Now that the fuss is over, and the p.r. and the pre-launch hype, try to make sense of “The Hour,” CBC Newsworld’s effort to get the younger demographic pay to attention to the news. Start with the fact it’s not news.
Part of what’s baffling here is what the people who conceived this show mean when they talk about “young people.” Is it the vaunted 18-to-34 demographic, which even dedicated advertising professionals know is a chimera? And who says the news needs to be skewed or prepared or massaged differently for people because of their age? Isn’t it usually the case that whenever young people think something conceived by non-young people is being aimed at them, they won’t watch on principle? The patronizing idea that people in their late teens and early 20s need the news somehow rendered more palatable presumes that they’re not smart enough, engaged enough or sufficiently sophisticated to be given regular news. It’s like they need special “news pabulum” that’s had anything challenging or threatening or unpleasant filtered out of it, or maybe mashed into such a fine paste it doesn’t exist. Or maybe it implies that younger news consumers need absolutely everything coated with a carapace of sugary glitz, cheesy effects and “attitude” in order to make it palatable.
Watching “The Hour” makes that seem the more likely philosophy. The p.r. before the show’s launch made much of host George Stoumboulopoulous’s intention to demand the truth. George stayed on message throughout the p.r. campaign. Look up the stories: George says “no bullshit” at least once — more, if he can manage it — in every piece.
The flip side of “easy-does-it-news-substitute” formula is the implication that all the other news on CBC Newsworld is so unutterably dull that it’s figured the rest of its audience — the “unyoung,” or “old” audience — will sit through just about anything. Only the fickle youngsters can muster the resolve necessary to tune out if something isn’t interesting.
What’s the show look like? “The Hour” is a talk show. George Strooumboulopoulous’s main qualification seems to be that he used to be a VJ, and “the kids” know who he is. The ancillary elements of Stroumboulopoulous’s old job — too much hair product, nasal piercing, no journalistic experience — are grimy icing on the attitudinal cake. There are some tape pieces. But they’re not stories. They’re set-ups for more talk, often in that strange closed-loop approach the CBC, in particular, seems to favor, wherein you send meat puppet out of the building with a producer and a crew to snag a mess of streeter clips in order that the talking head can come back and talk to the host about the clips. Of course, what’s missing is some actual information about whatever it is everybody is opining about.
If viewers want ignorant commentary on the news, why turn to Newsworld? Ignorant commentary on the news is what loudmouthed, opinionated family members are for. If you don’t have loudmouthed opinionated family members, there are blogs at every point on the political spectrum that’ll provide the maximum daily allowance of stupid, badly-written opinion. And if that fails, there’s talk radio, Fox News, Crossfire, or a religious TV channel.
The Big Three networks’ standard-issue 6:00 or 6:30 p.m. nightly newscasts are losing viewers daily. If viewers don’t have the patience or interest in 22 minutes of news during supper, either because they’ve got the news from the paper or online or on an all-news channel, what are the chances they’ll want to watch somebody have not-very-interesting pre-scripted conversations about the news? Does this seem like a recipe for getting anybody to watch a “current affairs” show, regardless of their age?
Interestingly, The New York Times assumes even kids in grammar school can read its product without forcing it through some special “wannabe-hipster-doofus” filter first. At what point do people who gather and deliver news think that their audience doesn’t need some special “low-impact” version of their product?
The thinking that seems to be behind shows like “The Hour” seems to be that by the time you’re grown up enough to handle actual news, you’re in a demographic nobody wants to reach.
