Looking for shoes and news

I wonder if those TV viewers who excoriate the news media for providing too much coverage of the presidential scandal or other major stories also scold the managers of their local shopping malls for having too many shoe stores. To be consistent, they should.

"That's all I hear," these people whine. "The same news over and over." But do they wander through the mall complaining that "that's all I see: shoe stores over and over"?

When I walked through a mall recently with my son, we were delighted with the competition among shoe stores. He was searching for a pair of comfortable shoes to wear to work, and we looked for what he wanted in various places. J.C. Penney had some he liked at a good price, but not good enough for his budget. Macy's had higher prices. Another department store had a lesser variety. Several shoe outlets contained variations on the style he was looking for.

Browsing

We live in an age of many shoe stores and many news outlets. I'm glad we do. We can browse through the TV mall and find anything we want. CNN updates stories every half-hour. The major networks present the news in brief bites around dinner time and invite us back for more in-depth coverage on one of their magazine shows.

Across the cable spectrum, we can find everything from tabloid shows like "American Journal" to serious programming like "Nightline." In between are the likes of Larry King, Tim Russert, Sam and Cokie, Geraldo Rivera, Chris Matthews, and Charles Grodin, some of whom are sure to fill our need to know in the way we like to be told.

In short, we can slip into the news shoes that fit our needs: work boots that give us plenty of coverage, sandals that present only as much as we need, sneakers like "Hard Copy," and even loafers who lazily present the facts buried inside speculation and gossip.

Consumer plus

Having such a selection is good for us consumers. It wasn't that long ago that the presentation of TV news was concentrated in a few hands that doled it out in 15-minute segments once a day. If we missed it then, we were in the dark until tomorrow came.

Of course, with the variety we have now comes responsibility -- on the part of the presenters of the news, obviously, but also on the part of viewers.

It doesn't take long to get to know the style and slant of those who are presenting the news. If you want a sensational angle, try a tabloid show. If you want rampant rumors and wild guesses, switch to Geraldo. If you want serious thought, tune in to "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer." The selection allows us to choose what we need when we need it.

Noisiness

Those viewers who say that such a plethora of sources provides too much coverage forget two things: the off-button on their TV sets and the fact that democracy is supposed to be noisy. For our nation to work effectively, people need to know things. That knowledge comes from raucous debate and cacophonous argument, the sort that has occurred for 250 years around hot stoves, cracker barrels, courthouse steps and watercoolers.

I like having a lot of shoe stores and groceries and gas stations and doughnut shops. The choice is great and the competition works to everyone's benefit. The same goes for news.

So, to those who pooh-pooh too much news, I say, "Shoo."

(02-19-98)

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