Networks fear burnout of `wall to wall' story (Reagan) | Chicago Tribune

[Ediacara]

Networks fear burnout of `wall to wall' story

By Steve Johnson
Tribune television critic
Published June 9, 2004

From the time his casket is flown east Wednesday to his national funeral Friday, Ronald Reagan will dominate television screens to almost the same degree that he did when he was president.

The first state funeral since Lyndon Johnson's three decades ago will be both a reminder of television's power to unite the nation in ceremony and a test of how strongly the nation still clings to its civic rituals.

Full-day ratings for the leading cable news channels have been up 20 to 30 percent since Reagan died, but some shapers of television coverage worry that, by Friday, the tendency to go "wall to wall" with big stories will cause a burnout factor.

"It's a moment of national unity that's always played an important part in our history," said Jim Murphy, executive producer of the CBS Evening News.

More at the Chicago Tribune

1. the headline

should really read "Networks Fear Loss of Cash Cow"
or something to that effect:evilgrin:

[Voltaire99]

29. Heh, true. I haven't watched ONE MINUTE of this orchestrated silliness!

Why spoil the satisfaction? ;-)

[slinkerwink]

2. there wouldn't be a burnout if Reagan had been buried today instead of

on Friday.

[Beetwasher]

3. LOL! What? The Reagan Beatification Whorefest Extravaganza

is already starting to make people gag? Whoda thunk it!

Can't wait for the Chimp's euology, when he will flay Reagan's corpse and don his skin Buffalo Bob style...

[Ediacara]

5. There is a poll on the left siderail for this story

Something like "Has there been too much coverage of Reagan's funeral?" The tally when I voted was something like 71% saying "yes, there has been too much coverage."

[FloridaPat]

4. People are actually watching this crap? I had to turn off the TV

after 2 minutes. Now, put the impeachment trials of Bush and Cheny on and I definately will be interested.

[UpInArms]

6. I'm with you and I'll bring the popcorn!

tv has been set to "off" since Sunday.

[IA_Young_Dem]

11. I can't stand this media goo-goo-ga-ga over Reagan,

because I know the media won't be this nice to Carter and Clinton.

[salin]

7. Gee... ya think?

[NashVegas]

8. Burn Baby Burn

I'm all for wearing people out on it.

[sendero]

12. Exactly...

... or as one DUer's name suggests: the backlash cometh. The more they hype this the more people realize what they are up to. And that is a good thing.

[Bluzmann57]

9. They have only themselves to blame

Cover the funeral, have a tribute for an hour or two, but don't give us Reagan 24/7. Anybody, except for the diehards, is bound to get burnt out on what they're showing now. Love to see ratings for sports, entertainment, and other bprogramming as compared with 24/7 Reagan. Hopefully, the NBA Finals will out rate the Reagan crap.

[mwar]

10. Ride 'em cowboy!

Ride them coat tails straight into hell with Ronnie! Yeeee Haaaw! Keeping the television off is a wonderful thing.

[IA_Young_Dem]

13. I keep hearing everything about Reagan with all these tributes,

but no one has mentioned the IRAN-CONTRA SCANDAL. Seems like the media can only make Reagan out to be a hero.

[Bluzmann57]

15. The media whores are really chapping their lips now

with all the butt kissing going on. Welcome to DU from a fellow Iowan!

[mwar]

19. Give them time to butt-kiss

There's a nice backlog of Bush scandals waiting for next week's news void.

[Joanne98]

14. They should be more worried about revenge.

This Raygun coverage could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. A whole week of LIES. The US Media is drinking the koolaid again. They're nothing but a FAKE Hollywood movie at this point. It's suicide to keep lying like this especially after the "FAKE march to war". I think alot of people are saying to themselves, "Something has to be done about this". This country can't survive with a lying corrupt media. The belly-slithering media whores got to go. This is just more confirmation of how bad the problem is.

[Philostopher]

16. How dare those stinking proles!

How dare they fail to worship Fearless Leader! We must force them to love Fearless Leader! Fearless Leader died for their sins!

[rumguy]

17. Most Americans don't like to have shit rammed down their throats

I think the repigs will over-play their hands hands here. People will get tired of the coverage, get tired of all the whore-pundits babbling about him being the 'greatest president of the 20th Century', and get tired of all the repigs braying about naming anything and everything after Reagan.

Repigs always end up over-playing their hands, it's in their nature.

[mwar]

21. Throats ARE getting a bit sore

from a steady diet of bullshit for 3 1/2 years. Payback is a bitch!

[lancdem]

24. You hit the nail on the head

That's one of the reasons the Lewinsky scandal didn't do in Clinton. It produced a backlash.

[Ilsa]

18. He can have the limelight.

I don't give a shit. What i don't care for is the media interviewing his criminal best friends that were pardoned by Bush 41 and lying about his record. Go ahead an not discuss the bad news in deference to the family, but the lies about his record are outrageous and unpatriotic and should be challenged by the media whores.

[gasperc]

20. I was done late Sunday

The food channel has some good stuff on last night, thank god for the NBA finals and the Pistons here in Detroit. Although they totally fucked up last night.

[Stuckinthebush]

22. Proud to say that I haven't watched a single bit of Reagan coverage

And I don't plan to. Nor do I plan on watching the funeral.

