turn to the syndicated “newsmagazines” like Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, or The Insider (not that anyone ever did, of course). They are apparently admitting right up front that they have every intention of pumping up the Obama mythos by treating him “like royalty.”

TV Week is reporting that all the so-called “newsmagazines” (a misnomer for sure as tabloid spectacles are more to the truth of the matter) are going to try and fuel a ratings bump by promulgating Obamalot in a direct emulation of JFK’s mythical “Camelot” years in office — which in itself was another self-perpetuated media myth.

It’s a symbiosis in which shows such as “Access Hollywood” and “Entertainment Tonight” cover the Obama family like royalty, bringing back a Camelot mythology to the White House. In return, they are enjoying a ratings bump with unexpected staying power.

Admitting it up front, bald faced like this is all the more galling for its sycophancy for The One. But, worse, it shows the willingness to obscure reality and present a gauzy fairy-tale story to mislead the American public.

But why would politics change the downward fortunes of the ratings for these inaptly named “newsmagazine” TV shows?

Growing interest and coverage of the Obamas may reverse a ratings trend in the newsmagazines, as the genre, along with the rest of syndication, is down year-to-year. If viewers continue to tune in to learn about the Obamas, it might transform the president-elect into the standard go-to subject of newsmagazines, like Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan.

Based on the latest ratings these TV bubblegum shows imagine that Obamalot will be a continuing ratings booster into the future. Perhaps they are right. If so, so much the shame for it.

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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, Human Events Magazine, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston

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