Condolences to his family. That is all.

[stopbush]

23. Rove must be shitting bricks. How do you top a week of beatification

of Reagan? With the realities facing bush, ie: Plamegate, Torturegate, etc? Not the best comparison, demi-god vs world-class fuck up.

The media is probably worried as well. They're getting a 20% bump this week, but next week, the TVs will be off. I can just see Ailes over at Faux now: "Hey, Karl...is there anyway we can get Reagan to die again this week? Maybe put out a story that it was actually one of his doubles that died! You know, the REAL Reagan died today. Think it'll work?"

[WhiteTara]

44. Actually Rove is thrilled -- no time for the truth to come out

and during this AssKKKrap and RummyDummy have both told the
senate to f* themselves.

[llmart]

25. There won't be any burnout for me...

because I have not watched one iota of it since the death. I'm glad I'm a reader and don't watch much TV.

[cliss]

26. (raises hand) here's one person who's burned out.

Actually, I never had to be tortured with one single clip of the Old Gypper.

My TV is out in the garage. Not because of Reagan, but because of Bush. I'm allergic to the guy. Simply can't watch him. I break out in hives.

[Dulcinea]

27. I'm boycotting all news this week except for BBC America.

I wish Reagan was Jewish.

They would've planted him Sunday instead of dragging his corpse all over the nation in a gruesome spectacle.

I haven't watched any of it since the story broke & have no desire to, except maybe for Boy George's eulogy so I can see how badly he screws it up. And he will!

Condolences to his family, but that's all.

[Razoor]

28. sick of it

I am sick of it. I love watching C-SPAN but the house is orgasming over Raygun still. cant wait till next week if it keeps going past next week the public will know the media is obessing over a dead mans body.

[Justice]

30. Another Perspective

When Princess Di died, there was a huge media crush.

Then Mother Teresa died days after - the media covered her funeral live - with similiar attention.

I remember reading that the media felt they had to cover Mother Teresa to the degree they did only because of the over-kill on Princess Di. Sort of sad, here is a woman who lived in poverty and helped people, yet she is recognized only because it would be too embarassing not to do so. (I like Princess Di, and was as shocked and saddened as anyone).

This prolonged event for Reagan will come back to haunt Republicans, just as Kenneth Starr's successful efforts to break the attorney client privilege between government lawyers and the president will come back to haunt republicans.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

37. I had more sympathy for their deaths along with......

JFK jr. and Johnny Cash.

[davidinalameda]

31. it's getting old very fast

when you have TV people talking about Kerry making the sign of the cross and putting his hand over his heart--you know that they've run out of things to say

[DemonFighterLives]

32. I was burned out by Sunday

Don't those politicians have anything better to do than praise him day after day? What about the people's business?
Gruesome spectacle is right! So when can we quit playing nicey nice with the Neocons and hit them with all of Reagan's bad stuff?
The most prominent thing that I remember about the Reagan years is the October Surprise and the depression that farmers went through during the Federal land grab. The main reason why I never stayed down on the farm.

[readmylips]

33. Media has placed Prez Reagan in the likes of Peterson....

Cobey, JLo, and OJ Simpson. The script, same soap opera, 24/7. Bury the guy already please. He was 93 years old for cheesecakesake.

[ElectroPrincess]

35. Thank Goodness for Extended Cable

Thank Goodness for Extended Cable. Sure it's way overpriced but I mercifully have access to the world beyond the USA,i.e., BBC, News World International, International Channel, History International.

I just viewed a 30 minute special on the history of genocide. It's good to see quality investigative reporters even if I must look elsewhere. If I didn't have this, you bet, TV off through Sunday. ;)

[AlinPA]

34. Last night I heard a right-wing talk show guy say it was "too much"

(Savage?) He was dead serious. His callers were pissed about it. He asked " How much is enough? How about if this were done until Labor Day?"

[PROGRESSIVE1]

36. All I have watched since then is The Weather Channel......

the BBC.

[grasswire]

38. yep...I'm on the Weather Channel today

...and that's pretty sick.

Even Tweety is running out of things to say about Reagan.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

39. Thank God for NetFlix!

I've been watching the first season of "The Awful Truth" because I don't have cable and never saw it the first time..

[Ganja Ninja]

40. I've been channel surfing until I'm blue in the face.

I think I'll go out and add to my DVD collection tonight.

[FemaleDemfromMass]

41. The good news is

Pirates of the Caribbean will be on Starz Saturday at 9 p.m.

[Marymarg]

42. Contrast Kennedy coverage

The coverage when President Kennedy was assassinated lasted for four days, beginning on Friday afternoon and ending on Monday after the funeral. That seemed like a month. And he was a sitting President who had been assassinated! We did not know if there was an international conspiracy or what. Point being that there was so much more to actually say and learn. Reagan has been out of office a long time and certainly has done nothing newsworthy lately. Everything that could be said about him has been said many times over.

Personally, I think this overkill will burn out the most avid worshiper. So, let them have their orgy.

I might add that I greatly loved President Kennedy and watched the coverage nonstop but before it was over, I was drained and exhausted.

[janx]

43. Wednesday? Are they kidding? This started on Sunday

for pete's sake! It's been four days running already and will last through the week. I try to catch headlines in the morning; this has been increasingly hard to do.

So I stopped trying even to do that.